The Center for Global Culture and Communication
&
The Media Aesthetics Project
jointly present:
Spectacles of Information
October 23 & 24, 2025
9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Kresge 1515
Convened by
Dilip Gaonkar (Rhetoric, Media, and Publics)
& Patrick Noonan (Asian languages and Cultures)
Funding for the event is provided by a global catalyst grant from the
Buffett Institute of Global Affairs
Spectacles of Information
When does the transmission of data become a form of spectacular display? What are the implications of this transformation for how we understand perception, knowledge, and contemporary experience? “Spectacles of Information” investigates the mechanisms through which digitized information is aestheticized, commodified, and transformed into spectacle, reshaping how we engage with and perceive the world. The saturation of daily life by constant mediation—through screens, interfaces, and algorithms—provides a foundation for examining how information operates not merely as content but as a sensory and aesthetic experience that shapes contemporary subjectivity.
Building on the media aesthetics project, this workshop investigates the relationship between info-centrism and spectacularization in our technological present. We examine how the phenomenological qualities of digital media influence our engagement with information: how digitization is intertwined with domains like finance, social media, and data visualization. By framing spectacle as a perceptual phenomenon, we explore the interplay between sensory experience, data flows, and technical processes. In doing so, this workshop considers how aesthetic approaches might uncover insights into the cultural and experiential implications of digital spectacularization.