Media is Sensational: Art and Mediation in the Experience Economy

In May 2012, I organized the symposium ‘Lighting the Cave’ at Central Saint Martins in London. The symposium set out ‘to interrogate themes of light, reflection and “truth” in and across the expanded field of artists’ film and video’. Sean Cubitt’s article, which follows this article, is a revised version of the keynote presentation he gave that day, entitled, ‘The shadow’, and sets the tone for much of what follows. ‘Lighting the cave’ was in many ways an extension of the exhibition, ‘Platon’s Mirror’ by the German artist, Mischa Kuball, a subtle and contemporary re-staging of Plato’s allegory of the cave in the context of modern media culture (CSM, 3–25 May 2012). Kuball’s mixed-media installation was also shown in the Lethaby Gallery at CSM during the symposium and triggered a number of ‘dialogues’ around themes of mediation in relation to artists’ practice in the twenty-first century. Fittingly, Kuball describes himself as more of a ‘mediator’ than an artist; something I wish to explore more fully here in relation to contemporary moving image practices. As part of this role as ‘mediator’ – which is less about producing art objects and more about creating situations – Kuball employs in his work what David Joselit has described as different ‘formats’, a term that complicates traditional notions of ‘media’. Rather than identifying his work within strict definitions of ‘film’ or ‘video’, Kuball uses light, travel, dialogue, code and public/private space as some of his ‘mediums’ or indeed ‘formats’. Notwithstanding, he often makes videos and employs the photographic within these practices. With Kuball’s practice as a starting point, this article will attempt to uncover the interconnected themes of artist as mediator and art as experience in relation to historical works made by artists using film.