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Reflections on medium specificity occasioned by the symposium 'Digital Light: Technique, Technology, Creation', Melbourne, 2011

Reflections on medium specificity occasioned by the symposium 'Digital Light: Technique, Technology, Creation', Melbourne, 2011
Reflections on medium specificity occasioned by the symposium 'Digital Light: Technique, Technology, Creation', Melbourne, 2011
Drawing on discussions at a symposium held in Melbourne in 2011, this article describes the reactions of artists, curators and software engineers to the varied transitions between analogue and digital media. The authors argue that both the ‘post-medium condition’ mooted by Krauss and the ‘Death of Cinema’ theses of film scholars like Rodowick and Mulvey miss critical issues in these transitions and over-emphasize others. We make the case that there are more continuities than often recognized between analogue and digital; that transitional forms like video have not been analysed sufficiently; that software studies needs to be backed up with hardware studies; and that there is a new role for medium- specific criticism. We argue that, in the current state of digital resources for production, distribution and display, each work needs to be analysed in its specificity, rather than ascribing universal qualities to imaginary abstractions such as ‘digital media’.
2045-6298
37-49
Cubitt, Sean
aad644d3-3b69-4ca8-a999-9b0f809eb729
Palmer, Daniel
dc9ccd4e-4cca-4e13-acb8-1393d0a9b55e
Walkling, Les
72a484de-1c29-48ad-adee-21018e4457e3
Cubitt, Sean
aad644d3-3b69-4ca8-a999-9b0f809eb729
Palmer, Daniel
dc9ccd4e-4cca-4e13-acb8-1393d0a9b55e
Walkling, Les
72a484de-1c29-48ad-adee-21018e4457e3

Cubitt, Sean, Palmer, Daniel and Walkling, Les (2012) Reflections on medium specificity occasioned by the symposium 'Digital Light: Technique, Technology, Creation', Melbourne, 2011. Moving Image Review & Art Journal (MIRAJ), 1 (1), 37-49. (doi:10.1386/miraj.1.1.37_1).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Drawing on discussions at a symposium held in Melbourne in 2011, this article describes the reactions of artists, curators and software engineers to the varied transitions between analogue and digital media. The authors argue that both the ‘post-medium condition’ mooted by Krauss and the ‘Death of Cinema’ theses of film scholars like Rodowick and Mulvey miss critical issues in these transitions and over-emphasize others. We make the case that there are more continuities than often recognized between analogue and digital; that transitional forms like video have not been analysed sufficiently; that software studies needs to be backed up with hardware studies; and that there is a new role for medium- specific criticism. We argue that, in the current state of digital resources for production, distribution and display, each work needs to be analysed in its specificity, rather than ascribing universal qualities to imaginary abstractions such as ‘digital media’.

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Published date: 2012
Organisations: Winchester School of Art

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Local EPrints ID: 300140
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/300140
ISSN: 2045-6298
PURE UUID: fc0d223a-6b00-45ef-805a-128c55644a07

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Date deposited: 20 Feb 2012 14:33
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 10:23

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Contributors

Author: Sean Cubitt
Author: Daniel Palmer
Author: Les Walkling

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