Relics of acceleration: a field guide

Gair Dunlop

Relics of acceleration: a field guide

Gair Dunlop

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

Abstract

Scale, mass, solidity and haunting bulk are factors that are unavoidable when thinking about twentieth-century military and experimental scientific structures. Whether sites of state science or defence, they have many aspects in common: secrecy, a cultivated sense of unknowability and a paradoxical relation between intangibility of subject and solidity of structure. This chapter reflects on some of these places as key sites in the modern history of speed in the UK. Acceleration takes on different guises in each. The specific historical contingency of these sites also leaves space for re-imaginings and alternative possibilities to be considered without the pessimistic inevitability that a focus on contemporary military futurism would yield.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Virilio and visual culture
Editors	John Armitage, Ryan Bishop
Place of Publication	Edinburgh
Publisher	Edinburgh University Press
Pages	207-226
Number of pages	20
ISBN (Print)	9780748654444, 9780748654451
Publication status	Published - 2013

Publication series

Name	Critical connections
Publisher	Edinburgh University Press

Keywords

Military simulation
Virilio
contemporary archaeology

Access to Document

Embargoed Document

Proof pdf of entire book
Submitted manuscript, 3 MB
Embargo ends: 31/12/99

1 Citations
3 Article

Gateways to Bletchley
Dunlop, G., Jul 2014, In: Cultural Politics. 10, 2, p. 151-162 12 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Open Access
File
2 Citations (Scopus)

168 Downloads (Pure)
'The aerodrome': art, heritage and landscape at former RAF Coltishall
Schofield, J., Cocroft, W., Boulton, A., Dunlop, G. & Wilson, L. K., Feb 2012, In: Journal of Social Archaeology. 12, 1, p. 120-142 23 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
7 Citations (Scopus)
The War Office: Everyday Environments and War Logistics
Dunlop, G., Jul 2008, In: Cultural Politics. 4, 2, p. 155-160 6 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Cite this

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abstract = "Scale, mass, solidity and haunting bulk are factors that are unavoidable when thinking about twentieth-century military and experimental scientific structures. Whether sites of state science or defence, they have many aspects in common: secrecy, a cultivated sense of unknowability and a paradoxical relation between intangibility of subject and solidity of structure. This chapter reflects on some of these places as key sites in the modern history of speed in the UK. Acceleration takes on different guises in each. The specific historical contingency of these sites also leaves space for re-imaginings and alternative possibilities to be considered without the pessimistic inevitability that a focus on contemporary military futurism would yield. ",

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KW - contemporary archaeology

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SN - 9780748654451

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PB - Edinburgh University Press

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ER -

Relics of acceleration: a field guide

Abstract

Publication series

Keywords

Access to Document

Embargoed Document

Fingerprint

Research output

Gateways to Bletchley

'The aerodrome': art, heritage and landscape at former RAF Coltishall

The War Office: Everyday Environments and War Logistics

Cite this