In Media Res

101 Pages·2017·11.25 MB·English

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Theses and Dissertations Graduate School
2018
IInn MMeeddiiaa RReess
Christopher Andrew Sisk
Virginia Commonwealth University
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in
media
res
We are inundated by a constant feed of media
that responds and adapts in real time to the
impulses of our psyches and the dimensions
of our devices. Beneath the surface, this
stream of information is directed by hidden,
automated controls and steered by political
agendas. The transmission of information
in
has evolved into a spiral of entropy, and
the boundaries between author, content,
platform, and receiver have blurred.
media
This reductive space of responsive media
is a catalyst for immense political and
cultural change, causing us to question our
res
notions of authority, truth, and reality.

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A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the ai
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requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at an
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Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts. r
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Drew Sisk Furman University i
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Bachelor of Arts, Art and Asian Studies to

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Greenville, South Carolina D
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Virginia Commonwealth University .

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Master of Fine Arts, ss
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Design/Visual Communication il
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Richmond, Virginia nt

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Nicole Killian David Shields Indrek Sirkel g

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Assistant Professor Associate Professor Associate Professor ro
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Graphic Design Chair, Graphic Design Head of Graphic Design G
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Estonian Academy of Art d
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Tallinn, Estonia ay

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n OJ Simpson. Bill Clinton. Bosnia. Where are the contradictions? b
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u Princess Diana. Heaven’s Gate. Iraq. Whose voices are heard, and whose lt
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ntr are suppressed? How does the format vi
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I am a child of the 24-hour cable news impact our perception? What are the n
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cycle. Every morning I woke up to the consequences? As a graphic designer, h
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faint sound of the morning news coming I participate in this system and always d
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from our living room. With talking heads contend with these questions. efi
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in the background, my dad would fill me l
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in on each day’s headlines and hand Ferguson. Syria. Brexit. Donald Trump. f
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me his crinkled up copy of the local Fake News. Solar Eclipse. T
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newspaper he had already pored over. e
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I’ve been a news junkie ever sense. I still wake up to the morning news, but ed

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“Do people really not read the of my smartphone. I’m still constantly
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newspaper?” This was my father’s plugged in, but now I swipe through an s

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constant refrain then, tinged slightly algorithmically curated blend of hard th
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with a bit of evangelical judgement. news and politics with personal stories or
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He considered himself a witness to and memes on my Facebook timeline e
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perceived ignorance, and he took to and Twitter feed. This environment is
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heart Thomas Jefferson’s argument one of vulnerability and detachment, t
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that “democracy demands an educated a movement toward hyperreality. My LP

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and informed public.” work critiques this flattened media E
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landscape, cracking its veneer and D
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It wasn’t until later that I could begin to exposing its absurdities. R

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make connections and situate what I T
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was seeing and reading within a broader UG
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global context. Where is this information VE
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Introduction 6 Responsive Politics 98 r
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Abstract 10 Spectacular Totality 102 nt
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Breaking and Trending 12 Rapture 116 s
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Physis and Techne 18 Lest We Forget 128 he
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The Responsive Grid 24 In Media Res 130 hi
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Infinite Scroll 28 It Never Was 183 an
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and Always Will Be :
Sources and Dispositions 38 At

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Bibliography 186
Cycles and Distortions 46
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Acknowledgements 190 is
Spectacle, Part I 56 ney
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Spectacle, Part II 60 oll
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Filled Boxes, Flattened Spaces, 72 d S
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Reality Peripheries 76 oa
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Heaven’s Gate videos that play o

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on a constant loop after the cult’s s
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eerie, visually coordinated mass s
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suicide coinciding with Comet wi
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Hale-Bopp. Nancy Kerrigan, the h
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Olympic ice skater, cries in an el
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arena concourse after suffering ef

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an attack planned by her heated f
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rival, Tanya Harding. I distinctly
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remember a steady stream of sensationalized news stories
1 as a child in the 1990s. These were all captivating, “made for 1
TV” moments, images that powered the 24-hour news cycle.
Spiraling out and superseding these original singular events, f
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hyperbolic soundbites and looping images become the main t
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content of consumption. T
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The 24-hour news cycle has given up its dominance to is

an equally sensationalized stream of content customized to our Un
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interests in real time and forecasting what will captivate us in an
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the future. I open my phone and scroll through my Twitter feed, d

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seeing activists react to the latest statements from Donald e
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Trump right above memes mutating from completely different a
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realms of my small slice of the social media universe. Scores V
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and stats from basketball and football games weave their way ic
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in between. Friends, family, and complete strangers delve into e
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rancorous debate on the veracity of a news story currently AV

making the rounds on Facebook. Below these, acquaintances is

share live streams of police brutality and natural disasters ta
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uploaded by random people on the street. Politics, culture, and n
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personal narratives are compressed in space and time, medi- p
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ated by a set of standard devices. c
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Breaking news. Streaming now. Trending topics. The F
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terms we use to discuss live media reveal how we consume it ,
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and its effect on us. If we break down the grammar, all of these at
es –ing terms are in the present participle, meaning the action is in , a
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a the midst of taking place, with no clearly defined start or end. d S
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Tre ary device. In cable broadcasts and, social media feeds, there wou
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The feed runs on a standard grid that stretches and rearranges ca

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seamlessly to fit an expanding multitude of digital devices. e
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The responsive grid of our devices is a rational structure that s

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plays host to an irrational hierarchy, a space of simultaneous n

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distance and proximity to each other’s real-time personal and t
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collective narratives, to disaster and violence, and ultimately r-
to political upheaval. The presentation and consumption of
1 media has flattened our concept of reality, with consequences 1
to our individual psyches and collective politics. Beyond the
1 5
individual pieces of content we read or watch, the structures
and mechanisms of the smartphone, social media, and the
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cloud shape us profoundly. Decades before widespread use ey

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of the internet, Marshall McLuhan argued that the mechanized e
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means of communication supersede the power of the contents r
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they hold, stating famously that “the medium is the message.”
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McLuhan says that we too often overlook the power of the bl
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larger apparatus of media: sh
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“For the ‘content’ of a medium is like the juicy piece of ho
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meat carried by the burglar to distract the watchdog y
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of the mind. The effect of the medium is made strong r
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and intense just because it is given another medium fi
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as ‘content.’” 1 k
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Posts, tweets, memes, and likes are the content, but psy- St
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chological and political power lies in the structure itself, the dy

omnipresent black box of the digital screen and the responsive Wi
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grid holding it all together. h
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s om
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M 1. Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: ta
n The Extensions of Man. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964. 19 .
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