Vito

I really enjoyed how the opening of this article addressed the way in which we experienced TV screens as children. I remember being a kid and staring at a thick box like TV and trying to decipher how there could be this whole other universe living inside there. One that had no conscious awareness of the universe I was in. I remember knocking on it like I would a fish tank, which is something that is also brought up on the first page. I still feel that screens have this effect on people sometimes. They can have this hypnotic effect on viewers, especially if there is extra influence or when you allow your mind to just zone.

This also made me think of the movie , a movie in which someone goes into their television and into a 1950’s rom com type show. I think that the idea of this movie relates in a way to how Vito is talking about the relationships between viewers and the television set, and the comfortability each has with the other. I think it's interesting the way he gives the TV its own life and consciousness and describes it as having a face. 
Vito continues to explain the experience of watching television, and how we process the information given to us without necessarily thinking that is what is happening. I know I brought of this example in another post, but I think it fits here really well. VALIE EXPORT’s work Facing a Family is an example of how that relationship between television and viewer is interrupted. In facing a family EXPORT broadcasts footage of a family eating dinner in front of a television, shot essentially from the screens point of view. The thought is that this film would hold up a mirror to the tv dinner family. http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/facing-a-family/video/1/ 
Really fascinating the statement on page 2 where he says "Furniture is analogue to sculpture". He then goes on to explain how the televisions presence in the home can be thought of as sculpture. I found the section about the sexlessness of the TV to also be interesting, and that in relation to how he said the TV has a face. It watches us as we watch it. Yet, say the TV is on in the bedroom, you wouldn't think twice about leaving it on during times of masturbation or intercourse because it is something that is sexless. Even now and days we don't think of turning the TV off while experiencing these intimate moments, instead it usually just stays on, acting as background noise, and just watches us. Even in comparison to laptop screens where we feel as though we should shut the laptop when having encounters of these kinds. One artist that also made me think of a bit was Gary Hill and his project in which he videoed close up portions of his body and played the footage on various monitors creating a deconstructed body. 

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