Forget What They Told You About Playing with Fire [But Don’t Smoke in Bed]
Added to the Museum of Data by David Teveth on Monday, October 19, 2020. Museum of Data Collection ID: 555.
Public description: Versions of videos of burning fire on TV screens on repeat are familiar to me, I can not remember where from. Perhaps they were evident as satirical ploys in how contemporary home-decor could be 'phoney', or as an illustration of how far humanity went ever since it discovered fire (and went to discover the pay-per-view). So, from the discovery of fire to the mediation of fire we move and can now ask - why would we digitally mediate fire? If one does not have a fireplace, why should they not light a Zippo and watch the flame burn while it warms their fingers and makes the room smell like petrol? Well, even if we do not know why they should not do that, we do know that the digital mediation of fire poses some questions such as what kind of atmosphere do we wish to create when playing a video of burning fire (set in a fireplace or as a camp-fire)? What does digital fire make us feel and what effects does it have on our emotions? Does digital fire allow us to enjoy the thrill of watching fire burn without worrying about any dangerous consequences (for it is not physically flammable)? How does digital fire make us reflect about the question of authenticity in digital contexts? How the process of making physical fire different than the process of making digital fire and what does it add/alter about our definition of fire?
Materials used: The object is made of digital video, suggestion, fire and wind.
Credit: Image available from
Language: Visual language
Size: Its size is dynamic and depends on the flame. The average size of all flames depends on the presentational means and wishes of the spectator.
Creation date: 2019/12/06 00:00:00
Alternate identifiers: mediation; fire; video;
External link: https://tenor.com/view/fireplace-gif-15738027
Files associated with this object:
