[-empyre-] locative media, approach and context

[Josephine Bosma <jesis@xs4all.nl>]

hello Empyreans,


I have just read all of this month's posts and thought to just put in
my two euro cents

Recently I was part of an evening on locative media in the Stedelijk
Museum (contemporary art museum) of Amsterdam. In search of a way to
adress the very different approaches of the invited speakers in the
context of the museum we decided to simplify the terrain by giving it
a place in a well known theoretical approach to media, that of
Marshall McLuhan. We said that locative media were taking McLuhan's
ideas on media, basically technology as an extension of the body, a
step further by leaving the body almost behind. Locative media could
be seen as an extension of the mind rather then of the body. Locative
media require a perception of space that is more distant and abstract,
despite their apparent connection to physical locations (the mind is
also not without physical location). It seems as if our perception of
space, and our interpretation of it, is now even more in the hands of
medial representation: there is the illusion of a more real and direct
perception of the physical world in locative media. One can ask
oneself questions as to how this influences us again, since the media
(and that is not McLuhan but Kittler:) create the message.

url to that evening, so you know which speakers were there:
http://www.stedelijk.nl/oc2/page.asp?PageID=830


best wishes,


J
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