On the Cultural-Historical Background of Synthetic Imaging

In order to specifically comprehend – in the sense of Hans Blumenberg – the “context of meaning” of 3D computer graphics this chapter synthesizes all the findings from the previous chapters into a larger cultural-historical concept. The synthesis takes place with reference to The Machine in the Garden: Technology and the Pastoral Ideal in America by the US cultural historian and American studies researcher Leo Marx published in 1964. Marx can be and has been accused of perpetuating the narrative of US exceptionalism with his study, thereby simultaneously expressing the idea of a uniform and thus one-sided historiography for the United States and ignoring factors such as social class, ethnic origin or gender-related developments. Nevertheless, he does describe paradigmatic developments in the United States making exceptionalist worldviews rather visible. Since computer graphics can be put into relation with those, its exceptionalist tendencies also become visible. In this sense, Marx&s;s examination of the technological progress in the United States and its effects on the cultural developments there is used in conclusion for the question of what the emergence of graphics software means for the practice of image-making on the computer.