Panel Statement

Panel: Imaging Capabilities of the Future

This presentation will consider the current shift towards higher bandwidth/higher resolution imagery in the context of a range of sites and applications, from telehealth to urban screens and large-scale media facades. Drawing partly on audience research undertaken in the context of a project linking large urban screens in Seoul and Melbourne in live interactive media events, I will argue that the relevance and perceived value of high resolution imagery for artists and audiences is heavily context dependent. From this perspective, I will pose the following questions: Is higher resolution conducive to interaction and engagement? Does higher specification capture and display automatically mean scale and spectacle, or are there avenues for intimate relationships with high-resolution handheld image platforms? And how might high-resolution imagery change our relation to urban space? What are the implications of high resolution imaging when it shifts from being a tool for design to an integral and co-constitutive part of the urban fabric?

• Scott McQuire, School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne, Australia