Foster's Article

               For me, Foster’s article was difficult for me to understand. I finished reading the article and felt like I still did not have a good idea of what intermedia is in comparison to multimedia. I ended up going to Google and read from a website that intermedia involves “creative works that lie formally and conceptually between established media” (http://www.intermediated.org/what-is-intermedia). I also looked up a rough definition of multimedia, which I think is very similar to that of intermedia. One source defines multimedia as “media and content that uses a combination of different content forms” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimedia). These both describe a mixing of different types of media/content forms, so what is the difference between them? Foster describes intermedia as being “political,” “compelling,” “facilitating,” and “enabling,” but can’t that also be argued for any form of art? What makes intermedia so special?

                Apart from my confusion with the definition of intermedia, I enjoyed reading Foster’s description on the importance of video. I completely agree with Foster’s notion that “video is an extension of ourselves.” Whatever an artist creates is essentially an extension of themselves. They have created it using their own thoughts, feelings, experiences, and knowledge, so of course their work directly reflects their thoughts, feelings, experiences, and knowledge. However, I think art in general is so powerful because each piece is experienced differently by different people. Just because art reflects the artist does not mean that everyone experiences the piece the same way that the artist does.

                I was also intrigued by Foster’s comparison of video as an extension of the nervous system. I wish Foster had explained this notion further, because I am left wondering how exactly video is an extension of the nervous system. Is it because video can transmit signals rapidly and effectively, or because of how essential it is (to what, I can’t pinpoint. Culture? The spread of ideas? Life in general?).

After trying to find examples of intermedia, I decided to look up Foster’s “subject” in his article, Hans Breder. At one point, Foster explains that “Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’ is not intermedia because it occupies a place between art and plumbing,” so I also looked up Duchamp’s “Fountain” and attempted to compare the two. I would be interested to hear people’s opinions about the two artists and how one can be considered intermedia and the other cannot.

Duchamp’s “Fountain:” http://greynotgrey.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/fountain.jpg

Work by Hans Breder: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4FN0pM8SnRU/T8-rFEBbXCI/AAAAAAAAR0I/lGRFbtLDRLE/s640/HANS+BREDER+(12).jpg