Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Danielle Rennalls: "Video and Intermedia..." By Stephen C. Foster


Stephen C. Foster’s article on Video and Intermedia: Remarks on their Relationship gives insight to the connection between media that I myself never would have thought to make such comparison.

Foster makes it clear that works of art that builds or draws from different aspects or genres, should not necessarily be categorized as multimedia but rather intermedia, for it is being comprised of different media, drawing upon different sources of art to make an overall piece. I found this idea of video art being more than just composed of different genres to be fascinating, because as artists we are constantly seeking inspiration from outside sources in order to create originality. Being categorized as multimedia creates a limitation where artists seem to just be building off another persons work without any originality. However, having the label of intermedia gives an artist the ability to receive and offer insight from other media, while still maintaining his/her uniqueness and individuality.

Take for instance if all films embodied the same ideas and no one film maker thought to borrow from or internalize their own understanding of a medium in order to create something original, but rather just built ideas based on another film maker in the same genre. All films in this particular genre would be the same, and there would be nothing interesting to compel us to watch, as we would be aware of how the story would unfold. However, having the ability to generate ideas from different media outside one’s particular field – intermedia – creates an environment for different ideas and building sources.

Nevertheless, as Foster mentions this idea of intermedia far out exceeds video arts, as it can stretch beyond this realm into any particular medium. I particularly think this is the beauty of such an open-ended term as it enables artists to be as he states, “intellectual, critical…” The idea of having the opportunity to create ideas from such vast amounts of media pushes the reader and artiats to exam his/her interest.


The links attached below, are songs that have been altered to incorporate different genres of music, thus illustrating the idea of intermedia.



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