Claus Pias (born 1967 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

, Germany) is a German

media theorist Media studies is a discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history, and effects of various media; in particular, the mass media. Media Studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly ...

and

media historian Media studies is a discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history, and effects of various media; in particular, the mass media. Media Studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly ...

. He is a professor for history and epistemology of media at the Institute for Culture and Aesthetics of Digital Media (ICAM) at

Leuphana University Leuphana (Λευφάνα) is a city name, first mentioned by Ptolemy in the year 150 in the Atlas Geographia. Ptolemy mentioned in Geographica 2, that ten cities unified by their not being under Roman occupation, created a settlement named Leupha ...

in Lueneburg.,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Life and work

Pias studied

Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

, Germany and

Art History Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

German Studies German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

and

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

and

Bochum Bochum ( , also , ; wep, Baukem) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 364,920 (2016), is the sixth largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) of the most populous Germany, German federal state o ...

, Germany. In 1993 he became Research Assistant for History of Architecture at the Bauhaus-University

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

, Germany. Three years later, he moved to the Chair of

Joseph Vogl Joseph Vogl (born October 5, 1957) is a German philosopher who has written on literature, culture and media. He is professor of modern German literature, literary, media and cultural studies at the Humboldt University of Berlin. Life and work Aft ...

for "History and Theory of Artificial Worlds". In 2000 he earned his doctorate in Weimar under the supervision of Joseph Vogl and German media theorist

Friedrich Kittler Friedrich A. Kittler (June 12, 1943 – October 18, 2011) was a literary scholar and a media theorist. His works relate to media, technology, and the military. Biography Friedrich Adolf Kittler was born in 1943 in Rochlitz in Saxony. His fami ...

. In 2002 he was appointed Junior Professor for "Media Technology and Media Philosophy" at the

Ruhr-University Bochum The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began in ...

. From 2006 to 2010 he was full Professor for "Epistemology and Philosophy of Digital Media" at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. Since the winter semester of 2010 he has worked and taught in Lueneburg. In the same year, he co-founded the Institute for Culture and Aesthetics of Digital Media (ICAM) at the Faculty of Culture. In 2012, he was also co-founder of the Center for Digital Cultures (CDC) and is a member of the board of directors of the research center. He is also currently director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Media Cultures of Computer Simulation (mecs) and the Digital Cultures Research Lab (DCRL), all at Leuphana University, Lueneburg. Since 2010 Pias was a Senior Fellow at the International Research Institute for Cultural Technologies and Media Philosophy (IKKM) in Weimar, the International Research Centre for Cultural Studies (IFK) in Vienna, the Institute for Advanced Study / Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin, the Center of Excellence “Cultural Foundations of Integration” at the University of Konstanz, and the Center for Advanced Studies "BildEvidenz. History and Aesthetics" at

Free University, Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...

. In 2017 he was Visiting Professor at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

. He is also a member of the Graduate Schools "Loose Connections: Collectivity at the intersection of digital and urban space" in Hamburg and "Cultures of Critique" in Lueneburg. His main areas of interest are

media theory Media studies is a discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history, and effects of various media; in particular, the mass media. Media Studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly ...

history of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal. Science's earliest roots can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Meso ...

of ‚mediathinking‘ and the

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

and

epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Episte ...

simulation A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of Conceptual model, models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or proc ...

and

cybernetics Cybernetics is a wide-ranging field concerned with circular causality, such as feedback, in regulatory and purposive systems. Cybernetics is named after an example of circular causal feedback, that of steering a ship, where the helmsperson m ...

. He published the collected protocols and documents of the Macy Conferences (1946-1953) in two volumes in 2003/2004. In addition to his publishing activity he supervised the publication of the critical writings in individual editions by

Hermann Bahr Hermann Anastas Bahr (; 19 July 1863 – 15 January 1934) was an Austrian writer, playwright, director, and critic. Biography Born and raised in Linz, Bahr studied in Vienna, Graz, Czernowitz and Berlin, devoting special attention to philosophy, ...

from 2004 to 2013. Together with

, he publishes "sequenzia", a series of media science and science history at the Diaphanes publishing house Zurich/Berlin

Bibliography

In English

2017: Computer Game Worlds, Chicago: Chicago UP, translated by Valentin Pakis,
2016: Cybernetics. The Macy Conferences 1946-1953. The Complete Transactions, (ed.), Chicago: Chicago UP
2016: Social Media – New Masses, with Inge Baxmann and Timon Beyes (ed.), translated by Valentin Pakis, Chicago: Chicago UP,

In German

1996: Geschaute Literatur. Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach und die bildende Kunst, Weimar: VDG
1999: Dreizehn Vorträge zur Medienkultur, (ed.), Weimar: VDG
1999: Kursbuch Medienkultur, with Joseph Vogl, Lorenz Engell, Oliver Fahle & Britta Neitzel (ed.), Stuttgart: DVA
2000: Neue Vorträge zur Medienkultur, (ed.), Weimar: VDG
2002: Computer Spiel Welten, Zürich/Berlin: diaphanes, (2. edition. 2010)
2003: Cybernetics , Kybernetik. The Macy-Conferences 1946–1953. Band 1. Transactions/Protokolle, (ed.) Zürich/Berlin: diaphanes
2005: Zukünfte des Computers, (ed.), Zürich/Berlin: diaphanes
2004: Cybernetics , Kybernetik. The Macy-Conferences 1946–1953. Band 2. Documents/Dokumente, (ed.) Zürich/Berlin: diaphanes
2004-2013: Hermann Bahr: Kritische Schriften in Einzelausgaben, (ed.)
2007: Escape. Computerspiele als Kulturtechnik, with Christian Holtorf (ed.), Köln/Wien: Böhlau
2008: Abwehr. Modelle Strategien Medien, (ed.), Bielefeld: transcript 2008
2009: Powerpoint: Macht und Einfluss eines Präsentationsprogramms, with Wolfgang Coy (ed.), Frankfurt/Main: Fischer
2010: Was waren Medien?, (ed.) Zürich/Berlin: diaphanes,
2010: Think Tanks. Die Beratung der Gesellschaft, with Sebastian Vehlken (ed.), Zürich/Berlin: diaphanes
2014: Soziale Medien: Neue Massen. Medienwissenschaftliche Symposien der DFG, with Inge Baxmann and Timon Beyes (ed.), Zürich/Berlin: diaphanes,
2016: Vollstes Verständnis. Utopien der Kommunikation, with Stefan Rieger (ed.), Berlin: diaphanes,

References

External links

*
Claus Pias at the University of Vienna (until 2010)

Video interview 'Zwei Minuten Wissenschaft’ on youtube.com

Centre for Digital Cultures
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pias, Claus Mass media theorists Ruhr University Bochum alumni RWTH Aachen University alumni Academic staff of the University of Vienna Writers from Cologne University of Bonn alumni 1967 births Living people Academic staff of Ruhr University Bochum Academic staff of the Leuphana University of Lüneburg