Mediating the media

Environments which are full of advertisements, moving images and news feeds act to enclose ourselves from those around us. Mobile devices such as phones and mp3 players further exacerbate this containment of the self. The ability to interact with our environment and each other has been impaired because these devices and environments encourage interaction with people and imagery foreign to environments we exist in. The thesis seeks to alleviate the containment of the self through the use of media and encourage a social interaction. This social interaction begins to encourage interaction with the media and technology used in the installation as well as with those individuals who were interacting with the installation.;Utilizing projections of text as a substitute for the imagery found in our environments, the installation allows for two texts to be edited and filtered independently of each other by individuals interacting with the installation. An apparatus directly allows a user to edit and filter the text shown upon the surface of panels that are allowed to move. The apparatus is designed to provide choices to filter the text and allows for opportunities to find new meanings in the texts through manipulation. By altering the location of the panels within the apparatus, text is allowed to pass through this layer onto a mediated layer. This layer displays the text from the projection directly in front of this series of layers as well as from the opposite projection which is placed 90° to the other projection. A reflective layer is used to reflect one projection of text from the mediated layer to the other, allowing the two texts to merge on these mediated layers.;Interacting with the installation involves physically editing and filtering the projected text, which results in new texts and meanings when merged with the edited text from the interaction of others with the installation on the opposite projection. By allowing each text to be manipulated by more than one person, a dialogue can be created and allows for a social interaction with the users and between the users and the media. Indirect interaction also happens from the movement through and around the layers of the installation by people who are in the space of the installation as well as their viewing of the performance. This indirect interaction allows for viewers to block and capture text on their body, dynamically changing the meaning of the texts as they move throughout the installation.;This thesis provides a window to the way in which media and technology are used and perceived within public space. At a larger scale, the implications of the placing the installation in Times Square could then be an environment that is continually changing, not because of a computer being told what advertisements to display by one individual; rather it would be continually changed by those individuals who are in the environment at the moment allowing the environment to reflect the voice of those experiencing it. By reconsidering how we introduce technology and media into our spaces and environments new possibilities and concepts of space could emerge and completely change the way we inhabit our spaces.