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Project #1!

 Hito Steyerl discusses poor images in a few ways that motivated my project idea. She discusses a loss of presence and the distance from reality from images. Her words, “The poor image is a ghost of an image, a preview, a thumbnail, an itinerant image distributed for free,” stuck with me. Images and photography have drastically improved, and with the uprising of artificial intelligence, sometimes you have to question whether an image is actually real or not. Calling the image a “ghost” emphasizes that it lacks physical, real presence. What can appear on a screen is not the thing or the experience itself; a photo can remind you of an experience or perhaps help you envision it, but there is no real inherent nature you can experience from a photo or video.


Steyerl also shows that screens change how we experience things. “They lose matter and gain speed” is a quote that stuck with me. I found this phrase powerful through the wording “loosing matter,” which suggests the loss of physical reality, while “gaining speed” points to digital circulation. I believe too many people live life too rushed; it is hard to appreciate a glitchy, slow video in a world of unrealistic, and hyper engaging media. A twig or dried leaves, for example, do not seem significant to most people at first, but when you take a step back and think of where the stick came from, the seasons it survived, and all the other people and animals that could have seen this exact stick in different forms, it gains significance. 

Images shown through a screen lack real substance, and watching life through a screen distracts everyone from what is truly around you. What we experience through our screens is detached from physical presence. In my project I want to capture how perspective and engagement level can shape a real experience on earth in the present moment. I hope this project can draw attention to being where you are in the moment, while appreciating what is around you.

Here's my plan:

  1. OUTSIDE! I will film a video at the same time as experiencing my surroundings in real life (as most photos and videos are created)

  2. No video or photo will be able to give the feeling I will experience but I will use sound (mic on my shoe), sight (through a camera), and touch by using the texture of the nature around me

  3. I will edit the content obtained and hope to create a project that showcases the “moment” as best I can, through technology

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