NEW MEDIA CULTURES

STELARC and ORLAN

“The body can be amplified and accelerated, attaining planetary escape
velocity. It becomes a post-evolutionary projectile, departing and
diversifying in form and function.”

Whilst studying New Media Cultures, one of the most significant lectures that I found most interesting was based around the Post-human Technological in which we discussed the idea that all technologies are adjunct to the body.
We focused largely on “Stelarc” (Stelios Arcadiou) who is best known as an Australian Performance artist famous for his focus on futurism and extending capabilities of the human body. Most of his work consists of the production of technological prosthetics, which plug directly into the bodies nervous system, which then follow command. His overall aim is to achieve optimum body performance to amplify functionality.
Throughout the 70s and the 80s performed events based on the suspended body, through which he attempted to reveal the obsolescence of he body via engagement with technology. Additionally his other works include robotic arms and heads.

One of Stelarcs most recent works was to implant a cell cultivated ear beneath his skin on his forearm. He wanted the ear to look realistic and then have a microphone inserted into the prosthetic ear, and then communicate what the ear hears via Bluetooth directly onto his website. His aim was to explore the alternative anatomical structures.

“The first phase of technology contained the body, whereas now miniaturised tech can be implanted in the body. If tech is small, the body acts as if it were not there, it becomes a component”

I personally find Stelarc and his work highly fascinating due to his controversial methods of experimentation. He transcends all boundaries in order to elope into a techno-scientific phase and he made me realise that there are many people in contemporary society who are consistently trying to push the limits of technology. It is perhaps a little frightening to wonder where technologies will and the body embark next?

This brings me on to the works of female French Artist “Orlan” who is transforming her own personal appearance through the means of technological intervention and plastic surgery. Her desired outcome is to achieve “carnal art”, but she is not concerned with creating an image of beauty, instead she wishes to question the status of the body within contemporary society. Her works made me consider the almost image obsessed world in which we live and the beauty culture that is established with it. We need look no further than the celebrity culture infused magazines, television programmes such as “10 years younger”, or even billboards sporting size zero models.

I feel that society is dominated and influenced greatly by these new media cultures and the effects in which it has are often very negative repercussions. For example the development of eating disorders, the craving to achieve unattainable levels of body shape and beauty via the means of plastic surgery to enhance our overall appearance or extreme levels of self deprivation. Even revolutionary scientific developments such as Botox, body piercing and body art are all modes of enhancing the body via technological methods.

My interest with Orlan is similar to that of Stelarc in the way in which her works are of such a controversial nature. Perhaps Orlans most controversial piece was a documented study called “The head of Medusa” which was centred around “Freud’s” text on the Head of Medusa “At the sight of the Vulva even the Devil runs away”. Throughout the piece Orlan exposed her sexual organs under a magnifying glass.
Another of her most famous pieces was “The reincarnation of St Orlan” which began in 1990 and consisted of numerous surgeries of plastic surgery through which she wanted to morph into famous paintings and sculptures. One of the most famous is the “Mona Lisa”. Throughout this seminar I began to realise that ultimately new media cultures and technological advancement are essential to the development of the body and the desire to become a representation of the post-human technological. But one question remains unanswered and firmly in my mind, and that is where do we go from here? what is next? who knows? Hopefully the answers will prevail and with inspirations such as Stelarc and Orlan it is only a matter of time.

‘Videodrome’ (David Cronenburg 1982)

First it controlled her mind, then it destroyed her body... Long live the new flesh!

Whilst in seminars one of the areas we focused on was the “Real & the Virtual”, this was another that stood out for me as the core themes were centred around David Cronenburgs 1982 film called “Videodrome” and also the work of “Negroponte”, focusing mainly on ideas of Digital technology, Media Saturation and Realism.

Whilst looking at “Negroponte” we discussed ideas from his book “Being Digital” (1995). Within this book he draws upon ideas of how in the future society will develop into a movement of organised information rather than atoms. In essence “Negroponte” is offering his views that the future will become a digital era in which machines will be able to respond directly to our emotional states and requirements. It is feasible to distinguish that his predictions were highly valid when looking at society today. As we live in a communication era which has allowed technology and new media forms to develop into mechanisms that are actually respondent to our needs. We need look no further than the internet, as all one must do is type in a search engine the information they are looking for and nearly 1000 different related topics will appear with links. Essentially “Negroponte” believes that as time goes on of that society will transcend into a digital liberation that will become incorporated into all elements of our existence. Similarly “Cronenberg” looks at the consequences in which interaction with technology can have upon the human state of mind and self, within his film “Videodrome”

In “Videodrome” the storyline follows the character “Max Ren” president of CIVIC-TV, a UHF television station who is constantly on the search for new material to enthral his viewers and take them to a new level. The pirate dish picks up transmission clips from a show called “Videodrome” which depicts torture and murder in a bright orange room. Max becomes obsessed to get a hold of the programme to put on his station and sets out on a mission to find out who is in charge of it. Unfortunately Max gets more than he bargained for when he soon learns that 'Videodrome' is an experiment that uses regular TV transmissions to permanently alter the viewer’s perceptions by giving them brain damage. Max soon gets caught up in the forces that created Videodrome and the people who control it, and his body turns into a weapon to fight against the global conspiracy. The film suggests to the audience that at times it is hard to determine between the real and virtual reality, in ‘Cronenbergs’ case between the real world and “Videodrome”.
It is in my view that what “Cronenberg” is making reference to is the ways in which we sometimes merge fiction with real life, as sometimes fictional narratives of TV programmes run parallel with real life. A clear example of this could be when in the TV soap “Brookside” saw a scandal of the “Jordash” family involving wrong imprisonment. This storyline had such an effect on the audience and the national public that they started “Free Beth Jordash campaigns all around the country”. What I suppose I am trying to suggest is that sometimes it can be very confusing for some people to differentiate between the fictional and non fictional events, when people become super engulfed in the new media cultures that we are somewhat involuntary exposed to on a daily basis.
Perhaps one may speculate further and suggest sometimes new media forms especially that centred round virtual reality or cyberspace, can often leave people feeling deluded by unrealistic ideas. With regards to “Videodrome” it takes on some of the ideas of “Jean Baudrillard” and the view that our lives are now nothing other than parodies of what we seen on the screens around us, as we begin to compare ourselves to the idealistic portrayals of characters on screen ore even celebrity lifestyles. “Baudrillard” often suggests that all that remains is the image, I strongly agree with this notion, because if we take for example the celebrity lifestyle and look at the representation of it within current media cultures. We are instantly subjected to a series of images that display a lifestyle of luxury, beauty and wealth, all of which are highly fictionalised. Nothing is ever as it appears in my view and new media cultures can often mislead a person into seeing something that isn’t actually real, but instead a fabricated lifestyle enhanced by the media who generate ideas which we then believe to be true. It is almost as if the clutter of reality is removed in order to make things s more appealing to audiences and take us into a more virtual understanding of life. Thus we are in danger of becoming parodies of ourselves, especially with social networking sites online such as Myspace and Facebook.
After researching closer into the social networking services online I soon began to realise that they give the opportunity to create extended personalities of ourselves where we can be whatever we want or desire. As I inspected closer to these online sites it became apparent that pages and profiles of people who had died were still free to view. It creates the illusion that we can live on and that immortality is available online, and it made me think and question weather we have slowly slipped into becoming part of a mediated cyber world.

In conclusion to the Real and the Virtual and after close inspection into the
Works of “Cronenberg” and “Negropontes” it seems to be the case that their ideas have some element of truth as they ultimately insinuate that contemporary society is becoming less and less engaged in the real and instead more consumed with forms of mediated entertainment. There is somewhat of an appealing attraction of the virtual world and it becomes abiding fantasy for many, as it can offer them hope. Although “Videodrome” arguably explores the fetishism of violence with politics via hardcore reality, where both the virtual and the real become indistinguishable. Much similar to the two worlds of replicants and humans in Blade Runner. Ultimately it is the idea of oblivion no longer needing to exist as technology has been able to capture the essence of it.

Global Communication the evolution of Technology

Throughout last semester’s seminars and lectures I found that the lecture on ‘The emergence of Globalisation’ was particularly interesting. I strongly agree with the idea’s surrounding many aspects of globalisation and felt I’d like to discuss it further within the blog.
Effectively Globalisation is the world becoming more economically advanced within a variety of different dimensions. The key dimensions of globalisation include in no particular order:
• Culture
• Environment
• Society
• Politics
• Economy
All of the above factors are implicit in the development of globalisation and there are clear examples of them been displayed everyday within contemporary culture. Additionally Globalisation has ultimately enabled and influenced the development of new media cultures as there is now a sense that technology has the ability to resolve problems. New Media is in essence essential to cultural and global convergence.
In terms of culture as an element of globalisation it is perhaps identifiable in the advancement of Westernised and Americanised cultural values been infiltrated into the Eastern sphere of the globe. What I mean by this is for example the way in which Hollywood blockbusters can be viewed all around the world via mass means of communication or the Westernized beliefs of Democracy is in my view one of the most successful by products of Globalisation. One may look no further than the ideas of sociologist ‘George Ritzer’ in his book ‘The McDonaldisation of Society’. Where he takes on the debate that society takes on the characteristics of a fast food restaurant in the way in which what was once only available in America is now available worldwide even in the most deprived areas. On the contrary it is imperative to note that local traditional cultures still remain firmly in place yet they too advance onto other cultures. For example Chinese food has become part of British contemporary culture; many of us eat it as part of our everyday lives. It is in my view that Globalisation has allowed us to move from local culture into Multi-cultural dimensions of thought and living.

Environmentally speaking problems such as Global warming, the O-Zone layer becoming bigger and the deforestation of the Tropical rainforests best illuminate Globalisation. However it is not just global environmental damage but it is happening in local places closer to home. We need look no further than the pollution of rivers and tiny islands states affected by the increase of sea levels.
The Social dimensions of globalisation is the way in which we have developed into a global village that allows us to project mass forms of communication all over the world. With advances of social networking sites like Facebook, My space and MSN we are now able to communicate locally and internationally with one another. Email, video calling and instant messaging services have enabled an era of digital technology to improve the social spheres in which we move within, in much more efficient and technologically advanced methods.
Looking at the political aspects of globalisation in relation to New Media cultures I believe that politics has been enhanced and more widely understood by many different societies on a global level. This was perhaps only made possible by mass media forms such as the Internet, News 24 and newspapers. One must still understand that politics has always enthralled many people for hundreds of years but the development of new media technologies has acted as a catalyst to raise more awareness with the problems of globalisation and the political spectrum in which we live today.

" The personal and social onsequences of any medium - that is, of any extension of ourselves - result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technoly" Marshall McLuhan

Within todays contemporary society it is feasible to distinguish the radical and ever changing technological advancements that are been made on a daily basis. They are what are known as New Media Cultures within the realm of the Mass Media. Throughout this blog i seek to explore the various forms in which these New Media's are taking shape and the ways in which they can inform and illuminate all aspects of everyday life and i will be drawing upon themes and topics from my semianrs and lectures that i found particualrly interesting. Aditionally I wish to look at the way in which they have become embedded deep within modern day social practices and inspect how we have emerged into a "Hybridization of media forms".

More than any other New Media Technology, the Internet has greatly influenced and represented the idea of change and a concept of the New within contemporary culture. Is is imperative to understand that many cultural forms that we as consumers are bombarded with are both part of technology but also part of our own cultural expression. As the development of such media technologies is dependant upon two important factors, which are the technological and cultural conditions present within society today.