The Present Continues is a video installation that explores the concepts of presence and absence through the optics of television. The work motivates us to rethink our existence within popular culture and reflect upon the narratives enclosed inside the screens of televisions. The main interest of the research is presence and absence and how these concepts are mediated through television and new media. The installation invites the audience to approach television as something uncanny rather than comforting and entertaining. The written part adds up to the artwork by looking close into the topic and its mediation through television and new media. The presence can be understood as physical and bodily experience that resonates with television set, smartphone or a laptop. Another perspective on the topic connects with the ideas of alienation and connection,that can be seen as absence and presence in mental and sociological understanding. I inquire into this side of the research through analyzing social media and reality television shows as realms of connection in the modern world. This thesis is an open inquiry into the parallel concepts of presence and absence that are not necessarily confronting each other
