Week in Review Part 1

Mostly from a week ago....

I found and read an article on Chris Marker from the publication Art Press titled "Chris Marker: Truth, First Person Singular."

I pulled a few quotes from this short piece:

"...interlacing images of the real with visual interventions such as cartoons, photo montages, postcards, newspaper cuttings, catalogs, posters, comic strip sketches, fragments of newsreels, old illustrations..."

I was just struck by the vast amount of media this guy uses to express himself. I found it is a possible example to follow in terms of setting our work free from our usual forms of expression: pencil, paper, computer....

"...electronic media are the only noble medium for handling feeling, memory and imagination."

I can't remember is this was a direct quote but it matters not. I don't agree with it. In fact, truth is not in the medium itself, rather, the way it is used.

"..awareness of mortality..." - - digital technology = immortality

I have considered this idea before, where immortality cannot be had in the physical sense, like a super hero or a vampire, but can only be had in memory. Thus, if one was to live on, in an immortal sense, it would have to be through memory. Thus, one would have to do something memorable and then be granted immortality. Magnificent acts. Think Einstein, Washington, Lincoln, King, Hitler, Kahn, Bonaparte, Bin Laden, etc... Each attached to memory by some virtue, be it positive or negative.
Memories do not last thus they could be jogged by a record, such as a book. Therefore, one who did not invoke such a powerful memory could live on so long as their acts were recorded and people continued to read about them in books. Books, however, have a life of their own and, it could be argued, stories do as well.
In the age of the digital it is thought that records could last longer than the paper ones of old. I don't want to get to far into this, but I had stumbled upon a podcast by Jaron Lanier (on of the original creators of virtual reality) who talked about the inherent temporality of digital files due to the continuing upgrading of software. Therefore, as software releases become obsolete, their files will soon follow. This idea presents an interesting dilemma in the longevity of "life" that the digital can sustain.