On Media Response

In his essay, "On Media", Hovagimyan says that he believes we are moving into a "Post Media" information environment. He uses painting and photography as an example, stating that, “One could no longer stand in front of a heroic painting of soldiers and generals and fantasize about the glory of battle, or rather one could compare the actuality of war by looking at a photograph”. He goes on to explain that because paintings use a symbolic language that is representational it simply cannot compare with the fact that photography and pictures give the viewer information. What I think he is trying to say here is that the advent of technology changes the ideologies of art and the characteristics of art itself. This is because it allows the viewer to better connect and better understand the piece.

Take news for example, and look at how far news has come. In the past, it used to be that news traveled by word of mouth, and thus was spread from person to person, often very slowly. Then came along print and newspapers, allowing uniformity of distributing the news. This allowed widespread news distribution at a much faster rate. Then came along radio and television, making news traveling even faster than it had before. Now it was instant. When some breaking news story happened, the public knew almost instantly. Now where is news media? A lot of it has taken to social networks. Facebook, twitter, reddit, and other social media websites allow for instantaneous news transfer, and it is often times person to person or person to persons. Not only does social media allows for instant news travel, but it also allows for people to connect, relate, debate, and challenge each other on the information given in whatever news may be the subject.

Hovagimyan states that, “All of these threads of media create a meta-language of New media discourse that I believe is the current climate of arts”.  He goes on to state that, “The new cultural mythos is a mapping out of human society that is extended into its technology and in a sustained symbiosis with that technos”.

What Hovagimyan says relates well with my point about news changing. This is due to the fact that technology has driven both art and news mediums. Technology challenges us as a society to better ourselves and to find new ways of connecting with one another. This is what I believe Hovagimyan means when he coined the term “Post Media”.