Leisure time for everyone

WCU Author/Contributor (non-WCU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Nora Lynn Hartlaub (Creator)
Institution
Western Carolina University (WCU )
Web Site: http://library.wcu.edu/
Advisor
Ron Laboray

Abstract: The social function of recording devices provides the subject of my thesis, and takes form in an installation titled Leisure Time for Everyone. The art work consists of four projected videos and one non-projected work shown on a vintage television set. Each of the works addresses the role and influence of media in the formation of filmic representation and socially accepted behavior. The chronological assimilation of the camera into American culture from the 1950’s to the present provides the framework for my exploration. Feminist theory and the implication of surveillance provide further contexts for my investigation. The works aim to expose the power structures of Hollywood cinema latent in my family’s amateur film collection, and the extension of those structures into the contemporary social role of the camera. Two of the projected works consist of digitally manipulated vintage films, and the other projected works consist of footage I shot with a digital camera. These works address the shift from private to public spaces, also reflected in technological advancements of recording devices. The television set plays an audio recording paired with blurry found photographs, which speaks to the personal impact of technology and representation on memory. Organized chronologically, both the exhibition of the works as well as this paper explore the history of representation and its formation of social norms. The approaches I employ in exposing the role of the camera include digital manipulations of film or video that analyze the function of narrative. Humor and innuendo also provide methods for addressing the role of narrative and representation. The suspension of diegetic function within the works also likens them to the history of experimental film and still photography. This paper will further examine the social role of the recording device and the influence of media and surveillance on representation within the private space of the home as well as in the public space.

Additional Information

Publication
Thesis
Language: English
Date: 2012
Subjects
Installations (Art)
Video installations (Art)
Amateur films -- Social aspects
Photography -- Social aspects

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