~ Remediation ~

‘Remediation’

Def: The Reproducing or Refashioning of old media with new.

I’ve done the reading on Remediation in our “Living in the Information Age” The New Media Reader -and I have to say it was probably the most confused that I’ve been this semester yet. I read, I highlighted -sentences were underlined, many passages were remarked even notes were attempted in my journal. After much anguish and a clear avoidance to the assignment, I’ve instead come up with a story. Last summer I took my once-in-ten annual road-trip across America, visiting friends and family. I hadn’t seen my cousins in Seattle in seven years. Arriving there in mid-September the weather was optimal for the Great North East. One of my cousins, Kay Kline - has 'Therapist' on her shingle, yet she is far to the other side of your standard shrink. Kay married to Jim and they've raised two great kids, Mason and Mattie. Mason is off at collage thousands of miles away. 'Mattie' has hit a bit of a rough patch. She's currently at living at home -figuring out in which direction to next through her Stone. (A term I use often – though some say ‘Dart’.) The two kids were together, the summer before, visiting in Boston where Mason is attending the University. On a stellar day one particular afternoon, they were sitting in an outdoor café having lunch. The two of them had just gotten off the phone talking with their mother and thought it a fun idea to take a shot of this moment with Mason’s photo phone. They got their faces as close as they could and snapped a self portrait electronic image. Cheek to cheek they smiled and clicked. In a flash of the send button, my cousin had instantly received it thousands of miles away back on the West Coast.

I have to apologize now for failing to mention earlier -Kay is also quite the artist. She dabbles in quite a few different artistic mediums. After receiving the photo her spontaneously and creative mind went right to work. She took the two digital figures that flew through the air, across terrain and time zones, downloaded them and brought them up on her computer. After working the visual in Photoshop she printed the pair onto paper at first and began the process of washing, etching, and maybe stamping it to a kind of tappa-cloth. I don’t know, ironing it and inking it. Over weeks, there were many failed attempts but, she kept at it. Burning, pressing, using different intensities and kinds of paper or cloth, until, she got the look and texture that had for so long been her artistic quest. All these processes though were old-ways in the art world. Yet, anything can be found and figured out on the Internet today.

Anyway, it took a few months to perfect the look and quality she sought. By Christmas it was framed and wrapped under the tree for their holiday gift. Bringing back their fond memories of a great summer trip, they were delighted. Brother and sister now edged and blazed in art, their youthful sibling bond beautifully mixed. That moment in the café was ‘metamorphic’ now beautifully recreated, hanging on the wall for all the years and tears and memories to come.

. . . That’s Re-mediation!