From Ulysses Jenkins to Letícia Parente: MoMA's “Signals: How Video Transformed the World” showcases videos on society and politics while challenging assumptions about the role of media in shaping our world.
Love it or loathe it, media has become as essential to modern life as caffeine and Netflix binges.
It's everywhere, weaving itself into the fabric of contemporary existence, infiltrating our daily routines and global events like a clingy ex, but settle in because the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) opened a new exhibit that is guaranteed to turn our understanding of media and society upside down.
MoMa’s latest exhibit, titled “Signals: How Video Transformed the World,” open from March 5th to July 8th, 2023, explores the continuous questions of human perception; the complex ways in which media, politics, and society intersect; and media's potential to challenge dominant narratives through videos.
Upon entering the exhibit, a visitor may think they have entered an alternate dimension that’s been set to maximum speed. The various single and multi-screen installations come in all sizes, from gigantic to minuscule, overlapping and flashing so quickly that you'd swear you accidentally wandered into a strobe light convention or a psychedelic trip.
If that's not sufficient to induce a sensory overload, the intentionally unconventional exhibit holds over days' worth of footage that one couldn’t watch in full even if they stayed from opening to closing hours.
While MoMa’s goal is not to test a person to see if they could complete the task, it is actually just a clever commentary to demonstrate how limited the human scope is. As visitors can grasp only fragments of the works, our perception of the information and, metaphorically, of the world, is conditional to our visibility.
With that concept immediately established, other common themes shine through as the exhibition offers more thought-provoking commentary on how media is shaping our lives and interactions while questioning and challenging these ideas with the hope of understanding our present world and prompting discussion about these topics.
However, if you get slightly distracted by the hologram or the giant dome that submerges you in superimposed images, have no fear. The MoMA anticipated this and kindly curated a selection of incredible videos from the exhibit on its websiteon their website.
Videos such as Ulysses Jenkins’s “Mass of Images,” 1978 - 79, is an example of social criticism illustrating how society is influenced by the media's perpetuation of racism, as it shows racist images while iterating the phrase, "You’re just a mass of images you’ve gotten to know, from years and years of TV shows.”
Another video I found particularly compelling video is Tony Cokes' “Black Celebration,” 1988, as it challenges ideas about uprisings in the US and the media’s portrayal of these events. The work combines resistance footage from multiple Black neighborhoods in the US during the 1960s with excerpts from various authors that challenge the assumed negative characterizations.
Letícia Parente’s “Preparação I” (Preparation I), 1975, comments on social and political implications on the body and identity. As she applies makeup on top of her taped-shut eyes and mouth, the artist critiques gender identity, power dynamics, and society's imposed “role of women.”
In a world where media is an inescapable part of everyday life, "Signals: How Video Transformed the World" leaves us with much to ponder about the impact of media on society.
As we step out of the alternate dimension of video installations and slow down a bit, the exhibit's insightful commentary challenges our assumptions about the role media has in shaping our lives and interactions.
By highlighting the impact of videos and media in our lives, the viewers are encouraged to reflect and question the role of technology in the modern world and our relationship with it during and after their visit to MoMA’s “Signals: How Video Transformed the World.”
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