Abstract
In the current debates about the contested line between fact and fiction, little
attention is paid to a genre closely associated with factual narratives: the information. However, information is a specific form of narrative that is historically connected to news about distant places, events, or people. This means that information conveys stories that listeners have, per definition, never experienced through their own senses. Furthermore, information is nowadays, through the internet, nearly instantaneous, and it loses its value once its content is not brand-new anymore.
In this article, I investigate how the characteristics of information—speed,
instantaneity, newness, impersonality—influence human perception when
they impinge upon the senses. I want to contrast the characteristics of information with the artwork Moule by Anna Lena Grau (2015) that slows down
understandings and that asks of its audience to take their time when they try
to make sense and give meaning to it. If an artwork slows down processes of
meaning-making, it allows recipients to become aware of their own semiotic
activities. I will argue that information is a specific form of message that is far
from being objective, because it does not include personal experiences and
historical, cultural, and geopolitical situatedness in its account. I will ask what
is at stake with both kinds of procedures, and develop an alternative vision of
connecting to people, histories, and events that are taking place afar.
attention is paid to a genre closely associated with factual narratives: the information. However, information is a specific form of narrative that is historically connected to news about distant places, events, or people. This means that information conveys stories that listeners have, per definition, never experienced through their own senses. Furthermore, information is nowadays, through the internet, nearly instantaneous, and it loses its value once its content is not brand-new anymore.
In this article, I investigate how the characteristics of information—speed,
instantaneity, newness, impersonality—influence human perception when
they impinge upon the senses. I want to contrast the characteristics of information with the artwork Moule by Anna Lena Grau (2015) that slows down
understandings and that asks of its audience to take their time when they try
to make sense and give meaning to it. If an artwork slows down processes of
meaning-making, it allows recipients to become aware of their own semiotic
activities. I will argue that information is a specific form of message that is far
from being objective, because it does not include personal experiences and
historical, cultural, and geopolitical situatedness in its account. I will ask what
is at stake with both kinds of procedures, and develop an alternative vision of
connecting to people, histories, and events that are taking place afar.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | After Post-Truth |
| Subtitle of host publication | Interface Politics, 2nd International Conference |
| Editors | Jorge Luis Marzo |
| Place of Publication | Barcelona |
| Publisher | Publicaciones GREDITS |
| Pages | 23-36 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 978-84-09-13668-1 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-84-09-13667-4 |
| Publication status | Published - 2019 |
Keywords
- Information as a narrative genre
- the production of experiences in art
- semiotic activity of viewers
- affect and affectivity
- time and duration