Brian Jacobson
@bleudeciel.bsky.social
The Cinema of Extractions (2025), Media Climates (2022), In the Studio (2020), Studios Before the System (2015)
Writing about Art, Media, Energy, Environment. Next book: oil, gas, and media culture in France+empire
Caltech Professor of Visual Culture
Writing about Art, Media, Energy, Environment. Next book: oil, gas, and media culture in France+empire
Caltech Professor of Visual Culture
Pinned
It is publication day for THE CINEMA OF EXTRACTIONS (@columbiaup.bsky.social), a book about the materials that make movies possible and how to read between the raw materials and the screen worlds they create.
Reposted by Brian Jacobson
November 19, 2025 at 1:09 AM
November 19, 2025 at 1:09 AM
We are hiring in American History - TT open rank search
applications.caltech.edu/jobs/history
applications.caltech.edu/jobs/history
November 17, 2025 at 9:11 PM
We are hiring in American History - TT open rank search
applications.caltech.edu/jobs/history
applications.caltech.edu/jobs/history
November 15, 2025 at 12:40 AM
call me humanist deadweight, but if you think it is an objectively logical and effective argument to equate how the humanities and sciences have, for centuries, shared a mission within the university with the 2000 AOL/Time Warner merger, you might need remedial humanities training, not "unyoking"
August 13, 2025 at 9:53 PM
call me humanist deadweight, but if you think it is an objectively logical and effective argument to equate how the humanities and sciences have, for centuries, shared a mission within the university with the 2000 AOL/Time Warner merger, you might need remedial humanities training, not "unyoking"
Reposted by Brian Jacobson
Discourse 46.3 is live! It features an absolutely essential piece reflecting on fascist times by Georges Didi-Huberman: "Why Obey?," skillfully translated by Heath Valentine from the short book Pour Quoi Obéir. Every piece in this issue is fantastic.
August 12, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Discourse 46.3 is live! It features an absolutely essential piece reflecting on fascist times by Georges Didi-Huberman: "Why Obey?," skillfully translated by Heath Valentine from the short book Pour Quoi Obéir. Every piece in this issue is fantastic.
shout out to The Cinema of Extractions in this review of work I wish I could get to Trondheim to see www.frieze.com/article/liv-...
Mythologies of a Green Petrostate: Liv Bugge’s ‘Umbilical Fire’
The artist’s show at Kunsthall Trondheim probes the stories we tell ourselves about oil – and proposes new ones
www.frieze.com
August 11, 2025 at 3:58 PM
shout out to The Cinema of Extractions in this review of work I wish I could get to Trondheim to see www.frieze.com/article/liv-...
Imperfect, but I would take one Jia film for every ten of the films on The NY Times’s Jia-less list
July 5, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Imperfect, but I would take one Jia film for every ten of the films on The NY Times’s Jia-less list
Have we also been trained—and trained our grads—that we only have time to read books’ introductions, which are often available online? Why buy the book if you only “need” to read the first 25 pgs? We need a culture of deeper reading practices, but that seems antithetical to the academic horse race
Here's a long thread on an issue dear to my heart. This Tuesday evening I’m doing an Intellectual Publics with Macarena Gomez-Barris on publishing. Like last year’s conversation with Denise Cruz, or the prior year’s with Racquel Gates, we will talk about how to find a publisher, turn a thesis... 1/
Remember to register!
Ken Wissoker in conversation with Macarena Gómez-Barris
Tues June 3rd at 6:30pm ET via Zoom
bit.ly/impossibleti...
Ken Wissoker in conversation with Macarena Gómez-Barris
Tues June 3rd at 6:30pm ET via Zoom
bit.ly/impossibleti...
June 2, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Have we also been trained—and trained our grads—that we only have time to read books’ introductions, which are often available online? Why buy the book if you only “need” to read the first 25 pgs? We need a culture of deeper reading practices, but that seems antithetical to the academic horse race
Reposted by Brian Jacobson
Okay LA... @bleudeciel.bsky.social is bringing the gang back together. Join us at Cal Tech on June 5-6 if you can, I'll be speaking on the 5th about Perut and Osnovikoff's Los Reyes, how to lie (down) like a dog, and the grundwerk of the great derangement of the senses.
LA-area folks, please join us next week, June 5-6, at Caltech, for a meeting of the Anthropocene Media Working Group with 2 days of talks and conversation. Details and registration here:
www.hss.caltech.edu/news-and-eve...
www.hss.caltech.edu/news-and-eve...
June 1, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Okay LA... @bleudeciel.bsky.social is bringing the gang back together. Join us at Cal Tech on June 5-6 if you can, I'll be speaking on the 5th about Perut and Osnovikoff's Los Reyes, how to lie (down) like a dog, and the grundwerk of the great derangement of the senses.
LA-area folks, please join us next week, June 5-6, at Caltech, for a meeting of the Anthropocene Media Working Group with 2 days of talks and conversation. Details and registration here:
www.hss.caltech.edu/news-and-eve...
www.hss.caltech.edu/news-and-eve...
May 29, 2025 at 6:40 PM
LA-area folks, please join us next week, June 5-6, at Caltech, for a meeting of the Anthropocene Media Working Group with 2 days of talks and conversation. Details and registration here:
www.hss.caltech.edu/news-and-eve...
www.hss.caltech.edu/news-and-eve...
One of our terrific undergrads turned Super Mario Brothers into a critique of American healthcare and published it in @invisibleculture.bsky.social
magazine.caltech.edu/post/the-pri...
magazine.caltech.edu/post/the-pri...
The Price to Live: A Video Game Takes on Healthcare — Caltech Magazine
By Cynthia Eller In the winter of 2024, Pranav Patil (BS ’24) had an epiphany. A Caltech computer science major from San Diego, Patil was considering which classes he should take in his final ...
magazine.caltech.edu
May 28, 2025 at 9:05 PM
One of our terrific undergrads turned Super Mario Brothers into a critique of American healthcare and published it in @invisibleculture.bsky.social
magazine.caltech.edu/post/the-pri...
magazine.caltech.edu/post/the-pri...
Coming up on May 29 at Caltech Visual Culture, I will be speaking with our current artist in residence, Jessica Segall about art, energy, and extraction
www.caltech.edu/campus-life-...
www.caltech.edu/campus-life-...
May 14, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Coming up on May 29 at Caltech Visual Culture, I will be speaking with our current artist in residence, Jessica Segall about art, energy, and extraction
www.caltech.edu/campus-life-...
www.caltech.edu/campus-life-...
The deadline for the special section of Leonardo about Art and Electric Light I am co-editing is coming up on June 2. Note that the submission word count is short: 2,500-5,000. Happy to answer questions.
leonardo.info/opportunity/...
leonardo.info/opportunity/...
April 28, 2025 at 9:23 PM
The deadline for the special section of Leonardo about Art and Electric Light I am co-editing is coming up on June 2. Note that the submission word count is short: 2,500-5,000. Happy to answer questions.
leonardo.info/opportunity/...
leonardo.info/opportunity/...
Reposted by Brian Jacobson
In an excellent interview w/ @thr.com, Brian Jacobson (@bleudeciel.bsky.social) talks about Hollywood's longstanding relationship to the oil industry and his new book, THE CINEMA OF EXTRACTIONS. www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/bus... @columbiaup.bsky.social
Hollywood Has Always Gushed About Fossil Fuels
From the silent era to the oil-crazed '50s to today, the two industries have been inextricably linked, says the author of the book 'Cinema of Extractions.'
www.hollywoodreporter.com
April 23, 2025 at 7:58 PM
In an excellent interview w/ @thr.com, Brian Jacobson (@bleudeciel.bsky.social) talks about Hollywood's longstanding relationship to the oil industry and his new book, THE CINEMA OF EXTRACTIONS. www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/bus... @columbiaup.bsky.social
Very excited to host @emmywaldman.bsky.social at Caltech Visual Culture next week
April 23, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Very excited to host @emmywaldman.bsky.social at Caltech Visual Culture next week
Reposted by Brian Jacobson
For The Hollywood Reporter's new Sustainability issue, I talked to @degenpener.bsky.social about The Cinema of Extractions @columbiaup.bsky.social @thr.com
Hollywood Has Always Gushed About Fossil Fuels
From the silent era to the oil-crazed '50s to today, the two industries have been inextricably linked, says the author of the book 'Cinema of Extractions.'
www.hollywoodreporter.com
April 22, 2025 at 5:51 PM
For The Hollywood Reporter's new Sustainability issue, I talked to @degenpener.bsky.social about The Cinema of Extractions @columbiaup.bsky.social @thr.com
For The Hollywood Reporter's new Sustainability issue, I talked to @degenpener.bsky.social about The Cinema of Extractions @columbiaup.bsky.social @thr.com
Hollywood Has Always Gushed About Fossil Fuels
From the silent era to the oil-crazed '50s to today, the two industries have been inextricably linked, says the author of the book 'Cinema of Extractions.'
www.hollywoodreporter.com
April 22, 2025 at 5:51 PM
For The Hollywood Reporter's new Sustainability issue, I talked to @degenpener.bsky.social about The Cinema of Extractions @columbiaup.bsky.social @thr.com
April 18, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Reposted by Brian Jacobson
"American cinema’s relationship to the climate crisis that threatens Hollywood ... w/ nearly annual bouts of dangerous wildfire is both deeply material and as old as film itself." -- Brian Jacobson (@bleudeciel.bsky.social), author of THE CINEMA OF EXTRACTIONS bit.ly/4ioli5I @columbiaup.bsky.social
Hollywood’s Climate Crisis A Very Short History Brian Jacobson - Columbia University Press Blog
Brian Jacobson highlights how Hollywood's financialization and resource dependency have exacerbated ecological crises.
bit.ly
April 16, 2025 at 3:54 PM
"American cinema’s relationship to the climate crisis that threatens Hollywood ... w/ nearly annual bouts of dangerous wildfire is both deeply material and as old as film itself." -- Brian Jacobson (@bleudeciel.bsky.social), author of THE CINEMA OF EXTRACTIONS bit.ly/4ioli5I @columbiaup.bsky.social
Reposted by Brian Jacobson
JOB POSTING: Prints and Drawings Curator, Getty Research Institute
An exciting opportunity to work with and shape a dynamic collection in a research-focused arts environment in the city of Los Angeles.
Please consider applying + amplify and circulate widely!
jobs-getty.icims.com/jobs/4581/cu...
An exciting opportunity to work with and shape a dynamic collection in a research-focused arts environment in the city of Los Angeles.
Please consider applying + amplify and circulate widely!
jobs-getty.icims.com/jobs/4581/cu...
Jobs (Getty Trust)
jobs-getty.icims.com
April 14, 2025 at 1:02 PM
JOB POSTING: Prints and Drawings Curator, Getty Research Institute
An exciting opportunity to work with and shape a dynamic collection in a research-focused arts environment in the city of Los Angeles.
Please consider applying + amplify and circulate widely!
jobs-getty.icims.com/jobs/4581/cu...
An exciting opportunity to work with and shape a dynamic collection in a research-focused arts environment in the city of Los Angeles.
Please consider applying + amplify and circulate widely!
jobs-getty.icims.com/jobs/4581/cu...
In good company
My #SCMS25 book haul!! Excited to dive into new (and new to me) works by Brian Jacobson @bleudeciel.bsky.social, Alison Griffiths, Tom Slater, Alyssa Lopez, Rielle Navitski, Jie Li, and more! @ucpress.bsky.social @columbiaup.bsky.social @templeunivpress.bsky.social
April 11, 2025 at 5:29 PM
In good company
Reposted by Brian Jacobson
Please come by the @columbiaup.bsky.social table at #SCMS2025 for books by @hennefem.bsky.social, @bleudeciel.bsky.social, Alison Griffiths, Rob King, and many more. bit.ly/3Eg8NLh
April 4, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Please come by the @columbiaup.bsky.social table at #SCMS2025 for books by @hennefem.bsky.social, @bleudeciel.bsky.social, Alison Griffiths, Rob King, and many more. bit.ly/3Eg8NLh