Tag Archives: aesthetics

“Remediation” Book Chapter Published in The Routledge Encyclopedia of Citizen Media (2021)

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A chapter I wrote on “Remediation” has been published in The Routledge Encyclopedia of Citizen Media (Routledge, 2021), edited by Mona Baker, Bolette B. Blaagaard, Henry Jones, and Luis Pérez-González. 

https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Encyclopedia-of-Citizen-Media/Baker-Blaagaard-Jones-Perez-Gonzalez/p/book/9781138665569

Remediation by Owen Gallagher in The Routledge Encyclopedia of Citizen Media

Remediation by Owen Gallagher in The Routledge Encyclopedia of Citizen Media (2021)

Abstract

Remediation broadly refers to the representation of one medium within another medium, often, in practice, leading to the incorporation of the ‘old’ into the ‘new’. This process can occur in a number of different ways, from the faithful adaptation or translation of a text into another media form, to the improvement, refashioning, absorption or repurposing of content into a more advanced technological state. This can have the effect of causing the medium of consumption to become either more transparent or more opaque, highlighting its relative immediacy or hypermediacy, respectively.

The theory of remediation is important within the sphere of citizen media because non-affiliated citizens are increasingly expressing themselves publicly using remediated content such as remixes, memes, mashups and bricolage. The figure of the independent remixer or meme-artist has become representative of a cultural desire to ‘talk back’ to the media, to politicians and big business, to highlight injustices, expose irresponsible behaviour and engage in various forms of socio-political action, potentially inspiring real change.

This entry considers the role of remediation in citizen media, focusing on a number of relevant examples and case studies from the past decade where newer forms of remix have been used to engage in political discourse or support social action. For example, critical remix video has emerged as an extremely potent form of citizen media production through its remediation of existing source material in order to critically engage with ideological biases and highlight perceived wrongs. The Cambridge Dictionary offers an alternative definition of remediation as “the process of improving or correcting a situation”, which, as this entry shows, is precisely what citizen-engaged remix aims to do.

References

Bolter, Jay David and Richard Grusin (2000) Remediation: Understanding new media, Cambridge: MIT Press.

Deuze, Mark (2006) ‘Participation, Remediation, Bricolage: Considering principal components of a digital culture’, The Information Society 22(2): 63-75.

Jenkins, Henry (2006) Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, New York:  NYU Press.

Jenkins, Henry et al. (2017) ‘Participatory Politics’, in Eduardo Navas, Owen Gallagher and xtine burrough (eds) Keywords in Remix Studies, New York: Routledge, pp.230-245.

Gallagher, Owen (2018) Reclaiming Critical Remix Video: The Role of Sampling in Transformative Works. New York: Routledge, pp. 131-204.

McLuhan, Marshall (1994) Understanding Media: The extensions of man, Cambridge: MIT Press.

Navas, Eduardo, Owen Gallagher and xtine burrough (2015) ‘Section IV: Politics’, in Eduardo Navas, Owen Gallagher and xtine burrough (eds) The Routledge Companion to Remix Studies, New York: Routledge, pp.321-408.

Aesthetics of Remix

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How can we come to understand the aesthetic of remix? Is there a more academic friendly term other than remix? I am less interested in digital appropriation than in remix. Somehitn gthat is clearly defined. So, what is involved in a discussion on remix and aesthetics? The crux of my research is the ethics and aesthetics of political remix. That’s it. So, aesthetically, as mentioned previously, remix comes in many forms. In fact, any cultural work may be remixed – music, film, literature, animation – anything that may be recorded or performed live through some form of media platform, whether that is a book, a newspaper, a magazine, a poster, a flyer, a brochure, a business card, a CD, a DVD, a website, a YouTube video, a game, an animation, a computer program/software package, any kind of printed or digital media. Of course, it is infinitely easier to remix digital media, due to its fundamentally malleable nature, however, all forms of printed media may be digitized and subsequently remixed more easily. Remix refers to adjustment after the work has been deemed ‘finished’ or ‘completed’.
In that respect, Nicolas Bourriaud’s attempt to label the practive of remix as post-production is somewhat flawed. Post-production is a stage of the creative process that occurs before a work is deemed finished, admittedly, the final stage of the process, but once the axe comes down, the post-production phase is over. Anything that follows this, whether digitally remastering, re-editing a director’s cut, or using samples in the creation of an entirely new work, may be categorized as remix. In plain English, it means making changes to a work after it is finished. Reworking it. Reinterpreting it. Reimagining it, but still using the same words, video, audio, code, imagery or animation that you used in the so-called ‘finished’ piece, just reshuffling them, rejigging, changing their order, the sequence of events, or combining parts of it together with parts from other finished works or adding completely original elements to it.
But where does the original work end and the remix begin and vice-versa? The distinction between an original work and a remixed work is important in understanding both. So, remix may be perceived in the same way that non-remixed or ‘original’ content may be. It can be watched, read, listened to, smelt, tasted, touched, experienced. Eyes, ears, mouth, nose, tongues, fingers/body and of course it may be recollected, imagined, dreamed. But what is different about watching a remixed video and watching a non-remixed video? Do we perceive it differently? How so?

Aesthetics

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Aesthetic is the study of that which involves the senses – sight, sound, touch, taste, smell, possibly intuition. Inputting information into one’s brain – receiving this information through the senses, processing it and responding physiologically, emotionally and intellectually. Stimulus – response. For example, one may look upon a beautiful painting with one’s eyes. The painting exists in the material world so initially a number of elements of the painting are perceived – the size, shape, colours, images, symbolism, texture, position, lighting and once all of this information is perceived and processed in the brain, meaning may be derived from it. Perhaps the meaning intended by the artist is understood or perhaps the viewer attaches their own meaning to it based on their own lived experience. Understanding the meaning of the work is largely an intellectual endeavor. Perceiving a painting with your eyes can also affect the way you feel. Appreciating the beauty of the work, enjoying the specific combination of colours, the composition and artwork may make you feel happy, sad, angry, relaxed or may trigger memories that make you feel particular emotions. Aesthetics is a process – it involves understanding artistic works, and the relationship between the viewer and the work and how it affects them.