Video between Architecture and Telepathy
On 6 January 1973, Chilean media artist Juan Downey exhibited <i>Plato Now</i> at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York. A hybrid multichannel video installation and performance, this was Downey’s restaging of Plato’s Parable of the Cave—the “<i>Now</i>” registering...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-06-01
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| Series: | Arts |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/12/4/133 |
| _version_ | 1797585506157985792 |
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| author | Nicolas Holt |
| author_facet | Nicolas Holt |
| author_sort | Nicolas Holt |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | On 6 January 1973, Chilean media artist Juan Downey exhibited <i>Plato Now</i> at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York. A hybrid multichannel video installation and performance, this was Downey’s restaging of Plato’s Parable of the Cave—the “<i>Now</i>” registering what the myth might look like from the vantage of his own historical moment. And whereas Plato’s original operated through an inflexible division between the space of the mind and a derivative sensual reality, <i>Plato Now</i> explicitly sought to blur those philosophical lines by assembling a relay of invisible energies, brain waves, video signals, and telepathic communications, such that the space of mind and sensual reality became speculatively entangled. This article clarifies just how <i>Plato Now</i> did this, and situates its philosophical vision as a significant, if relatively unremarked, aesthetic prefiguration of the new materialist tendencies towards relationality, hybrid assemblages, and vibrant conceptions of energy and matter. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T00:08:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-014495ee4f54435eaf307ca2ee605097 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-0752 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T00:08:04Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Arts |
| spelling | doaj.art-014495ee4f54435eaf307ca2ee6050972023-11-19T00:10:42ZengMDPI AGArts2076-07522023-06-0112413310.3390/arts12040133Video between Architecture and TelepathyNicolas Holt0Department of Art History and Communication Studies, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 0G4, CanadaOn 6 January 1973, Chilean media artist Juan Downey exhibited <i>Plato Now</i> at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York. A hybrid multichannel video installation and performance, this was Downey’s restaging of Plato’s Parable of the Cave—the “<i>Now</i>” registering what the myth might look like from the vantage of his own historical moment. And whereas Plato’s original operated through an inflexible division between the space of the mind and a derivative sensual reality, <i>Plato Now</i> explicitly sought to blur those philosophical lines by assembling a relay of invisible energies, brain waves, video signals, and telepathic communications, such that the space of mind and sensual reality became speculatively entangled. This article clarifies just how <i>Plato Now</i> did this, and situates its philosophical vision as a significant, if relatively unremarked, aesthetic prefiguration of the new materialist tendencies towards relationality, hybrid assemblages, and vibrant conceptions of energy and matter.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/12/4/133Juan Downeyvideo artinstallation artelectromagnetismnew materialismscontemporary art |
| spellingShingle | Nicolas Holt Video between Architecture and Telepathy Arts Juan Downey video art installation art electromagnetism new materialisms contemporary art |
| title | Video between Architecture and Telepathy |
| title_full | Video between Architecture and Telepathy |
| title_fullStr | Video between Architecture and Telepathy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Video between Architecture and Telepathy |
| title_short | Video between Architecture and Telepathy |
| title_sort | video between architecture and telepathy |
| topic | Juan Downey video art installation art electromagnetism new materialisms contemporary art |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/12/4/133 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT nicolasholt videobetweenarchitectureandtelepathy |