indexing the world in the age of media

‘content management’ i think was the catalyst of this particular meandering thought. content as the glut of information that exists around us on the internet, on television, in newspapers- all of them claiming authenticity. management as the act of organizing it into legible patterns- an architecture for content. indexes of words that represent the presence of tangible objects.

but these objects are not really experienced. all that is experienced is their simulation in the form of that one image, icon, word that we mutually agree represents it. if behind that image the object did not exist at all it would make no difference to us- for it is the image of it that matters. the distance between the tangible object and its representation and consumption is enormous and consumed through trading in language; or do i mean mythologies? and if all mediation between us is through us speech – i.e. a language of collectively agreed upon mythologies- can anything new ever be possible?

too convoluted? let me see if i can clarify. it has been frustrating for me to watch the growing validation of work that merely repeats itself ad nauseum about mutually agreed upon ‘issues’ (the usual suspects- you know which they are)  and does so in ways that are repetitive and predictable. these issues seem to be the stock in trade for individuals who represent certain generic types- the third world woman, the butch lesbian, the camp gay man- and they work that they create seems imprisoned within this persona- this persona being a necessary tool to be legible in a field where all transactions are increasingly only between words- one word talking to another. if it can’t be spoken- it can’t be sold- and sold not only in the market but also by research organizations in funding proposals. is it a corollary therefore that you can only research what is already understood?

and what happens when this work cannot be grasped purely through language- when between the experience and that description there are so many slippages that language breaks down; or the words are so difficult that the patience of the reader is tested; or the preset ideas of what is expected are challenged

in short - to be heard in a world where the experience of physical space has been replaced with its representation- we have to become sound bites. easy to understand and saying what the reporter wants us (depending on who we appear to be) to say- or we get left behind on the editing table. J