Discovery and Experimentation

Dedicated to distilling the world’s data, information and knowledge into beautiful, interesting and, above all, useful visualizations, infographics and diagrams.

Christian Marclay-THE CLOCK (2010)

Marshall McLuhan’s ‘the Medium is the Message’ theory questions the importance of the actual data in a message, compared to the medium used to communicate this information. McLuhan states “any medium has the power of imposing its own assumption on the unwary”. For example, he relates the power of the medium to abstract painting, where the final product is a “direct manifestation of creative thought processes”. 

  In the present age, digital media seems to be the singular medium; most things eventually become digitalised. In this contemporary environment, I feel that the sheer quantity of digital media creates an aura of public knowledge and shared ideas, however, the reality is far from that. There are many limitations and restrictions surrounding ones use of this medium. So what is the message of digitalisation?

  Desensitisation On the bus home from work every night, I’m usually catching up on whatever has happened on Facebook, Instagram or my emails in the past few hours, completely unaware of the world around me until I reach my stop. So one night, I decided to turn my attention to my surroundings, photographing what I miss every night. A recent exhibition ‘Sensory Overload’ at the McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Garden, in Victoria, displayed Australian artists who experimented with media art, and the increasing amount of new technology available to creative practitioners. This really responds to this area of my research, in questioning the role technology plays on how one interprets the surrounding world. I think my photographs are a good visualisation of my mental distance from the physical world I live in, and the confusion that follows from that. There are many issues that stem from this, not in the least that living within a virtual bubble doesn’t mean physical separation from the world-our actions carry weight and have consequences.

  Inteconnectivity If anything, the digitalisation of our world has resulted in a mass of connectivity and awareness. One artist who has extensively worked with this area of thought is Karen Casey, in one of her latest installations, ‘Dreamzone’ (2012). As a practitioner, Casey is keen to explore the interconnectivity of humans, and our place in the universe. This particular work examines the relationship between human consciousness and experience of the world, through scientific and technical collaboration. My next area of research involved the construction of a world globe, and connecting specific cities/countries/areas to each other, as an extension of the extent to which the digital medium shapes and controls the ways we interact and associate with others. The digital medium creates an aura of connectivity, whilst the reality is often isolation and disjuncture, as we engage with this medium in order to relate to a physical other.

  Self-Obsession In an abstract way, I wanted to explore the increasing control that the digital medium seems to have over us, as a society that always looks to progress as the force driving us forward through time. Stemming from the popular belief that knowledge=power, I took a quasi-evolutionary approach that emphasised how digitalization has seemingly reversed this concept. I drew an anatomical torso, with labels that respond to the intrinsic nature of the changes brought by digitalization. Whilst the physical message of digital media may contain a wealth of knowledge and resources, the actual message seems to be a direct encouragement of self-indulgence and image obsession.

  Final work

For my final project, I initially wanted to publish, in a physical book, some of my instagram photos, because I think this would interestingly illustrate how the medium influences our understanding of various information. Instagram is usually regarded as novice photography, and not really taken seriously by the wider world. So I think it would be interesting to gauge different people’s reaction to these same photos in a published format, and the extent to which the medium shapes this interaction. If I had more time and resources, this is probably the direction I would want to take with this project.

  For my final body of work, I compiled various sound clips from advertisements, news reports and the digital medium in general, to create a sound artwork. Whilst my technical skills in this area are relatively non-existent, I am quite happy with the result. The noise builds to a point of almost incoherency in the middle,  and throughout it, I have highlighted key phrases that speak to this project. E.g. Loreal “You’re worth it” – self-obsession. It really conveys the main conclusions of my research-that the message of digitalisation is mainly self-obsession, as, consequently, it can potentially result in desensitisation of the world around us, despite the interconnectivity it promotes. The information controls us, as by its very nature, the digital medium relies on human engagement.

    Bibliography

  Casey, Karen. ‘Dreamscape’ (2012). Video of installation available online at: http://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/exhibitions/past/2012/national_new_media_art_award_2012/artists/karen_casey. (Retrieved September 2 2014)

  Donwood, Stanley. ‘Hail to Thief’ (2003). Print

  Carters, Charlotte. ‘Sensory Overload’, (2014). Online essay available at: http://www.mcclellandgallery.com/index.php?page=essay. (Retrieved 1 September, 2014).

  Gillespie, A. ‘The Message of the Medium: Distributing Academic Knowledge in The Digital Age’ (2010). Europe’s Journal of Psychology 2, 1-6.

  Joachimesque, ‘Paper Globe’ (Online). Available at: http://joachimesque.com/globe/#7. (Retrieved 10 August 2014).

My final body of work-using various sound clips from advertisements, news reports and the digital medium in general, I created a sound artwork. It really conveys the main conclusions of my research-that the message of digitalisation is mainly self-obsession. The information controls us, as by its very nature, the digital medium relies on human engagement. We live in a virtual buzz, physically distances and desensitised from the vast amount of information available to us via the digital medium.

With this experiment, I wanted to explore, in a more abstract sense, how the digital medium has re-wired our social behaviours, maybe for better, maybe for worse, or both. We often view digitalisation as a massive negative force in play in the contemporary world. However, this revolutionary medium has radically altered society in many positive ways. Safety, long-distance relationships, knowledge of the wider world, instant news, etc. These are all amazing things. And yes, there is a negative flip-side. Cyber-crime, piracy, encouragement of self-indulgence and image obsession. Anyway, with this element of my research, I wanted to explore some thoughts that I expressed in a previous post:

So…this experiment was basically formed from the radical social implications that have resulted from the digital medium. Visually, a good way to represent this is through globalisation; a worldwide movement towards integration. 

I constructed a paper globe, and then used string to connect various cities and nations. I think this communicates how the digital medium predicts the order and chaos of the world, shaping and forming human association and action.  

I guess the result is a bit cliche, but that doesn't make it invalid. Digitalisation, and in particular our engagement with this medium, determines our interaction with the wider physical world. 

Second experiment in process…I am constructing a paper globe...