The Medium is the Message- Marika

This paper helped me re-visit some questions I've had throughout the class, especially in our discussions of inter media. One critique that I got from my performance piece was that as a film, it wasn't very interesting to watch because not much was happening. I think that is because I approached it as a performance piece being video taped and not as a film AS a performance piece. McLuhan says that, "..it is the medium that shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action." I think I needed to consider more how the medium, film, could be used to get across my message in the most effective way. This brings me to my clip, Vito Acconci's Seedbed. In this piece, performance artist, Vito Acconci, masturbates under benches in a gallery for eight hours a day while speaking sexually about the gallery visitors; His comments are projected throughout the gallery. To me, this seems to be a performance piece that is video taped. How are the messages similar and how are they different, depending on the medium through which the piece is viewed. I can imagine that being in the gallery is a much more offensive, crude experience, whereas while watching it on video, it seems almost comical.