COLD WAR ACOUSMETRE: ARTISTS' FILMS AND THE FIRST ISLAND CHAIN

Abstract

Cold War acousmêtre occurs when the synchronicity between sound and image in the cinematic medium triggers a disjunction in the sense of quotidian experience. The acousmatic situation in which the historical present of the Cold War is manifested might be understood, through media related to the cinematic experience, accordingly, as a set of aesthetically mediated affective responses. I addresses contemporary artistic aspirations to redeem lived experiences of the past, and presents these, in turn, as proactive responses to the social reality of the Cold War in the longue durée. The artistic practices researched in this dissertation are approached as the geopolitics of medium specificity which comes to life through Cold War acousmêtre—the regionally specific historical trajectory of audiovisual technology and its parallel social practices.