presentation : 14th january hand&heart gallery 2-4pm

When mediated space surrounds us and our sense of place is increasingly constructed through technology how do we locate ourselves? Challenging notions of location and locality Emma Ota will present an overview of two years of research into the mediation of place through technology and the developments of media art in Asia.

We carry many locations with us, virtual, physical, psychological and cultural locations which have a complex relation to each other, this presentation will consider the impact of new media upon the construction of these locations and how they interact with each other, as these technologies increasingly become part of the reality of our located experience, no longer separate apparatus, not merely a portal to elsewhere but part of our encounter of place.

When identity, community and culture are formulated upon mediated experiences we are led back to Benjamin’s discussion of the loss of aura, debating what meaning can still lie in the original, and yet arguably such an original state has never existed, all phenomena encountered and assimilated through one form of mediation or another.But to be mediated is to transform and as Heidegger has demonstrated technology presents an enframing of its content, which may lead to new revealings but also a loss of that which lies beyond the frame. We have perhaps reached a stage where we can no longer comment upon mediated localities, but must turn to the localities of mediation. These are just some of the critical debates which Ota has been investigating in her research.

While pursuing theoretical research into this topic, Ota has also followed studies in Japan, Korea, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia in an examination of new media art provision and development in East/South East Asia. Interviewing artists, curators, theorists etc. over the course of a year, a large body of documentation has been accumulated which will be presented as a small glimpse into the new media condition of the region.

www.eonsbetween.net