“The contemporary world is hypervisual,” says media theorist Nicholas Mirzoeff. Television, computers, iPads, the Internet, and cell phones are associated with the increased distribution and reception of still and moving images. The global rise of cell phones in particular has enabled the proliferation of what filmmaker Hito Steyerl calls “poor images”—low-resolution film footage made all the more popular by platforms such as YouTube. In an age of accelerated digital imaging and communication technologies, the velocity with which information travels is such that it invests the image production with newfound power. This panel invites media scholars, curators, and artists to discuss how this endless stream of degraded, pixelated images, videos, and films has significantly altered the way we experience and understand our contemporary politicized world.
Participants include: Mariam Ghani, artist and writer; Lev Manovich, Digital Humanities, The Graduate Center, CUNY; Nicholas Mirzoeff, Media, Culture and Communication, New York University; Christiane Paul, Media Studies, The New School, and New Media Arts at The Whitney Museum of American Art; McKenzie Wark, Culture and Media, The New School.
Organized and moderated by Natalie Musteata, Art History, The Graduate Center, CUNY.
