Representing Pasts – Visioning Futures

Abstract

In the modern world, there is, practically, no part of life that would not be under the control of the preview. The screen as a phenomenon has been present in culture since the beginning of humanity and can exist in many forms. This experience has come a long way from its origins as static images and photography, the creation of cinema, radio, and TV to current digital era that created new forms of screen space. It can be obseved not only in the digitalization of architectural and urban spaces but also in cinema and computer environments. According to this statement French theorist Paul Virilio announces the disappearance of the places of projection because everything today becomes a screen. In line with this assumption, architecture also become a surface. Looking at the modern city, it is not difficult to notice the huge role of mass media and the ubiquitous images accompanying them. New digital technologies integrate art, design, and architecture, having an obvious impact on the city. The urban screen, just like the screen of a telephone or computer,can be currently understood as the holder of the content – the message and the form at the same time. This causes the transfer of contemporary urban agora to the space of electronic media. Previously indicated phenomenon of digitization occurs also in the field of cinema. As a medium, film still evolves in its content and form. Being a beakthrough in modern era it created a revolutionary visual language. Film as well as architecture are media linked to the time, space and people. They also correspond to reality and human life through narratives of space. Therefore by now the screen has been a plane to receive fictional reality. But the cinema goes beyond it – the whole screen experience becomes the interface of stories told in space as long journeys and new narratives. It is a frame that divides each space into what is visible inside and outside. Both exist in viewer’s imagination as one as they create a whole.