This week we will be reading the first three chapters from Jonathan Crary’s text Techniques of the Observer (MIT Press 1990). Given the length of the three chapters, I have also selected an alternate that is somewhat of a condensed version of the book published in October (v 45 1988) under the title, “Techniques of the Observer.”

Crary’s text should serve as an extension of the discussion on optics, vision, and perspective that Onur initiated last week with Alpers’s text. Crary’s work has served as a great resource for my research, and I hope that it will clarify some points of our discussion from last week and serve to open new discussions for the forthcoming weeks.