Krauss discusses self-encapsulation, in which the “object” is surrounded by his/ her own consciousness and isolated from all other external stimuli. She also mentions how self-encapsulation is part of mirror-reflection, in which the object and the reflection is so similar that the boundaries between them is hard to realize. This method would be especially useful in video art where the identity of the object is questioned when it is displaced outside of any environment. How does the identity of the object change when it is stripped of its environment? Does it even have an identity anymore?
Krauss also mentions the difference between reflection and reflexiveness. Reflection is not influenced by the artists’ perception as much as reflexiveness, because the latter’s creation entirely relies on the artist’s personal way of seeing the world. In reflexiveness, the “object” or “art” is created entirely from the artist’s hands from scratch, and therefore represents the artist’s perspective. In reflection, the artist does not influence the “reflection” so much. Reflexiveness characterizes older forms of fine art, while reflection characterize a relatively new form of art. It would be interesting to use Rauschenberg’s method of contrasting the stasis of real objects with the temporality presented in their videos to distinguish the importance of “stasis” in older forms of fine arts with the temporal aspect important in more contemporary video art.
Perhaps Krauss’s mention of “physically assaulting” the technicalities of video is also a notable method to express the differences between older forms of fine art and more contemporary art. A juxtaposition of fine art that is “original” (ie. drawn by an artist) based heavily on the stills of a video and the video (which came first but can be mass-reproduced) could question the “originality” of both works.
Krauss discusses various methods in video art and the intentions behind them while McLuhan discusses the differences between “hot” and “cold” media. Hot media, like a lecture, has a lot of information, and does not give the audience much opportunity to interact with it. Cold media, like a simple cartoon still for children, does not give out a lot of information and gives opportunities for the audience to interact with it.