“ˈmiːdiə: what defines me” is a multimedia attempt at interpreting Kittler et al’s “Gramophone, Film, Typewriter,” Horkheimer and Adorno’s “Culture Industry,” and McLuhan’s Understanding Media, through my own experiences with media. I decided to explore the various technologies and media that have controlled who I am as I grew up, and shaped me without me noticing.

The work consists of a portable CD player, a recycled novel from my childhood (LA Candy by Lauren Conrad), film from another work from my childhood ( E.T.), and acrylic paint.

I felt it was also important to address poetry, as it made — according to Kittler — voices and handwritings consumable. That said, there is a poem written on the background of the work, threaded together with words from the recycled pages of the novel. It reads as such, and hopes to comment perhaps on the culture industry and its powers:

Why was it that when girls moves to Hollywood

all eventually morphed into the same stereotype.

Too plain

Pretty blonde —

the run-of-the-mill Hollywood blonde.

Tall, striking.

It’s called positive reinforcement.

I do it.

I know that probably doesn’t make any sense.

It’s beautiful

the entertainment industry

I promise.

New documentary-style show,

a reality.

Curious?

Exactly what I’m looking for.

We’re totally clueless.

The exact opposite of the Hollywood glamour scene.

I was completely out of my mind.

I don’t think I’ll be getting a curtain call.

The recycled novel is also present within the CD player itself, to comment on how words were changed into a mechanical process with the likes of the phonograph — arguably an ancestor of all digital music formats. The CD player is painted as Understanding Media to represent the importance of the text in terms of showcasing how technology affects us outside of solely proliferating content.