TVsunami: is reality eradicated by a media wave?: an investigation into television and video art

Abstract

TVsunami explores television's influence in forming cultural, social and political realities. The aim of this research project is to create an immersive video installation that engages in the ongoing debate concerning the power of the media over society and the notion of television as the transmitter of truth through broadcast news. This exegesis draws on Baudrillard's theories of similacrum, unlocatable obscenity of information, and extensively extrapolates on his concept that some media events are designed to anesthetize a situation by constructing an alternate non-event. These are examined alongside Boorstin's theory of the pseudoevent, Johnson-Cartee's observations about the news framing political realities, Fiske's concepts relating to television codes, Barthes' Mythologies, as well as theorists that explore how we construct our own realities. The exegesis also investigates the ambivalent relationship between television and video art by discussing video artists who have appropriated televisual content to develop their own discourses on issues of power and intent in mass media. The artists discussed include Nam June Paik, Dara Birnbaum, Peter Callas, Antoni Muntadas, Wolf Vostell and Ingo Gunther. This exegesis has been structured to first lead the reader through the primary theories of concern before entering into a discussion about artists that are relevant to this field. Finally the author defines the relationship between her artistic practice and the media theories and video artists acknowledged in the exegesis.