Concept...Sunny Side Up: Appropriating/Articulating Pt. 2

*Note: this metaphor may not be the best for illustrating such a complicated subject, but it's funny looking, and it makes me laugh so....take from it what you will.

In an attempt to further elaborate the process of constructing our CATTt, I will attempt to summarize a bit of Deleuze and Guattari with the help of one of my favorite breakfast foods ever - eggs, sunny side up. Since D & G occupy our Theory slot, we are using them to give us a set of instructions for creating a Concept (proper), which is composed of three major things:

- the Plane of Immanence
- the Conceptual Personae
- Components/Concept

I can further explain what each of these three components are made up of (the rabbit hole gets deeper) but for now, simply put, the plane of immanence is the territory of reality/consciousness that directly relates to the problem (the Target) that the Concept tries to understand - the whole egg (white and yolk). The conceptual personae is the character or "avatar" that enacts the Concept and allows us to think through it - perhaps this is the person eating breakfast. The components are the bits of things/actions/characteristics that occupy the chaotic plane of immanence. We take them and bring them into a different consistency within the plane of immanence into the form of our concept - the pepper flakes. The concept in this image is the yolk because it literally is a different consistency than the rest of the egg. It is part of the plane of immanence, but separate from it and perhaps is the "meatiest" part of all of this.

Hypermediacy

Last night, at about midnight, before finally giving in to heavy eyes, I scribbled down a quick thought on a post-it.


"piracy/appropriation as hypermediacy or activated spectatorship
the culture (consumer, ad-based culture) is the installation/plane of immanence
Pirates are no longer passive viewers"

In my installation art class we are reading Installation Art by Claire Bishop. In this text she outlines four categories of installation art, describing one type as "activated spectatorship," or the kind that require/ask to viewer to participate in some sort of action to complete the artwork. In our discussion of this particular category, the idea of Immediacy vs. Hypermediacy (according to Jay David Bolter) was brought up. If installation art's aim was to shake the viewer out of their complacency or passivity as a spectator of art then the question was asked, "Can installation art that causes us to perceive ourselves perceiving be considered hypermediacy (an experience that is opaque and/or self-referrential)?"

My question is, "Can appropriative creation be considered hypermediacy?" If piracy/appropriation is a form of activated spectatorship in the installation that is our current media-based culture (our plane of immanence - I think I'm using that right), then I would venture to say yes. We watch a YouTube video mashup, or listen to a song with samples, and realize that the components have been appropriated from other sources. In those special moments when these acts subvert the media structure we're used to then we are no longer hypnotized by it, or passive. The experience can become opaque.

Just a thought.