Virtual Memory

As we are confronted with the receding dominance of analog image making and entering a new era in the evolution of digital media, our experience of images and information has become increasingly intangible. One part history and one part poetry, Virtual Memory is a meditation on the essence of mechanical image-making and its impact on human consciousness, from the physical process of photography and film, to the alternate universe created by computers and virtual reality. Using a compilation of found material, the film bids a kind of fond farewell to the 20th century.

Once there was a time when images were made from head to hand.

Devices came into being which allowed the chemical capture of light.

Persistence of vision, motion.

Electrical capture of light. Distribution and broadcast, reception with the set.

Computers - the pixel - a fraction of light - more like pointillism, a comic.

The speed, multiplicity of transmission - active viewership.

The generation of synthetic images to replicate the real, not necessarily in terms of realism of representation, but in terms of realism in interaction.

Interaction, an extension of active viewing. Randomness increases.

Screen being replaced by an immersive experience. Projection of a holographic image.

Virtual becomes a replacement space.

virtual memory

a film by
eilujion (julie goldstein)

produced at
artifact pictures

conceived and edited by
julie goldstein

narration written and read by
erika mijlin

music

lenox
moby (mobygratis.com)

invisible walls
factum par fictio
habitual ritual
effects of elevation
double the daily dose
accelerated lifestyle
headphonetic
nebulous notions
revolution void

archival footage supplied by the
Internet Moving Images Archive
(at archive.org)
in association with
Prelinger Archives :

The City (1939)
American Documentary Films, Inc.

Our Shrinking World (1946)
Young America Films, Inc.

The Information Machine (1958)
Charles and Ray Eames

Photography (1946)
Holmes Burton Films, Inc.

Freedom and Power (1952)
Raphael G. Wolff Studios, Inc.

Television Remote Control (Tuner) (ca. 1961)
Jam Handy Organization

A Communications Primer (1953)
Charles and Ray Eames

Design for Dreaming (1956)
MPO Productions

Classic Television Commercials (1948)
Various Producers

The Town and the Telephone (ca. late 1950s)
Owen Murphy Productions

The Nation at Your Fingertips (1951)
Audio Productions, Inc

How to Use Classroom Films (1963)
Centron Productions

Facts About Projection (1975)
International Film Bureau

Kodak Instamatic Commercial

Logic By Machine (The Computer and the Mind of Man)
National Educational Television

On the Air (1937)
Jam Handy Organization

Basic Typing, Part I: Methods (1944)
U.S. Navy

Destination Earth (1956)
John Sutherland Productions/American Petroleum Institute

Polaroid Dealer Announcement (1964)
Bay State Film Productions, Inc.

Your Movie Camera and How to Use It (1948)
Paul Burnford / The Hollywood 35mm Film Company

How Motion Pictures Move And Talk (1940)
Bell & Howell Co.

Finding His Voice (1929)
Western Electric Company, Inc.

The Old Family Album Goes Modern (ca. 1930s)
Marquee Motion Pictures

WJR: One of a Kind (ca. 1966)
Jam Handy Organization

Sound Recording and Reproduction (1943)
Encyclopaedia Britannica Films

Electronics At Work (1943)
Westinghouse Electric Corp.

Magic in the Air (1955)
Jam Handy Organization