Abstract:

This interdisciplinary thesis addresses the historical use of the term "immediacy" within the context of contemporary media discourse. This thesis serves as a documentation and explication of the video production process and DVD reception system for the project, Experiments in Immediacy . The main focus of the research is on the various ways the term immediacy has been interpreted in media history, from early cinema to the contemporary mediated culture. The focus is secondarily on how immediacy has been applied as a central term for performance art, as well as for several influential theorists of everyday life. The thesis considers how immediacy is understood and translated in a human ecology that is saturated with digital media technologies. The aim of this project is to focus attention on the term immediacy and to consider the implications that a more nuanced understanding of the concept will have on the field of Media Study.