Meta/dia two different approaches to the medial

In media philosophy since Benjamin, the concept of ‘medium’ is conceived in terms of translation or transport. In a similar vein, Christoph Tholen has brought the literal sense of metaphor as metapherein into focus. In this paper, I argue that Tholen’s approach misses the ‘meta’ (‘middle’ or ‘beyond’) of metaphor, corresponding to the Latin trans. This is contrasted with the Greek dia that allows the development of a performative notion of medium, which orients itself at material practices of transition.