Acknowledgements
This book would not have been possible without the help of many generous
colleagues and supportive institutions. My sincere thanks go to my former col-
legues in the cross-disciplinary research projectMedia Aestheticsat the Univer-
sity of Oslo and the University of Copenhagen: Liv Hausken, Ina Blom, Arild
Fetveit, and Susanne Østby Sæther. The idea for this book was born and devel-
oped during this project. This research project was financed by the Norwegian
Research Council and generously hosted by the Department of Media and
Communication at the University of Oslo. Thanks also to the National Library
of Norway for support in the book’s final stages. Most importantly, thanks to
the contributors for taking part in the joint book seminar at Lysebu Conference
Center overlooking the woods of Oslo in, where these ideas were consoli-
dated and developed during lectures, presentations, conversations and idle
talks into the night. Thank you also to the Society of Cinema and Media Studies
for hosting several of the papers at their conferences over the past decade. Talks
and conversations with colleagues and students at these conferences and at our
respective universities and institutions also helped foster these ideas. Thanks
also to Christian Refsum, Nevena Ivanova, Jihoon Felix Kim, Jon Inge Faldalen,
D.N. Rodowick, W.J.T. Mitchell, Mary Ann Doane and Alexander Galloway for
inspiration and idle talks, and finally, to Thomas Elsaesser for making this pub-
lishing project possible. Thanks also to our tireless copy editor, wordsmith Kier-
sten Leigh Johnson.
Eivind Røssaak
Oslo, Berlin and New York, March/April