ELECTRIC SIGNS | TRT 56:40 | In Progress
New screen based sign systems are putting TV-style advertising into the public domain in world cities around the globe. These electronic signs, along with the innovative tall buildings they are integrated into or adjacent to, are re-shaping urban environments and re-defining areas of public space by intensifying the commercialization of the public sphere. In addition to the explosion of screens in public spaces, screens are ubiquitous in workspaces and in people's daily life activities. These seamless, illuminated electronic surfaces are becoming the devices through which we frame our experiences. Screens, whether in the form of video billboards, computers, mobile phones, ATMs, digital cameras, iPods, Playstations or other electronic devices, are our link to communications, our conduit to information, our means to online shopping and other commercial transactions, and the gateway to many of our entertainment activities. Electric Signs is a documentary that explores this new screen culture as it unfolds in Hong Kong and New York City, both cities that have pushed global trends, from the emergence of electric street signs in the early 1900s to today's new urban lightscapes.

PLAY VIDEO CLIP | Sample clip | trt 4:11 | 34.5MB | © 2007
PLAY VIDEO CLIP | People's Opinions-Hong Kong | trt 2:47 | 20.1MB | © 2008
PLAY VIDEO CLIP | People's Opinions-New York | trt 2:31 | 16.7MB | © 2008

FILMMAKER BIO
Alice Arnold is a photographer, a filmmaker and an educator. The broad themes of her work revolve around visual perception and urban culture. Her portrait and reportage photography has been widely published and exhibited and she is the recipient of a NYFA Photography Fellowship. Her first film, TO BE SEEN, a documentary about street art, public space and the urban environment was broadcast in July 2006 on REEL/NY (WNET/PBS), screened at the Museum of Modern Art in October 2006 and is distributed by First Run Icarus Films. Her second film, TEETH, also distributed by First Run Icarus films, was premiered at the Museum of Modern Art's Documentary Fortnight, an annual showcase of nonfiction film and video (February 2008). In 2007 she was the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship in Filmmaking (Hong Kong). In addition to making media she also teaches media studies and media production and has taught at Hunter College (CUNY), Hollins University, Parsons, the College of Staten Island (CUNY) and Polytechnic University (Brooklyn).

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