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Satellite Border Footprint/Gabriel Menotti (view source)
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== Pingback (the echo as a measure existence) == | == Pingback (the echo as a measure existence) == | ||
This reflection came to me when I was talking to Lena and Tatjana over breakfast, and I hope it can be turned into a proper essay. I think we were discussing different forms of amateur radio. Lena explained that, once radio enthusiasts catch a transmission from a distant station (say, from another continent), they often send a postcard back to it, acknowledging date, time and place of reception. | This reflection came to me when I was talking to [http://web.uni-weimar.de/medien/wiki/Satellite_Border_Footprint/Lena_Br%C3%BCggemann Lena] and [http://web.uni-weimar.de/medien/wiki/index.php5?title=Satellite_Border_Footprint/Tatjana_Vukelic&action=edit&redlink=1 Tatjana] over breakfast, and I hope it can be turned into a proper essay or a small exhibition. I think we were discussing different forms of amateur radio. Lena explained that, once radio enthusiasts catch a transmission from a distant station (say, from another continent), they often send a postcard back to it, acknowledging date, time and place of reception. | ||
Being a postcard enthusiast myself, I was amazed by this very extravagant way of saying roger. Later on the day, it led me to think about how different systems of communication (in that case, radio transmission and snail mail) supplement each other in a media circuit. This interaction of different systems was also crucial for Galloway and Rabinowitz’s Hole-in-Space. As Lisa | Being a postcard enthusiast myself, I was amazed by this very extravagant way of saying roger. Later on the day, it led me to think about how different systems of communication (in that case, radio transmission and snail mail) supplement each other in a media circuit. This interaction of different systems was also crucial for Galloway and Rabinowitz’s ''Hole-in-Space''. As [http://web.uni-weimar.de/medien/wiki/Satellite_Border_Footprint/Lisa_Parks Lisa] reports [http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10509200500486288 on her paper], even thought it was live satellite transmission that created the sheer possibility of a transnational video window, the public occupation of this structure was caused by very traditional word of mouth. | ||
These “multimedia” crossovers seem to partake of the same ontological dynamics essential to any process of mediation. As an object, the existence of a satellite is self-evident in its physical structure. However, even if the satellite can be seen through a telescope, it does not mean it is working. The presence of the satellite as a mediatic object – a transmitter of video signals – is entirely relational. In as much as it can be inferred by calculus, satellite transmission can only be truly confirmed by another mediatic object, such as a television monitor. Thus, a mediatic entity is defined less by its own structure than by the responses it provokes in other ones. | These “multimedia” crossovers seem to partake of the same ontological dynamics essential to any process of mediation. As an object, the existence of a satellite is self-evident in its physical structure. However, even if the satellite can be seen through a telescope, it does not mean it is working. The presence of the satellite as a mediatic object – a transmitter of video signals – is entirely relational. In as much as it can be inferred by calculus, satellite transmission can only be truly confirmed by another mediatic object, such as a television monitor. Thus, a mediatic entity is defined less by its own structure than by the responses it provokes in other ones. | ||
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This takes us back to the foreign radio stations, whose presence can be felt in other territories in spite of their physical limits (a fact that can be used to circumvent political boundaries and regulations). In that sense, the postcards sent by listeners are a sort of second-order response, an echo that makes the station aware of its own existence (its “footprint”) abroad. | This takes us back to the foreign radio stations, whose presence can be felt in other territories in spite of their physical limits (a fact that can be used to circumvent political boundaries and regulations). In that sense, the postcards sent by listeners are a sort of second-order response, an echo that makes the station aware of its own existence (its “footprint”) abroad. | ||
As a measure of existence, these responses highlight the kinship between media and radar technologies. They also seem to have a kind of institutional value, legitimizing the station as a communication hub (like when broadcast ratings are used as an indicative of the importance of a given channel). One can think of different strategies used to stimulate them; examples that come to mind are 1) promotions used by magazines to disguise audience research; and 2) the reward offered in return of the boxes “from heaven” mentioned by Anselm. | As a measure of existence, these responses highlight the kinship between media and radar technologies. They also seem to have a kind of institutional value, legitimizing the station as a communication hub (like when broadcast ratings are used as an indicative of the importance of a given channel). One can think of different strategies used to stimulate them; examples that come to mind are 1) promotions used by magazines to disguise audience research; and 2) the reward offered in return of the boxes “from heaven” mentioned by [http://web.uni-weimar.de/medien/wiki/Satellite_Border_Footprint/Anselm_Bauer Anselm]. | ||
Considering these responses as part of the phatic dimensions of language, concerned with testing the channels and making them available for communication, it could be interesting to investigate their pure aesthetic qualities – from the lingo of voice procedures to Francis Alÿs’ piece Seven Lives of Garbage. | Considering these responses as part of the phatic dimensions of language, concerned with testing the channels and making them available for communication, it could be interesting to investigate their pure aesthetic qualities – from the lingo of [http://heine.nusa.co.za/Library/Radio/Radio%20Voice%20Procedures.htm radio voice procedures] to Francis Alÿs’ piece [http://delmuseoimaginario.blogspot.com/2009/02/francis-alys-fabiola.html Seven Lives of Garbage]. | ||