Is reality an issue? I started to discuss concepts of ‘reality’ in my writing and practice lately, as appose to ‘site’, for a number of reasons. Firstly, I am using a number of technologies which assert an involvement in defining reality. Technologies which use “reality capture” or produce “virtual reality” posit a claim that not only can they mimic, capture and create representations of reality but that there are separations from reality themselves.
I have had problems with the discussion of 'site' as I don't think my research (recently) investigates this. My work has become less site-specific but I have become more interested in the reality of the objects/environments that are captured. It is also focused on more Media Archaeological processes of the history and materiality of the objects being reflected in the work. For instance, the Goonhilly/ Telstar works reflect the communications systems in place to make the photogrammetric works possible. A series of communications through material objects such as satellites, ground-based antennae and the metallic circuitry of the smartphone/camera is essential to the development of this 3D model. In many ways, this relationship is fragile, with interference from outside forces at any point during its process rendering the output null and void. A disruption of its mobile signal, atmospheric conditions interrupting the reception or a processing glitch in software are all possible. These communications work, for the most part, demonstrating a seemingly solid system. Systems which have been honed for the last 50 years of satellite communication fro the days of Telstar.(Zielinski Anarchaeology of Media) However, errors do occur. As mentioned: these materials fail, other materials interrupt. The reality of these media is the materials and materiality of the technologies in which these communications move through. I am interested in this reality of material rather than output. The matter that creates the function. And I am interested in the histories and environmental concerns that these technologies create.(Parikka, Anthrobscene and Geology of Media) These works touch upon 'site' in as much as they are geolocated and linked through their processes. However, I believe the works examine something greater that the involvement of certain sites. They examine the how our perception of reality is mediated by technology.
I will talk about readings on 'reality' later. For now, my links with it are through reading about the hyperreal (Baudrillard and Eco) and the virtual (Deleuze)
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