Toying With Obsolescence:
Pixelvision Filmmakers and the Fisher Price PXL 2000 Camera
by Andrea Nina McCarty
Submitted to the Department of Comparative Media Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Comparative Media Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Abstract: This thesis is a study of the Fisher Price PXL 2000 camera and the artists and amateurs who make films and videos with this technology. The Pixelvision camera records video onto an audiocassette; its image is lowresolution, black and white. Fisher Price marketed the PXL 2000 to children in 1987, but withdrew the camera after one year. Despite its lack of commercial success, the camera became popular with avant-garde artists, amateur film- and videomakers and collectors, sparking a renewed interest in the obsolete camera. An online community has built up around the format, providing its members with information on how to modify the camera to make it compatible with contemporary digital equipment. Although Pixelvision garners little recognition from mainstream culture, the camera's hipster cachet and perceived rarity has driven up prices in the community and in auctions.
Read it here:
https://cmsw.mit.edu/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/146381064-Andrea-McCarty-Toying-With-Obsolescence-Pixelvision-Filmmakers-and-the-Fisher-Price-PXL-2000-Camera.pdf
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