Now, I know very well that nothing of what is about to be written down here is very original or innovative.
For years now, people who know a great deal more than me about what they're talking about, have been speculating the future of video and the moving image in the domestic space.
It just so happens however, that my personal work has been recently linked with some of these ideas, and it seems like some of these potential developments could very well become logical continuations of what I've already began exploring in my practice.
Therefore, please forgive me as I re-edirate some stuff that you've probably read before many times. I'm new to these ideas, and it's all fresh and exciting for me, so please bear with...
Phew, OK here goes;
When we think about the evolution of the modern domestic or private space, we can identify a number of patterns in the functions and formal attributes of monitors:
We have more gadgets now, that support a monitor than we used to in the past, and as users, we seem to interact more fluently with monitors, especially the younger generations who are so well conditioned in that visual layout.
Video as a domestic form of entertainment and information, has assumed many new incarnations in the recent past. It's not just TV anymore, it's internet, and games, and computing (both work & leisure related), it's electronic books and music, and DVDs and photo albums and so on and so forth.
Most importantly, in par with their growing importance in our lives, monitors have themselves been growing larger and larger in size. And we have more of them, in more areas of the domestic space. Including areas which traditionally were not associated with the consumption of visual content i.e. kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms etc. etc. Moreover, the portable devices (cellphones, laptops, ipods etc.) we use, also accompany us inside the domestic space, and follow us around it.
As technology has developed, allowing all those different visual applications described above to interact and coexist via the same hardware (and often using the same software), the prescribed functions of each individual monitor have been merged into all-in-one type arch devices (TV/DVD, computer/phone/photo album etc.).
So, what am I getting at with all this info we already know...
I think that all these progressions lead to an even greater revolution. One that is already ongoing, and has been for a while, in the public and commercial spheres, but hasn't really picked up yet, in our private and domestic environments.
When I think about video (and sound), I think of it as an environment. A space that is dynamic and occupies a sensual/emotional mass in our perception. I think that in the near future, video is going to break free from the screen that has been containing it thus far. I think that our private living environments are going to become customized visual displays, containing every and all the visual media functions in our lives.
I am not a very technically capable person, but it is easy for me to imagine how a monitor could expand to occupy a wall. This is something that we can already do using projectors. However, projectors are not ideal for a living space because they require a wide clear breath for the light beam.
A more suitable solution in my mind, would be a wiring of the wall itself into some sort of light emitting coating, that could be regulated by a motherboard or a chip or whatever they call those things now.
Obviously once the technology is fully commercialized, it would inevitably become better and better, and in a few short generations we could, and probably will have a whole plethora of competitively priced products that are cheap to manufacture, economically powered, produces a crisp HD (3D?) resolution and is easy to install (ideally, the hardware will eventually become a standard in all residence spaces).
These installations will communicate fluently with our desktops, electronic books, mobile phones, TVs and music and visual media players, finally replacing and taking over all those smaller monitors, and enfolding them under one arch monitor system that's built into our walls, floors and ceilings.
The system will be controlled by a remote control device that would probably look a bit like an ipad, allowing the user to adjust, move and crop the different media outputs into windows on the physical wall space.
The advantages for this sort of technology are great I think.
Quite simply it means an almost absolute freedom in the creation and design of our personal domestic spaces. We can live, work and entertain ourselves and our loved ones in a space that is a true and dynamic visual manifestation of our individual personalities.
Coming back home from work, you turn on the switch, and will be greeted by anything as epic as, say the canine major galaxy, to anything as conservative as a warm fireplace, and pictures of the grandchildren.
Digital images will regain their former positions on our walls, and could be arranged and rotated as ever going slide shows.
Light fixtures, and house paints will become obsolete, as we will be able to decide, and adjust the colour, warmth and luminosity of our walls in an instant, and change them according to our mood, time of day, the season etc.
The greatest feature of these utilities will be that they will provide an equal stage for all classes, to display our personal tastes in designing our immediate personal environments, rather than be limited by the depths of our pockets. Designing your physical home would become as cheap as building a web page.
You could be working as a supermarket clerk, and have a convincing reproduction of a Jackson Pollock self portrait gracing your bedroom wall. And if those Monet water lilies are just too large for your small, cheap student apartment walls, well, just scale that bitch down! Problem solved.
Needless to say, these visual arrangements will not just be about aesthetics, all the functional aspects of visual media will still be present, and will only become more accessible and enhanced.
We could watch TV in glory, on our walls, larger than life, in a wider aspect than ever before, occupying our entire peripheral visual field.
We could check our email account in the bathroom, or the shower, or while doing the dishes... We could read an ebook before we go to sleep, off of our bedroom wall, taking a break to check our friend's status online, and listening to some tunes off of our mp3 library, or Youtube.
The spaces we create and design will be remarkably dynamic and interchangeable.
Like playlists on our ipods, we will have different audio/visual set ups for different situations. A sleek lounge-like setting for romantic dinners, a cosy, casual array of personal images for when we are by ourselves, a bright psychedelic abstraction of some sort for parties, a serene waterscape for when we yoga, or read, etc. etc.
With so many wonderful options, designing our immediate living environments will soon become an ongoing art practice, one that everyone is constantly engaging in.
This will have wide cultural and economical implications. Interior designers will become interior programmers, and their services will become much more common and highly sought after (my new dream job).
The plastic arts will suffer , at first, but will later adapt and reincarnate as image makers of "stock" visuals that could be purchased online (much like what is happening to the music industry now). Still, and moving image makers will eventually become the greatest beneficiaries from these new emerging technologies.
The furniture industry will take a powerful hit, as a revival of a more minimalist style of design, as far as physical objects go will become prevalent.
In architecture, curved walls that are con-caved to create a better illusion of depth, round merges and corners, oval and almost sphere-like layouts, and smaller windows, or windows that can be sealed will feature more prominently in the design of residence spaces.
And this is the part where you put on your rubber pointy ears, as the more distant future incarnations of the audio/visual simulations discussed above will continue to improve, and our domestic private spaces will eventually become something closely resembling a hollo-deck.
Actually, I don't know what will happen. This is more about what I want, then it is about what I know.
The future of video might not end up looking anything like what I've said here. After all, the restrictions for why it hasn't developed that way yet, are not technological, but psychological. We are used to consuming video via the frame, even if that frame has become larger, more mobile, and versatile. As long as these restrictions hold strong, video will remain contained in its many boxes.
On a more philosophical note, I think that the human mind is also caged in a box.
The physical body, the bony skull that's wrapped up around us, caging our experience to what our senses allow us to perceive, of the outside.
But inside our skulls, we are free to close our eyes and envision things we cannot see. We can imagine imaginations, experience memories, think thoughts, and feel abstract emotions that can't be expressed through any verbal or written language, and there is far more of us, hidden even from our selves in the deeper realms of our unconscious minds.
So if we choose to think of our body, as the immediate cage of our mind, and our apartment, as the cage of our body, why not then, treat that private space with the same freedom we treat our bodies. We have almost the same rights to it, I would argue.
Why not make it more our own, fill it up with images that are ours, represent our thoughts, feelings desires and narratives, make it a truer expression of ourselves.
An honest projection of the mind on the matter, what could make a more natural and comfortable space for our bodies to reside and operate in?
Thanks for reading.
For years now, people who know a great deal more than me about what they're talking about, have been speculating the future of video and the moving image in the domestic space.
It just so happens however, that my personal work has been recently linked with some of these ideas, and it seems like some of these potential developments could very well become logical continuations of what I've already began exploring in my practice.
Therefore, please forgive me as I re-edirate some stuff that you've probably read before many times. I'm new to these ideas, and it's all fresh and exciting for me, so please bear with...
Phew, OK here goes;
When we think about the evolution of the modern domestic or private space, we can identify a number of patterns in the functions and formal attributes of monitors:
We have more gadgets now, that support a monitor than we used to in the past, and as users, we seem to interact more fluently with monitors, especially the younger generations who are so well conditioned in that visual layout.
Video as a domestic form of entertainment and information, has assumed many new incarnations in the recent past. It's not just TV anymore, it's internet, and games, and computing (both work & leisure related), it's electronic books and music, and DVDs and photo albums and so on and so forth.
Most importantly, in par with their growing importance in our lives, monitors have themselves been growing larger and larger in size. And we have more of them, in more areas of the domestic space. Including areas which traditionally were not associated with the consumption of visual content i.e. kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms etc. etc. Moreover, the portable devices (cellphones, laptops, ipods etc.) we use, also accompany us inside the domestic space, and follow us around it.
As technology has developed, allowing all those different visual applications described above to interact and coexist via the same hardware (and often using the same software), the prescribed functions of each individual monitor have been merged into all-in-one type arch devices (TV/DVD, computer/phone/photo album etc.).
So, what am I getting at with all this info we already know...
I think that all these progressions lead to an even greater revolution. One that is already ongoing, and has been for a while, in the public and commercial spheres, but hasn't really picked up yet, in our private and domestic environments.
When I think about video (and sound), I think of it as an environment. A space that is dynamic and occupies a sensual/emotional mass in our perception. I think that in the near future, video is going to break free from the screen that has been containing it thus far. I think that our private living environments are going to become customized visual displays, containing every and all the visual media functions in our lives.
I am not a very technically capable person, but it is easy for me to imagine how a monitor could expand to occupy a wall. This is something that we can already do using projectors. However, projectors are not ideal for a living space because they require a wide clear breath for the light beam.
A more suitable solution in my mind, would be a wiring of the wall itself into some sort of light emitting coating, that could be regulated by a motherboard or a chip or whatever they call those things now.
Obviously once the technology is fully commercialized, it would inevitably become better and better, and in a few short generations we could, and probably will have a whole plethora of competitively priced products that are cheap to manufacture, economically powered, produces a crisp HD (3D?) resolution and is easy to install (ideally, the hardware will eventually become a standard in all residence spaces).
These installations will communicate fluently with our desktops, electronic books, mobile phones, TVs and music and visual media players, finally replacing and taking over all those smaller monitors, and enfolding them under one arch monitor system that's built into our walls, floors and ceilings.
The system will be controlled by a remote control device that would probably look a bit like an ipad, allowing the user to adjust, move and crop the different media outputs into windows on the physical wall space.
The advantages for this sort of technology are great I think.
Quite simply it means an almost absolute freedom in the creation and design of our personal domestic spaces. We can live, work and entertain ourselves and our loved ones in a space that is a true and dynamic visual manifestation of our individual personalities.
Coming back home from work, you turn on the switch, and will be greeted by anything as epic as, say the canine major galaxy, to anything as conservative as a warm fireplace, and pictures of the grandchildren.
Digital images will regain their former positions on our walls, and could be arranged and rotated as ever going slide shows.
Light fixtures, and house paints will become obsolete, as we will be able to decide, and adjust the colour, warmth and luminosity of our walls in an instant, and change them according to our mood, time of day, the season etc.
The greatest feature of these utilities will be that they will provide an equal stage for all classes, to display our personal tastes in designing our immediate personal environments, rather than be limited by the depths of our pockets. Designing your physical home would become as cheap as building a web page.
You could be working as a supermarket clerk, and have a convincing reproduction of a Jackson Pollock self portrait gracing your bedroom wall. And if those Monet water lilies are just too large for your small, cheap student apartment walls, well, just scale that bitch down! Problem solved.
Needless to say, these visual arrangements will not just be about aesthetics, all the functional aspects of visual media will still be present, and will only become more accessible and enhanced.
We could watch TV in glory, on our walls, larger than life, in a wider aspect than ever before, occupying our entire peripheral visual field.
We could check our email account in the bathroom, or the shower, or while doing the dishes... We could read an ebook before we go to sleep, off of our bedroom wall, taking a break to check our friend's status online, and listening to some tunes off of our mp3 library, or Youtube.
The spaces we create and design will be remarkably dynamic and interchangeable.
Like playlists on our ipods, we will have different audio/visual set ups for different situations. A sleek lounge-like setting for romantic dinners, a cosy, casual array of personal images for when we are by ourselves, a bright psychedelic abstraction of some sort for parties, a serene waterscape for when we yoga, or read, etc. etc.
With so many wonderful options, designing our immediate living environments will soon become an ongoing art practice, one that everyone is constantly engaging in.
This will have wide cultural and economical implications. Interior designers will become interior programmers, and their services will become much more common and highly sought after (my new dream job).
The plastic arts will suffer , at first, but will later adapt and reincarnate as image makers of "stock" visuals that could be purchased online (much like what is happening to the music industry now). Still, and moving image makers will eventually become the greatest beneficiaries from these new emerging technologies.
The furniture industry will take a powerful hit, as a revival of a more minimalist style of design, as far as physical objects go will become prevalent.
In architecture, curved walls that are con-caved to create a better illusion of depth, round merges and corners, oval and almost sphere-like layouts, and smaller windows, or windows that can be sealed will feature more prominently in the design of residence spaces.
And this is the part where you put on your rubber pointy ears, as the more distant future incarnations of the audio/visual simulations discussed above will continue to improve, and our domestic private spaces will eventually become something closely resembling a hollo-deck.
Actually, I don't know what will happen. This is more about what I want, then it is about what I know.
The future of video might not end up looking anything like what I've said here. After all, the restrictions for why it hasn't developed that way yet, are not technological, but psychological. We are used to consuming video via the frame, even if that frame has become larger, more mobile, and versatile. As long as these restrictions hold strong, video will remain contained in its many boxes.
On a more philosophical note, I think that the human mind is also caged in a box.
The physical body, the bony skull that's wrapped up around us, caging our experience to what our senses allow us to perceive, of the outside.
But inside our skulls, we are free to close our eyes and envision things we cannot see. We can imagine imaginations, experience memories, think thoughts, and feel abstract emotions that can't be expressed through any verbal or written language, and there is far more of us, hidden even from our selves in the deeper realms of our unconscious minds.
So if we choose to think of our body, as the immediate cage of our mind, and our apartment, as the cage of our body, why not then, treat that private space with the same freedom we treat our bodies. We have almost the same rights to it, I would argue.
Why not make it more our own, fill it up with images that are ours, represent our thoughts, feelings desires and narratives, make it a truer expression of ourselves.
An honest projection of the mind on the matter, what could make a more natural and comfortable space for our bodies to reside and operate in?
Thanks for reading.
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