If we look beyond the purely formal implications and questions raised by VJing, we can ask what does VJing say about our world and our culture. We can be certain that VJing did not emerge only because of the evolution of technology, but also because it reflects particluar changes that have happened in western culture. What are these changes?
It would take a whole thesis to talk about them, but we can try to make a short list of things that have radically changed:
1. The crisis of the narrative format: while narratives are still going strong, they exist almos exclusively in the realm of entertainment. Narrations are no longer the way in which a (western) culture makes sense of reality, basically because lies and half-truths have taken over, in an overwhelming way. Narratives have fallen almost completely under the shadow of fiction.
2. Information overload in our daily lives, and our incapability of grasping everything. Lower attention spans and fragmentation are direct and visible consequences of this.
3. Crisis of leadership and a growing questioning of authority. If the author is no longer the authority and everything has been (at least potentially) opened to questioning, can we seriously expect to have the final word on anything, even our own "inventions"?
4. The desire to break up the old, establsihed assumptions. The deeply capitalist desire of being new and original. Why make cinema when I can re-invent it? In western countries, individuals have the illusion of being self-sufficient, but also face the pressing dilemma of "coming up with something different and exciting", or being condemned to rot among the grey masses.
5. According to Vilém Flusser[1], we can imagine culture as a gigantic transcoder, which has texts for inputs and images for outputs. Our images no longer represent the world directly, but rather they represent ideas about the world. An image does not correspond directly to a thing, but to the cultural discourse that has grown from that thing. Images, then, have become a new way of writing in western cultures.
What else?
[1] Vilem Flusser "The future of writing", in "Writings (Electronic Mediations)". University of Minnesota Press, 2002.
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1 comment:
addressing point by point:
1) I strongly disagree that narratives existence
are exclusive to entertainment.Historical and
elitist narratives are as vital as always. Its my
opinion that modern propaganda techniques
have made it increasingly difficult to discern
narrative realism and narrative fictionalisism.
So inevitably All becomes entertainment; with
equal value. Bush chocking on a pretzel, 20
palestinians slaughtered, Lady Di`s dirty
laundry.......bad theater alas ....but theater
nonetheless !! Unfortunately i would conclude
that western culture in general only makes
sense , especially towards itself and its own
reality , through the distorted prisms of its
narrative machine, which by definition of its
historical/hysterical self importance simply
cannot abide nor afford any crisis of doubt.
2/3) I believe these two to be intertwined. One
of the primary features of propaganda in
so called democratic societies is to
permit multiplicity of choice. The perfection
and ubiquitous use of what I would term...
FRAGMENTATORY SENSORY OVERLOAD.
is clearly if not deliberate at least well
orchestrated. As Marie Antoinette put it:
" let them eat cake "
In point of fact there is far less questioning
of authority than i can remember.Everything
might be open to question,( debateable) but
in my estimation... very little is....this going
back to the problem of deeply inherited and
endlessley re-iterated underlying
assumptions.As for ever expecting to have a
final word on anything, I would say we had
and for myself I damn well DO. Especially
that of my own invention ,translated to that
of my own toil..
4) What old assumptions? Yes desire is good ,
but talk is cheap. Yes, to rot among the grey
masses.....This being one of the most
pernicious,despicable narrative fictions ..
OF ALL. and to buy into that is examined quite
well in a document i would call narrative realism..
FAUST by GOETHE.
5) I venture to say that images have never
represented the world directly and probably
stoneage represented ideas of the world.
That image does not correspond directly to a
thing /person but a cultural discourse. has been
amply explored in a multitude of feminist
discourses.Images far from being a new way of
writing in western cultures, have been utilized
Flussers terms since at least the early middle
ages ( european). As for literary images,
havent these also always represented ideas,
of the world ? In view of the above discourse
how can a vj do but represent ideas which
have already been repeated endlessly and
much examination of the again ..underlying
premises on which those ideas are based
and formulated.
In conclusion clarity of any medium (art
form or otherwise) will always depend
on the clarity of the minds behind it. And
i believe artists of this era have a greater
responsibility towards this clarity than
ever before .
perhaps a good beginning would be to take
a favorite assumption.
" I think , therefore I am"
And cheerfully relegate it to the trash where
its long belonged.
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