Date of Award

2006

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Program

Visual Arts

Supervisor

Dr. Christine Sprengler

Second Advisor

Dr. Bridget Elliott

Abstract

In recent years, video installation has emerged as an established and popular art form. Leaving aside the concerns for medium specificity, many contemporary artists create large scale, multimedia installations that address the viewer’s senses. This thesis examines the ways in which several multimedia installations challenge traditional cinema, its linear narratives and its conventional ways of presenting a film in a movie theater. The installations addressed in this thesis expand the image from the single screen into the space of the viewer. These installations become cinematic spaces in which the viewer is bodily immersed. While the spectator of traditional cinema is passively absorbed in the illusion, the viewer of the works discussed here is encouraged to engage critically and creatively with the moving image. To illustrate these issues, I have selected the works of Janet Cardiff, Doug Aitken, and Pierre Huyghe.

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