Who is Big Brother?

Amidst the multitude of distractions offered by contemporary cities, billboard-sized video screens are perhaps the most conspicuous intersections between urban environments and electronic media.[1] The spectacular intent of such screens might recommend them as metonymic images of the media-city, but they disclose neither the nature, nor the meaning of this supposed hybrid. Urban screens, video screens, like all screens, are equivocal: as much as they display, they conceal. From this double …