Flatline Constructs: Gothic Materialism and Cybernetic Theory-Fiction

Completed in 1999 during his time with the Cybernetic Culture Research Unit, Mark Fisher’s PhD thesis, Flatline Constructs, invents a fusion of culture, critique, and radical philosophy that would define his signature style from Capitalist Realism to Acid Communism. Drawing on sources from David Cronenberg to Gilles Deleuze and William Gibson, Fisher presents a Gothic vision of cyberpunk reality, in which Man and media are drawn ever closer together, and life and death are never truly far apart.