Response to "The Aesthetics of Narcissism" by Rosalind Krauss

Krauss's The Aesthetics of Narcissism was one of the harder readings to respond to because it was difficult to understand beyond the general idea of human narcissistic desire to be projected onto a screen. 

She mentions a number of video installations that deal with the idea of narcissism, such as exploiting narcissism to critique it. I felt the most interesting installation is Campus's mem and dor, where the viewer sees of projection of himself or herself, but it is either out of focus, or in focus, but too close to be seen. Campus seems to be taunting the narcissistic tendency because the desired projection is always close, but never achievable. 

She also brings up the idea of commodity fetishism where relationships revolved around material things rather than social relationships. We've examined the same idea in Intro to Visual Studies where it has contributed to racism and socioeconomic exclusivity. As it related to narcissistic desire for self projection, it can be a desire to sell one's image as an object or brand and to compete with other objects or brands.