INSTeM Conference: ‘Post-Media Studies in Asia 2024’

INSTeM Conference: ‘Post-Media Studies in Asia 2024’
Date: 20-21 January 2024
Location: Tokyo University of the Arts online event

Keynote: ‘Human Perception and Digital Information Technology: Animation, Algorithm and Affect’
Tomoko Tamari

Abstract
Focusing on Japanese animation cinema that has been widely acclaimed as an art form, the paper discusses human perception of animation by scrutinizing ‘the affective effect’ in the dynamic relations between moving images and human conscious–nonconscious cognition. The paper explores the differences between digital aesthetics created by computer animation and analogue aesthetics in hand-drawn animation. While computer- generated imagery (CGI) refers to the process that involves mathematical calculations within computers to create verisimilar naturalistic images, the traditional hand- drawn animation method involves symbolic expressive forms created by the animator’s spatiotemporal sensitivities. Drawing on Hayles’s discussion of the ‘cognitive nonconscious’, Simondon’s notion of ‘technical mentality’, and biosemiotics, the paper argues that there might be an inevitable incompatibility in the image-formation process between human perception and algorithm-based CGI. To explore this assumption, the paper focuses on the questions of ‘selectivity’ and ‘abstraction’ in both the neuronal and the technical, and emphasizes the significance of ‘noise’ (incompleteness and ambiguity) and ‘time’ (speed, duration, and delay) for human perception by exploring the nature of cognitive systems. The paper further considers the expansion of digital computer technology and its integration within human life by analysing the ‘recursive dynamism’ of human perception and CGI.

About this event
As entering the 2020s, the media landscape is changing dramatically. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the proliferation of various net conferencing applications such as Zoom and Teams, and new subscription services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime have taken off. Meanwhile, new technologies such as new generative AI, represented by Catgut, are fundamentally transforming the relationship between humans and machines.

At the same time, the era of global centralization and homogenization driven by transnational capitalism, which has advanced since the end of the Cold War, is rapidly coming to an end, and the world is becoming increasingly fragmented. The digital media world is no exception. The multinational corporate platforms represented by GAFAM, which seemed to have everything under control, have come in for a variety of criticism, and the evolution of technology in China and other non-Western countries has been remarkable. Under these circumstances, the digital media environment will become more and more a mosaic, unstable, full of connections and disconnections, agreements and disagreements.

What will media studies look like in these times? In the late 1980s, when the Internet was not yet widespread, French philosopher Félix Guattari foresaw the arrival of a new interactive digital media and, in anticipation of its political possibilities, proposed the concept of “post-media”. In light of the current widespread use of the Internet, his vision may seem a bit too optimistic. However, the concept of “post-media,” which advocates a fundamental reformation of the relationship between man and machine, body and media, nature and environment, seems to have a new meaning now that media has spread to every corner of our lives.

’Post-Media Studies in Asia 2024’ is an online symposium that seeks to discuss how the media environment is changing in Asia. While strongly influenced by the US, Asian media is developing in its own unique way according to its own culture, economy, and politics. At the same time, globalization is accelerating the flow of transnational cultures. There is an urgent need to construct a new media theory that responds to the new media environment.

The Post-Media Research Network (PMRN) was established in 2020 and have regularly held symposia and workshops with guest speakers including Mike Featherstone, Tomoko Tamari, Scott Lash, Matthew Fuller, Ian Condry, and others. In April 2023, INSTeM has taken over this project and is reorganizing the PMRN.

This symposium will be the first project of the new PMRN. We hope that those who are interested in this field have an opportunity to give a presentation, exchange ideas and develop our network.