Ethereal Shadows

Ethereal Shadows: Communications and Power in Contemporary Italy
By: Franco "Bifo" Berardi, Marco Jacquemet, Gianfranco Vitali
ISBN 978-1-57027-188-5 : price $12.95 : 148 pages

Focusing on Italian “videocracy,” Ethereal Shadows documents the emergence of the first Italian media mogul, Silvio Berlusconi, and his rises and falls from political power. It also explores Italian media activism through three case studies: a discussion of the first autonomous free radio station, Radio Alice (broadcasting in Bologna between 1977 and 1979); a review of Italian Internet activism focusing on the site Rekombinant.org (launched in 2000); and a chronicle of the emergence of OrfeoTV in 2002, the first illegal micro-TV station in Italy.

What they're saying about Ethereal Shadows:

    “ETHEREAL SHADOWS is a landmark achievement in contemporary media studies: a must read for anyone who wants to understand contemporary media power— the impasses of totalitarian spectacular power as well as the exodus routes of autonomous constituent communication powers.” — Jack Z. Bratich, author of CONSPIRACY PANICS

    “In a not-so-distant TV-centric regime, against a background of tightening media control and rising levels of mental pollution, a postmedia battle unfolds over the future of the social brain… More than a simple chronicle of the rise of Berlusconi’s videocratic power, more than a useful inventory of Italian media activists’ inventions (from free radios to the microantennas of StreetTV), Ethereal Shadows reveals the global challenges to autonomous expression opened by the neuro-electronic mutations of the collective mind.” – Tiziana Terranova, author NETWORK CULTURE

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