MEDIA REVIEW
BITCOIN MINING AND FIELD RECORDINGS OF ETHNIC MINORITIES,
LIU CHUANG (2018), THREE-C... more MEDIA REVIEW BITCOIN MINING AND FIELD RECORDINGS OF ETHNIC MINORITIES, LIU CHUANG (2018), THREE-CHANNEL VIDEO VIEW, 5.1 SOUND, 40 MIN.
The South China Sea has been perceived as one of the most disputed oceanic environments given the... more The South China Sea has been perceived as one of the most disputed oceanic environments given the competing territorial claims made by the neighboring nation-states. Yet it is China’s recent controversial land reclamation projects that turn uninhabited reefs and rocks into artificial islands while push this once disconnected territory into public scrutiny and mediation (Wingfield-Hayes 2014). In recent academic literature, however, the South China Sea dispute is understood mainly through political-economic approaches (Yu 2015; Green 2016; Truong & Knio 2016), but seldom as a media issue. This is particularly problematic when acknowledging the transformation happening in the region: large-scale anthropogenic activities are drastically changing the ecological landscape (Lawrence & Fan 2016) and challenging the existing legal parameters set by the Law of the Sea (Vidas 2016); these eco-legal transformations are also hyper-mediated and distributed as part of the political reconfiguration currently underway. Media’s explicit presence in the region contradicts the lack of critical examination of how various mediations actually operate in this contested eco-political geography, especially in relation to the rise of popular nationalism (Chubb 2016) and more generally popular imaginary of the distanced archipelagos.
In light of these concerns, this paper specifically examines how video intervenes in this zone of legal and political indeterminacy (Heller-Roazen 2009). Satellite imaging (both commercial and military) and Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) are widely accepted and used as solutions for global maritime security and surveillance, dominating regional knowledge production. These high-resolution satellite images are often circulated as authoritative “evidence” by state institutions, military strategists, journalists and the general public alike. In contrast, video’s technical and aesthetic specificities embody a speculative position from the sea that often perceived as less legitimate than those more institutionalized form of mediation such as satellite imaging and aerial photography. This paper instead argues that popular videos occupy a central rather than a marginal role in this messy digital-political geography at sea, in which video constitutes a critical engagement with the changing ecological and political ocean space. It will navigate through multiple examples, from state-produced video on island cellular infrastructures, citizen-produced patriotic videos on international arbitration, as well as cell-phone recordings from Vietnamese fishermen.
This article looks at the use of mobile phones to capture images of China’s smog. Seeking to move... more This article looks at the use of mobile phones to capture images of China’s smog. Seeking to move beyond the familiar stated benefits of circumscribing state censor-ship and supporting offline mobilization, it employs instead an interpretive frame-work that views digital capture as a process of cultural production. In doing so, it enables comparisons with other forms of visual production, situating it in relation to other modes of realism and questioning the very definition of environmental activism, particularly through Chai Jing's 2016 documentary Under the Dome on China's current smog pollution. It also enables a more nuanced analysis of the social and geographical biases that are reflected in the use of mobile phones when used for environmental engagement.
MEDIA REVIEW
BITCOIN MINING AND FIELD RECORDINGS OF ETHNIC MINORITIES,
LIU CHUANG (2018), THREE-C... more MEDIA REVIEW BITCOIN MINING AND FIELD RECORDINGS OF ETHNIC MINORITIES, LIU CHUANG (2018), THREE-CHANNEL VIDEO VIEW, 5.1 SOUND, 40 MIN.
The South China Sea has been perceived as one of the most disputed oceanic environments given the... more The South China Sea has been perceived as one of the most disputed oceanic environments given the competing territorial claims made by the neighboring nation-states. Yet it is China’s recent controversial land reclamation projects that turn uninhabited reefs and rocks into artificial islands while push this once disconnected territory into public scrutiny and mediation (Wingfield-Hayes 2014). In recent academic literature, however, the South China Sea dispute is understood mainly through political-economic approaches (Yu 2015; Green 2016; Truong & Knio 2016), but seldom as a media issue. This is particularly problematic when acknowledging the transformation happening in the region: large-scale anthropogenic activities are drastically changing the ecological landscape (Lawrence & Fan 2016) and challenging the existing legal parameters set by the Law of the Sea (Vidas 2016); these eco-legal transformations are also hyper-mediated and distributed as part of the political reconfiguration currently underway. Media’s explicit presence in the region contradicts the lack of critical examination of how various mediations actually operate in this contested eco-political geography, especially in relation to the rise of popular nationalism (Chubb 2016) and more generally popular imaginary of the distanced archipelagos.
In light of these concerns, this paper specifically examines how video intervenes in this zone of legal and political indeterminacy (Heller-Roazen 2009). Satellite imaging (both commercial and military) and Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) are widely accepted and used as solutions for global maritime security and surveillance, dominating regional knowledge production. These high-resolution satellite images are often circulated as authoritative “evidence” by state institutions, military strategists, journalists and the general public alike. In contrast, video’s technical and aesthetic specificities embody a speculative position from the sea that often perceived as less legitimate than those more institutionalized form of mediation such as satellite imaging and aerial photography. This paper instead argues that popular videos occupy a central rather than a marginal role in this messy digital-political geography at sea, in which video constitutes a critical engagement with the changing ecological and political ocean space. It will navigate through multiple examples, from state-produced video on island cellular infrastructures, citizen-produced patriotic videos on international arbitration, as well as cell-phone recordings from Vietnamese fishermen.
This article looks at the use of mobile phones to capture images of China’s smog. Seeking to move... more This article looks at the use of mobile phones to capture images of China’s smog. Seeking to move beyond the familiar stated benefits of circumscribing state censor-ship and supporting offline mobilization, it employs instead an interpretive frame-work that views digital capture as a process of cultural production. In doing so, it enables comparisons with other forms of visual production, situating it in relation to other modes of realism and questioning the very definition of environmental activism, particularly through Chai Jing's 2016 documentary Under the Dome on China's current smog pollution. It also enables a more nuanced analysis of the social and geographical biases that are reflected in the use of mobile phones when used for environmental engagement.
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Papers by Weixian Pan
BITCOIN MINING AND FIELD RECORDINGS OF ETHNIC MINORITIES,
LIU CHUANG (2018), THREE-CHANNEL VIDEO VIEW, 5.1 SOUND,
40 MIN.
In light of these concerns, this paper specifically examines how video intervenes in this zone of legal and political indeterminacy (Heller-Roazen 2009). Satellite imaging (both commercial and military) and Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) are widely accepted and used as solutions for global maritime security and surveillance, dominating regional knowledge production. These high-resolution satellite images are often circulated as authoritative “evidence” by state institutions, military strategists, journalists and the general public alike. In contrast, video’s technical and aesthetic specificities embody a speculative position from the sea that often perceived as less legitimate than those more institutionalized form of mediation such as satellite imaging and aerial photography. This paper instead argues that popular videos occupy a central rather than a marginal role in this messy digital-political geography at sea, in which video constitutes a critical engagement with the changing ecological and political ocean space. It will navigate through multiple examples, from state-produced video on island cellular infrastructures, citizen-produced patriotic videos on international arbitration, as well as cell-phone recordings from Vietnamese fishermen.
BITCOIN MINING AND FIELD RECORDINGS OF ETHNIC MINORITIES,
LIU CHUANG (2018), THREE-CHANNEL VIDEO VIEW, 5.1 SOUND,
40 MIN.
In light of these concerns, this paper specifically examines how video intervenes in this zone of legal and political indeterminacy (Heller-Roazen 2009). Satellite imaging (both commercial and military) and Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) are widely accepted and used as solutions for global maritime security and surveillance, dominating regional knowledge production. These high-resolution satellite images are often circulated as authoritative “evidence” by state institutions, military strategists, journalists and the general public alike. In contrast, video’s technical and aesthetic specificities embody a speculative position from the sea that often perceived as less legitimate than those more institutionalized form of mediation such as satellite imaging and aerial photography. This paper instead argues that popular videos occupy a central rather than a marginal role in this messy digital-political geography at sea, in which video constitutes a critical engagement with the changing ecological and political ocean space. It will navigate through multiple examples, from state-produced video on island cellular infrastructures, citizen-produced patriotic videos on international arbitration, as well as cell-phone recordings from Vietnamese fishermen.