Abstract
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Drawing inspiration from Siegfried Zielinski’s ground-breaking study of media
archaeology, Deep Time of the Media, this paper explores the potential for pre-Socratic
philosophy to provide a model for alternative conceptions of mediation within
contemporary media art. It argues that pre-Socratic philosophy develops notions of
mediation that extend beyond the contemporary focus on technical media. In their
exploration of fundamental dynamic principles within nature and in their sensitivity to the
uncertain relation between truth, appearance and finite human understanding, they
suggest diverse conceptions of mediation that have continuing critical and creative
relevance.