In and Out of Focus: The Cultural Dynamics of Mediation and Landscape

Summary, in English

There are interesting links between older viewing aids like the 1800th Century Claude Glass and recent photographic consumer products like the iPhone application Instagram and the spread of HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography. I will examine these links by juxtaposing them to some issues raised by landscape- and environmental art, as well as theoretical discussions of mediation and landscape.

The point of departure for the presentation will be my artwork Close to Nature, which is

based on an alternative use of a product called the Intenso Viddy. The Viddy is a cheap video messenger marketed as a lifestyle/mobility-gadget. With it’s inconspicuous technological features and its magnetic rear panel it is meant to be used as a video messenger/fridge magnet, and a mundane domestic social mediation device. I’ve used the Viddy in an alternative way to provoke new questions and perspectives on questions about mediation and landscape. (see: http://robertwillim.com/portfolio/ transmutations-of-nature ). Close to Nature will be the starting point for the discussions of the cultural dynamics of landscape and mediation technologies from the Claude Glass to Instagram.

• Författare: Robert Willim
• Avdelning/ar: Avdelningen för etnologi
• Publiceringsår: 2012
• Språk: Engelska
• Dokumenttyp: Konferensbidrag
• Ämne: Ethnology
• Nyckelord: Landscape; Mediation; Video Art; Cultural Analysis; Artistic Research
• Conference name: Digital Cameras as a Nexus in Everyday Life. Second NNDV workshop, part of Helsinki Photomedia Conference
• Conference date: 2012-03-28 - 2012-03-30
• Status: Unpublished
• Forskningsgrupp: Etnologiska institutionen (LU),