‘TOM MEDIA CORP’
Multi-Media Installation
2019
Abstract - TOM MEDIA CORP
24.10.19
Imagine trying to get a hold of a high-up person in an important institution or corporation. In some cases, you could probably find an email address after an extensive Google search, in other cases, even their names could remain a mystery. This inaccessibility of higher powers is frustrating and often time-wasting. Corporations run the world we live in, ever increasing their technology and fabricating algorithms that’ll keep us consuming products and content - yet we can’t reach them. For example, Coca-Cola, we see and recognise the bottle on the shelf, but what else is going on. The behind the scenes of such a large company remains such a mystery to the public - ideas, structures, financial situations, power-play, scandals.
“I’m an artist for one reason, to be free.” - Laurie Anderson.
‘TOM MEDIA CORP.’ is the result of many frustrations, confusions, and rebellion when it comes to understanding the media in the world today. I have taken matters into my own hands; by creating the front of a self-sufficient, media conglomerate universe. Starting out, I would claim this company, and all assets it holds, to be ‘fake’. But now, after being so engulfed in it, I wonder what even constitutes a ‘real’ or ‘fake’ company anymore. Is it to do with legal documents, or can you get away with pure manifestation and narcissism. I see correlations with the ideas of conspiracists like ‘flat-earthers’, and the ever-confusing ‘fake news’ phenomenon. Perhaps the work lives in a world of its own. The idea developed more, influenced by Jean Baudrillard’s theories of hyper-reality, content started being produced. The latest addition being the DJ/Producer duo 2+OM, who will be performing live in hologram - the sort of technology that is only really common in corporate events or live concerts. Utilising a hologram as the medium of the DJ duo’s concert brought back, in some sort of full-circle way, the idea of the conglomerate blurring the line of reality and fiction.
The CEO of TOM MEDIA CORP. Thomas Shackleton remains a mystery even to me, the creator. How much control does this man have in the company? Is he deceased? All I know is that a beautiful portrait of Mr. Shackleton hangs in the office of Peter Shand, the Head of Elam School of Fine Arts.
‘tomFM Presents: 2+OM Live in Concert’
26.10.19
Digital advertisement for ‘TOMFM Presents: 2+OM Live in Concert, a Holographic Experience’
2+OM are a DJ/Producer duo (signed to TOMRECORDS consisting of Tom Shackleton and Tom Shackleton. Their live debut was a 10-minute holographic performance on 14.11.19 on Level 3, Mondrian Building, Elam.
Watch the full concert here
TOM MEDIA CORP. CEO Portrait
30.09.19
Portrait of TOM MEDIA CORP. CEO, Thomas Shackleton
Made by taking a self-portait, putting that through FaceApp to look aged, then commisioning a digital painter on Fiverr to paint it.
Install: Hung in a decorative golden frame, paired with a golden plaque, in the Head of School’s office at Elam.
TOM MEDIA CORP. Worker Uniform
22.09.19
35mm film pic documenting the working uniform.
‘TOMtv’ — Reality Show
03.06.19
Install: Flatscreen TV mounted on a C-stand in the center of the Elam School of Fine Arts foyer.
‘TOMNEWS’
29.05.19
Presenter seems to be outraged by the show on ‘TOMtv’
Install: CRT TV seemingly chucked in the skip outside ELam School of Fine Arts
‘tomFM’
15.04.19
Billboard advertisement for TOMfm’s ‘Squidgie & The Poodle’ daily radio show.
‘Just Clownin’ Around’
Video Performance
16.06.18
Performance of a hired clown doing his act only to me
It was originally livestreamed to a TV located outside of the room, where an audience could watch.