This project seeks to magnify—at various levels—the shadow mask found on cathode-ray tube(CRT) television displays to demonstrate the uniquely “enstranging” quality inherent to themedium. Enstrangement is defined by literary theorist Viktor Shklovsky as the “complication ofthe form” within an artwork, arguing that the technique is essential to creating “the sensation ofseeing”. The archival material displayed on the television is from the television game showCatchphrase, selected for its fundamentally enstranging mechanics: familiar catchphrases are made strange through their depictions as visual metaphors. The utilisation of the CRT television inboth aesthetics and mode of display is an attempt to challenge hegemonic techno-capitalistnarratives around obsolescence by showing that—as cultural theorist Charles Aclandhighlighted—“new cultural phenomena rely on encounters with the old”.
