A Facebook posting by Tim Page inspired this animation. Page’s post stated Brian Eno’s Thursday Afternoon was perfect music to listen to while working: i.e., background music…audio wallpaper…ambiance. This set me thinking about how video today differs from audio. YouTube videos, often shot on handheld devices, have had a defining impact. Truly we are living in a world where anyone can generate media. People caught in the middle of news stories render and make public pertinent video clips. Broadcast and cable news outlets often tap into such videos. Which brings me to the cellphone video of Muammar Gaddafi’s death. Gaddafi’s captors/executioners were both actors in a drama and videographers. Would it all have gone down differently if they had not been in possession of cellphones capable of taping the event? Were they to some degree “playing for the camera?” Perhaps. In the end it didn’t matter. Their video clips were diluted into background fodder, stripped of dramatic power. The current media landscape/mindscape is so over-saturated with visual stimulation that potent imagery slips into the backdrop of our consciousness. Thus newscasters verbally related details regarding Gaddafi’s death, while the once seemingly raw cellphone video clips played over and over – in essence, as video wallpaper.
Animation duration: 35.9 seconds, before looping.
Peter Schmideg