video is a perceptual prosthetic - Centre for Art Tapes
video is a perceptual prosthetic - Centre for Art Tapes
video is a perceptual prosthetic - Centre for Art Tapes
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temperature <strong>is</strong> com<strong>for</strong>table, it <strong>is</strong> data and notan <strong>is</strong>sue. An awareness that one <strong>is</strong> ‘freezingto death’ or ‘boiling’ trans<strong>for</strong>ms temperaturedata into in<strong>for</strong>mation. The world as a fieldof data becomes in<strong>for</strong>mation as differencesbecome significant. A <strong>video</strong> d<strong>is</strong>play <strong>is</strong> part ofour overall environment, but of course it differsfrom a chair we sit in, the hair on our arms,or an automobile we drive. A <strong>video</strong> recordingdoes not necessarily d<strong>is</strong>play data that <strong>is</strong>more significant than any other thing we mayexperience. Video data may in fact be far lesssignificant than full-range physical data perceivedby our sensorium. But the comparativedifferences between <strong>video</strong> depictions of theworld and the unmediated world inherentlyyield insights into the <strong>perceptual</strong> process.When we examine the world using the<strong>perceptual</strong> <strong>prosthetic</strong> of <strong>video</strong>, that technologythat permits us to see and hear ourenvironment as an electronic, simultaneoussecond world, in real time, we are involved inan altered state of consciousness. Video <strong>is</strong> acybernetic technology, providing feedbackto our conscious negotiation of reality. Webecome cyborgs, person-machine interfaces.Our consciousness <strong>is</strong> altered as we become<strong>perceptual</strong> systems in tandem with <strong>video</strong>machines. We see and hear differently in sucha sensual duality. We become aware of our<strong>perceptual</strong> processes when we see through<strong>video</strong> frames and l<strong>is</strong>ten through microphones.We experience the world as creatures involvedin the process of perception while in partnershipwith <strong>video</strong>. We focus on different thingsbecause we are wielding camcorders. We seeand l<strong>is</strong>ten differently as <strong>video</strong>graphers. Webecome aware of our experiences throughinstant replay. We are intoxicated by ourmachine-ass<strong>is</strong>ted powers of description.Video technology collapses perception(sensing), experience (being consciouslyaware of perception) and description (thearticulation of perception/experience intomemory) in mill<strong>is</strong>econds. Whereas our bioelectricconsciousness <strong>is</strong> already digesting ourenvironment and actions in a slight delay (weare aware of the words someone <strong>is</strong> speakingto us mill<strong>is</strong>econds after we actually hearthose words being spoken), <strong>video</strong> actuallysenses and records environments and eventsfaster than we can sense (perceive) them in13
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