Pre-socratic media theory

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.