Consulting

Dr. Kane possesses over 15 years of experience in communications and media studies. For the last decade she has been analyzing how colour operates at the intersections of technology and creative culture.

Her extensive publications range from essays in the Harvard Design Magazine and the Cooper Hewitt’s Design Issues to interviews for ELLE USA. Her work has also appeared on podcasts, in public media and commonly in academic journals.

Her two monographs: Chromatic Algorithms: Synthetic Color, Computer Art, and Aesthetics After Code (University of Chicago Press, 2014) and High-Tech Trash: Glitch, Noise, and Aesthetic Failure (University of California Press, 2019) chart new terrain in media culture and design aesthetics. In the words of pioneering new media theorist Lev Manovich, Chromatic Algorithms is:

“the perfect example of what twenty-first century media history and theory should be—wide-reaching; attentive to the details of media and software technologies; bringing into conversation art, science, and code; and combining analysis of particular artifacts and artworks with institutional history. This is one book you must read, both for its methodology and ideas and the histories Kane uncovers. A fantastic achievement from a brilliant young scholar.”

In his review of High-Tech Trash, Stanford University Professor Fred Turner writes:

“Leonard Cohen sang ‘There’s a crack in everything … that’s how the light gets in.’ Here, Carolyn Kane teaches us how to see that light, one crack at a time.” –Fred Turner, Stanford University and author of The Democratic Surround: Multimedia and American Liberalism from World War II to the Psychedelic Sixties

Dr. Kane’s third book project, “Electrographic Architecture” examines colour in the history of twentieth century urban aesthetics.

She looks forward to consulting with you on projects related to color, design, and media culture!
For inquiries please contact Carolyn at: syntheticcolor@gmail.com