Ptarmigan operated in Tallinn from 2011-2014. We no longer maintain any presence in Tallinn, but this website will continue to serve as an archive of the activities produced at Ptarmigan during these years.
Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) was the internationally renowned Canadian academic and commentator on communications technology, and is currently being celebrated by many events on the 100th anniversary year of his birth. He developed theories about the role of the electronic media in mass popular culture, before the microchip & computers developed, which have proved to be very relevant for the Internet age. McLuhan's basic ideas,emphasis upon process rather than product, form over content ("the medium is the message"), have not lost their importance..
"All media work us over completely. They are so pervasive in their personal, political, economic, aesthetic, psychological, moral, ethical, and social consequences that they leave no part of us untouched, unaffected, unaltered. The medium is the massage. Any understanding of social and cultural change is impossible without a knowledge of the way media work as environments."
(The Medium is the Massage, Marshall McLuhan & Quentin Fiore, 1967)
This Clip Kino event celebrates Marshal McLuhan and the related media-clips which can be found about or inspired by him online. The initial selection are from those found under a search "medium is the message". The event takes place just a little after his anniversary birthday (it's July 21th, bring your belated greetings!), and coincidently takes place under the Canadian Embassy in Tallinn, Estonia. McLuhan newbies, enthusiasts and scholars most welcome!
The event and initial selection is hosted by Andrew Gryf Paterson, artist-organiser based in Helsinki, Finland, and is initiator of Clip Kino format (see: http://clipkino.info/). The 'medium is the message" clip-search selection was first shown to teenagers at Nuorten toimintakeskus Happi & Helsinge Skola och Gymnasium, Helsinki, in the beginning of 2010.
A pdf of the references and links mentioned by Andrew in his talk can be found here.