Abstract

According to common sense cultural history is propelled by grand ideas. Contrary to this view a material history will be defended. Artists have always taken the lead in the exploration of new technologies that mediate human perception. The modern worldview has been instigated by the artistic domestication of the camera obscura and its successors: the photocamera and tv. These technologies produced the spectator who was enthroned by Descartes as the modern autonomous subject. Contemporary digital technologies call for the overthrow of the obsolete paradigm of autonomy. Art paves the way for new subject-productions.