25.04.2006
We have all heard of the Stone Age, the Industrial Age and even the Ice Age but how many of us actually know about the age we are living in now? Modernity, or indeed 'accelerated modernity', is what we see all around us; it is the iPods we listen to, it is the multi-national companies we buy from, but it is also very difficult to explain – possibly why so many of us know so little about it.
However, one man who does understand the concept is Steve Redhead, Professor of Sport and Media Cultures at the university, and he will be giving a lecture on the subject on May 16. The event, taking place in Hillbrow at Chelsea School in Eastbourne, will focus mainly on the speeding-up of sport and sport media in our culture but will also look at fandom and the impact of information technology.
The lecture, interestingly entitled: 'Those absent from the stadium are always right', draws on some of Professor Redhead's more recent work including two books published in 2004 about the controversial French urban and cultural theorist, Paul Virilio. His ideas include the celebration within society of a 'speed cult', where time and space are collapsed and the people who can keep up with time and the latest developments are the one's who prosper.
These ideas are all directly related to the title of the lecture whereby events, such as football matches, can now be viewed all around the globe – in different time zones, languages and with different rules – and can then be studied, commented upon and written about in such contexts as fanzines and more recently web logs.
Professor Redhead said: "The impact of information and communication technology in collapsing time and distance in the media will be incredibly prevalent at this year's World Cup."
Professor Redhead has worked as far a field as Perth where he was a specialist policy adviser on Culture, Media and Sport for the Office of the Premier in the State Government of Western Australia. He has also studied in the UK at the universities of Manchester and Warwick.Written by James Walker-Roberts
Contact: Marketing and Communications, University of Brighton, 01273 643022
