"No medium today, and certainly no single media event, seems to do its cultural work in isolation from other media, any more than it works in isolation from other social and economic forces. What is new about new media comes from the particular ways in which they refashion older media and the ways in which older media refashion themselves to answer the challenges of new media" - Bolter and Grusin
How do we represent issues that are too vast to think about, much less comprehend? In a world where we often find ourselves swimming in articles and images describing important and pressing concerns, how can we internalize the things we cannot see firsthand? This blog assignment asks you to apply this same way of thinking to something you've probably never seen and probably never will--be it as weighty as the coronavirus or as seemingly light as your mysterious upstairs neighbor. Here you're challenged to do important work: to contemplate your place in the world and in time, and imagine the expansive network of materials and beings of which you are a part.
YOUR TURN
There are just two steps to this assignment, and both will likely require your focused attention. Or at least some spread-out, but diligent, mulling. Do not rush through the mulling. This is an important opportunity to consider what it is in life that you will see and not see, and consider how you might understand what you cannot visualize.
Think of something that you know exists but that you've never seen and probably won't see in your lifetime.
Leveraging the network of materials around you, remediate that something in any medium you like.
TIPS//TRICKS//TACTICS
"Remediate" can mean a lot of different things, from making a sculpture or Claymation video to composing a written account. If your subject is immaterial, how has it been represented, or not represented, before? And if it's physical, what are the materials you do and do not associate with it?
Your something doesn't have to be fantastical or far-reaching. It can be close to home but still inaccessible or invisible. Or it can be distant, mythical, invisible, or otherworldly! Make a list of ideas and let it grow before you commit.
What do you know about the something you've identified? Or what do you think you know? Do some research and consider what information is available about it, and what things we may never know.
Try out a few different ways of representing your subject. One idea might sound great in your head, but then something might be lacking in the execution. Do the obvious thing, and then do something else.