[-empyre-] First Theme and Guests - the Thickness of the Screen

[Julian Oliver]

..on Thu, Sep 03, 2009 at 09:56:52AM +0000, Pall Thayer wrote:
> Actually, I agree also that media are not necessarily material. I was attempting to avoid 
> addressing this altogether for now because I wanted to clear up other things regarding 
> physical media specifically. As Jose Carlos mentions, in the case of cinema, the theater itself 
> is a medium. But it's not just the physical properties of the theater. It's the "aura" of the 
> theater as well. The same thing can be said of the gallery. There is a distinct immaterial 
> character that has a huge impact on our mediated experience and we can really sense this 
> when we see art in non-gallery settings. It's a very different experience.

Yes, taking a Phenomenological angle on this, from Plato's synthesising plane of
cognition onward, there is no medium only mediation. All that can be discussed
falls purely within the realm of experience, of impressing effects. To follow
this trope is to place all Screens somewhere along the vector between corporeal
mechanism and the sense-making apparatus of a person.  

SciFi references to screens in a holographic context, or in the case of
Augmented Reality, could be seen as the literal manifestation of this idea: the
screen is any inset plane of representation to which content can be dynamically
written. 

Why is a mirror not considered a screen? A mirror is the world writing to
itself.

That we discuss the screen's depths, a projecting plane comprised of material
parts, is evidence that for us the screen is already fictitious: here we are
/giving/ it materiality, not taking it away!

Cheers,

Julian

> > 
> > 
> > From: Pall Thayer <palli at pallit.lhi.is>
> > Reply-To: soft_skinned_space <empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
> > Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2009 01:18:43 +0000
> > To: soft_skinned_space <empyre at gamera.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
> > Subject: Re: [-empyre-] First Theme and Guests - the Thickness of the Screen
> > 
> > Literature is not a medium. The medium of literature is
> > print. Film is a medium but only if you're talking about the film that
> > you wind up on spools. The wider class of "film" or "cinema" is a
> > collection of various media.
> > 
> > Simon Biggs
> > Research Professor
> > edinburgh college of art
> > s.biggs at eca.ac.uk
> > www.eca.ac.uk
> > www.eca.ac.uk/circle/
> > 
> > simon at littlepig.org.uk
> > www.littlepig.org.uk
> > AIM/Skype: simonbiggsuk
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Edinburgh College of Art (eca) is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC009201
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> -- 
> Pall Thayer
> artist/teacher
> http://www.this.is/pallit
> http://130.208.220.190
> http://130.208.220.190/nuharm
> http://130.208.220.190/panse
> 
> _______________________________________________
> empyre forum
> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> http://www.subtle.net/empyre

-- 
Julian Oliver
home: New Zealand
based: Madrid, Spain
currently: Madrid, Spain 
about: http://julianoliver.com