Response to Foster

Foster’s essay helped me to better understand the distinction between intermedia and multimedia. He explains intermedia as having an intention; generally a political and compelling one, while multimedia refers more to the medium specifically. Given this explanation, I assume that all intermedia pieces are also multimedia, however the opposite is not always true.  For example, a collage made out of paint and newspaper clippings is multimedia, but the intention and message behind the piece determines whether or not it is intermedia.  These statements are all just guesses because while I’ve heard the term multimedia, intermedia is a new word for me.

One example of intermedia that I found is Yoko Ono’s piece, Cut.  This is a live performance piece captured through video and sound with a strong social, political intention. Cut is meant to be a comment on gender. Yoko Ono has no control as people approach her and cut her clothed off her body. She becomes an object for the audience to play with and a sexual one as more and more of her body is revealed. Watching the progression of the audience involvement and noise level also comments on people’s objectification of Ono’s body. Using the definition that I took from Foster’s essay, this piece would be classified as both multimedia (performance, sound, video, textiles etc.) as well as intermedia given its intentional political message.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Sc47KfJjcI