The World On Screen

In chapter 4, “The World on Screen”, Mirzoeff describes how railways and digital media are the two networks that have allowed us to see the world in different ways.  The railway network connected with the world of cinema and created a unique visual world. Trains have been a part of cinema for years, either y being in the background or by being the main stage for the movie, it has been used by various filmmakers to create a visual impact on the audience. 

Mirzoeff also uses trains as a metaphor for life today in relation to digital media. “The distributed networks created by the Internet are producing another world that we see on small pixelated screens” (Mirzoeff, 2015)

Another topic that Mirzoeff talks about is the creation of a “Global Village”. “The global audience, watching the same events, using the same broadcast television pictures and coming to a collective viewpoint on them, seemed to mark a new direction in world history.” (Mirzoeff, 2015)

In this chapter, Mirzoeff also identifies that what is being shown to us on the media today has in some way been manipulated or “filtered”. We live in a world where we’re being fed with data constantly and its hard to decipher what’s real and what has been “filtered”. 

The conclusion of this chapter, “While we think of this as ‘our’ world, it is one that is carefully policed and filtered for us before we can see it. And the world it renders for us is, above all, where we go next.” Perfectly describes what Mirzoeff is asking us to think about.  Mirzoeff is asking us to look deeper into what we read and view and question how the creators of technology hinder or filter the information we see on a daily basis.

The World Of War

Chapter 3, as the name of the chapter suggests, focuses on the world of war and how it has changed over time.

“This skill was first the attribute of the general and then became a highly specialised set of technologies.”

Earlier the more powerful or the rulers were considered different from the common people and were thus thought be the best choice to lead the army. As time passed, leaders stayed back and were hardly ever seen on the field. Instead, they were the ones who used their experience to ‘visualise’ war and to decide what was to be done. Later, this visualisation was used to make maps which wasn’t only used for warfare and miltary purposes but for various other activities.

As time progressed and new technologies developed, it was possible to take actual detailed photographs from overhead and the way war was visualised, completely changed.

“Visualising was a technology at the service of military leadership, rather than leadership being the ability to visualise.”

These photographs was also used to make much more intricate maps as well.

As much as these photographs helped the military understand certain things, some mistakes were also made like how Powell misinterpreted certain photographs taken in Iraq, which resulted in the beginning of the Second Gulf War. Moreover, as photography became accessible to the common people, it was used to affect the viewers by leaking disturbing images of prisoners and the ways of torture inflicted on them. This method was also used in the 9/11 attacks where the “key aspect of shock and awe was that it needed to be seen by those not directly attacked.”

As it has been believed that there can be a better understanding of a place when seen from above, a drone was invented. A drone is a small device that can capture overhead images of a place and at the same time drop missiles while the pilot stays thousands of kilometers away. Drones were being used to reach ultimate goals without caring about the casualties. For example, over 600 people were killed in Pakistan by drones out of which only two were on the “most wanted” list.

It is feared that in the future drones will be used as policing devices and we will all the time under its scrutiny. Moreover they have also entered the commercial industry where less violent drones are being sold for informative or creative purposes.

How We Think About Seeing

In chapter 2, Mirzoeff begins with explaining how we “do not actually ‘see’ with our eyes but our brains.” To prove this point he gives us a series of examples and experients conducted over the years to show that “it takes a brain to see, not just a pair of eyes.”

He also tells us that us humans need to see to believe. I think Descartes’ analogy of vision is quite true – “Vision is [was] understood as courtroom, in which the eye presents the evidence for the judge to decide.”

Mirzoeffe also explains how MRIs can be used to map the different sections of our brains that are in use while doing a particular action – which further confirms the need for humans to see something, even if it’s a computation, to understand and believe a certain concept.

Mirzoeff also highlights that in a short period of time, due to increase in use of technolgy such as video games that increases hand–eye coordination and texting while working that enables us to multi- task at a given period of time, we have adapted or have been able to change the way we make use of visual information. He refers to an experiment conducted psychologist Daniel Simons and his student Christopher Chabris known as the ‘Invisible Gorilla’ where he proves that humans tend to have ‘inattentional blindness’, i.e, the inability to percieve certain outside information while concentrating on a particular task. But when Mirzoeff does the same experiment with a few grouos of people, he finds out that nearly everyone sees the gorilla and this is because we have probably learned how to multi task. Mirzoeff says, “Now we are trained to pay attention to distractions and mostly, though not exclusively, we do.”

Mirzoeff also refers to body maps and mirror nuerons to make his fianl link to visual culture with respect to how we see. The way our brain works not only allows us to be aware of our own bodies even without ‘seeing’ it. And the mirror nuerons “do not only allow us to

see the world from my [our] point of view but to visualise it from the point of views of others.” We use all of the information that we ‘see’ as a resource that is then made of use by us to adapt and suit our individual needs, relating back to what apparently visual culture seeks to “debate, explore and explain.”

How To See Yourself

This chapter tells us about the different chages that took place in art and how it has been used to depict our identities. It begins by exlpaining what a ‘selfie’ or a self portrait is and how “Self-portraits were the preserve of a highly skilled few” but now anyone can gave by it by using a smartphone.

By looking at different stages of art history, Mirzoeff seeks to explain the where our mindset of self image comes from.

He references the paintings of Vigée-Lebrun and Courbet where the artists depict themselves as something or someone that they might not actually be. Like in Bayard’s photograph he looks as if he’s dead – to show that he preferred death over dishonor - and many viewers actually believed he was dead after this.

He then references works of a few more artists to show how these portraits had a much deeper underlying message rather than just being a photograph. Like Duchamps ‘Self portrait in a five way mirror’ shows us how he “did not see himself as one but many selves” and Sherman’s self portrait that uses notto depict herself but the victims and how cinema used women as objects to be played with.

Furthermore, Mirzoeff tells us how we often judge a person simply by looks.

He says, “If we decide a person’s gender by their hair, clothes and style, it is an visual analysis rather than a scientific deduction.” To prove his point further, he talks about Fosso’s ‘The chief’ where the artist uses self-imagery to project the ideas of how his body is Africanized and racialized by people.

In the final parts of the chapter, Mirzoeff talks about the relevance of selfies today. He says, “Each selfie is a performance of a person as they hope to be seen by others.” He talks about the two types of selfies- one for the “digital circle” and the other for personal conversations or a medium to convey messages with use of apps like snapchat. He also talks about how it could potentially affect our lives. “Our bodies are now in the network and in the bodies at the same time.” Overall, he explains very well the idea of evolved communication through self portrait and the realties of self-imagery.

How to See The World

The introduction of this book is essentially divided into three parts. As we begin to read the main theme that we come across is how the world is changing and more so the pace at which it is changing and how “..the emerging global society is visual.” Mirzoeff talks about the ‘Blue Marble’ and how just one photograph had an social impact on people versus the selfie taken by Aki Hoshide where he says “There is, it seems, more to seeing that being in the place to be.” He also mentions the new version of the ‘Blue Marble’, which is not an original photograph but the result of a ‘tiled rendering’ and uses this as a metaphor to explain what the world is like right now.

As we progress, he tells us what visual culture is and how it plays a vital role in the world today but at the same time traces its roots to increase its understanding. Visual culture has become a global thing mostly due to the Internet. It’s almost as if we have two lives – one online and the other offline. He says, “Those screens appear to offer unlimited freedom but are carefully controlled and filtered views of the world.” If we share something online, it’s so that the audience can engage with it in some way. Mirzoeff mentions “there is a new ‘us’ on the internet”.

He also introduces us to the different topics that will be dealt with in the chapters to come.

Further, he talks about different periods where dramatic transformations took place in terms of the visual culture of the world. He does so by giving examples of different centuries and significant changes that took place. Its almost as if the use of photographs - that can “change the world in seconds” - has “revealed the new human power to save specific instants of time.” Time plays a very important role and he tries to explain that in a few ways like by the example of ‘the clock’, the want for change in representation and even the global environment state.