Political Violence and Networks in the 21st Century Media Art From the Mediterranean: 4 Case Studies from 2000-2015

Despite the high number of cases of overt political violence in the Mediterranean and the richness of media art in the region, there has been no comprehensive research about political violence and contemporary media art production in the region. Departing from the question of networks in media art from the Mediterranean, this research looks at the artists’ imagination of the region informed by practices of various forms of violence through critical outlook on the issues of visibility. In doing so, it inquires into treating the Mediterranean itself as a medium. It conducts four case studies whose common focus is on the networks of relations that reproduce, strengthen, and reinforce models of political violence at various levels, using anecdotal evidence and content analysis methods. The case studies give a a) microscopic view of a computer virus; b) life-size view of an individual human body; c) landscape view of urban transformation; and d) bird’s eye view of occupation, consumption and destruction. Taking Michel Foucault’s concept of biopolitics as its theoretical framework, the study analyses the contemporary blend of disciplinary, sovereign, biopolitical, and necropolitical practices within granular and grand levels across the region and claims that temporality is the key element in the transformation and survival of forms of violence