James Quinn

Screen/space: a Critical Re-appraisal and Re-alignment of the Viewing Screen by Means of an Experimental Body of Fine Art Practice Centered on Viewer Perceptual and Spatial Disruption

This practice led-research proposes an investigation into our relationship with the viewing screen – the typically rectangular form used to access digital media. This agenda is realised through an experimental body of fine art practice, centered on video artworks and digital installations that seek to disrupt perceptual and spatial conventions when viewing screen-based digital image.

The viewing screen is a ubiquitous tool in our everyday, a formal presence in the workplace, at home, and in public spaces. The result of this ubiquity is a desensitisation towards the screens presence. Instead, a hierarchy of viewership is formed – focus on images preceding focus on the screen structures that deliver them. Furthermore, the use of the screen in an assortment of contexts results in the dissolution of public and private spatial binaries.

These notions support the practice-led nature of the research investigation. Challenging the viewers established relationship with the screen, provoking a re-evaluation of the way they engage with it both from a spatial and perceptual standpoint may encourage a change in viewership of screen-based image in a society increasingly entwined with digital imagery.