‘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
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/239b7b70f46379a1eca8ba2418050d16c6f1a53a9476a9d5425a6e842e98b79c/Screen-Shot-2021-11-25-at-3.48.25-PM.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/17482bb9609bd7fbb5d16bfe897f87b406aa138feb28ba236e8850fff26871e4/Screen-Shot-2021-11-25-at-3.49.06-PM.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0a23409f31127c49c5e505d2b76b80d46b90c6564f11b2e14413134495fd23e5/Screen-Shot-2021-11-25-at-3.48.06-PM.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5d68da65b8186aa294830ee558365cad8e8263b58892f335034bfbc45c5a68d0/Screen-Shot-2021-11-25-at-3.47.30-PM.png)
TOM MEDIA CORP. CEO Portrait
30.09.19
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3a6296adf03653262a97002df289d5040b4472c1cbe882038e37f544388f82b6/IMG_9581-2.jpg)
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
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/bcaac56724626505ea96343424a7443d610be9a6c89936dd5a568922fbab451a/Screen-Shot-2019-05-29-at-3.39.42-PM.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/536cb847aa323d9ad377cfd12428327c4a1a3fbf2ee64e85a5c4e52f833d053d/Screen-Shot-2019-05-29-at-3.39.19-PM.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f3798a75c20518c42a06f4da687e231bbbeb13cb359c1c4c1035115c74928244/Screen-Shot-2019-05-29-at-3.39.02-PM.png)
Install: Flatscreen TV mounted on a C-stand in the center of the Elam School of Fine Arts foyer.
‘TOMNEWS’
29.05.19
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b6b3326e7a1fb03716ec0dac66ea5beb3360ac8afad5d7160868a9c7d3a5d813/Screen-Shot-2019-05-29-at-3.43.49-PM.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0e9890047d0680ba91b32d1b6aa0450871b0d7b51e39df4809cfb69e0fcdf305/64415695_329089507983847_8338970356816877493_n.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3a29f853df33e0d563bd9c8c4c1a9f1f7ceefe8d5455583744b1b05957b88ac1/64564051_908433499500049_4533985961910371929_n.jpg)
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
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8653f207afac30334fc319b8dabe4e6c9bbb9f12fe6eb49d4b527b262fb53b33/184424306249.png)
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.