Video Vortex Reader II: moving images beyond YouTube

60 Video Vortex Reader II Moving Images Beyond Youtubetheory & aesthetics61ReferencesBaudelaire, Charles. Perte d’auréole, 1865, trans. ‘Loss of Halo’, in Charles Baudelaire, Paris spleen,trans. Louise Varèse, New York: New Directions, 1970.Bäumgartel, Tilman. ‘Media Piracy and Independent Cinema in Southest Asia’, in Geert Lovink andSabine Niederer (eds), Video Vortex Reader: Responses to YouTube, Amsterdam: Institute ofNetwork Cultures, 2008._____. ‘The Culture of Piracy in the Philippines’, in Shin Dong Kim and Joel David (eds), Cinema in /on Asia, Gwanju: Asian Culture Forum, 2006.Greimas, Algirdas J. De l’imperfection, Périgueux: Pierre Fanlac, 1987.Manovich, Lev. The Language of New Media, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001.McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, New York: McGraw Hill, 1964.Rilke, Rainer Maria. ‘Gong’ (1925), in Stephen Mitchell (ed. and trans.) Selected Poetry of RainerMaria Rilke, New York: Random House/Vintage, 1989.Russolo, Luigi. L’arte dei rumori, Milan: Direzione del Movimento Futurista, 1913; trans. Ben Barclay,The Art of Noises, New York: Pendragon, 2005.Regarding the Sex, Lies and Videotapesof Others: Memory, Counter-Memory,and Mystified RelationsSarah KésenneAccording to Belgian painter Luc Tuymans, ‘with the appearance of new technologies, youalways get a pornographic element. There’s always a desire to relate in a physical way tothese technologies’. 1 Last year, when I read a terrifying story in the newspaper about a girlthat killed herself after her ex-boyfriend sent nude pictures of her to classmates and friends,I recalled Tuymans’ statement. We might take the net genre of ‘ex–girlfriend revenge movies’,which are sad imitations of celebrity sex-tapes, of which Paris Hilton’s P2P (peer-to-peer) hitis probably the most famous example, as an extreme example of how our viewing is affectedby shifting parameters of intimacy and remembrance. These 21st century pop videos aresimultaneously shocking, touching and fascinating; exhibiting a bizarre mix of tendernessand cruelty, familiarity and exposure. And yet, this kind of user- generated content is rathertypical for the increasingly ‘mobile’ internet. Rather than circulating on open platforms suchas YouTube or Vimeo, these videos are sent between the portable communication devices ofpeople who know each other. Even if they are published on the net, these videos are takenoffline before the mainstream media picks up on the controversy. What is found online aresoft porn imitations of ex-girlfriend revenge movies, the origins of which remain obscure.Robert Devriendt, Victimes de la passion, 2010, Courtesy Galerie Baronian-Francey en Galerie Hervé Loevenbruck.These imitations are imagined experiences of authenticity. They include normal girls in Americanliving rooms, wearing girlie underwear and stripping, dancing, shaking, and imitatingMTV clips. Sometimes, the girls talk back to the camera, often after being encouraged by thecameraman/boyfriend, who stays out of the frame. The suggestion is of a close bond betweengirl and cameraman, one of trust and playful desire, which is reinforced by the low-resolutionwebcam quality and the hand-cam shakiness. The attractiveness of these images arises fromtheir suggestion of authenticity, and the pleasure of voyeurism. And yet, the promotional bannerof a porn website makes the set-up all too clear: these living rooms are also porn sets; thegirls porn actresses; their lovers bullies. In this way, we live the mise-en-scène of the everydayas a production line of appropriated media performances.1. Jan Braet, ‘“Wat hab je nu Geschilderd?” “Niks!”’, in Knack, 13 May, 2009.