Figure 1. Chris Marker. La Jetee, 1963.
I was compelled to watch the 28-minute film La Jetee after our conversations last week on such topics as what is art and algorithms. I found the still photo piece intriguing. Maybe it is my interest in post-acoloyptic narratives, or disparate love stories. Yet, here, in filmmaker Chris Marker’s Le Jetee, the audience is asked to travel across time both past, present and future- to follow the main character through unconscious and conscious moments and dreams (see Fig. 1). The films images led me to consider: if an algorithm perhaps could cross distance and time? And, how would one document this process?
Works Cited
Marker, Chris. La Jetee, 1963. Film.
Mitchell, WJ Thomas, and Mark BN Hansen, eds. Critical terms for media studies. University of Chicago Press, 2010.
Shanken, Edward A. “Art and electronic media.” (2009).
Add yours Comments – 2
Fantastic question, PSun. How can you document what you can’t readily see? Or what is there to see? This raises the question of materiality—what are the material circumstances of algorithms? I immediately think of server farms and their stark contrast the content of the media that they store, transmit, and circulate.
Great points Kate! Server farms are bizarre, especially in comparison to all the media and content they store.