How have new media and digital technologies changed the way we think about portraiture, identity ... more How have new media and digital technologies changed the way we think about portraiture, identity and faces? What new forms of audience engagement and interaction are made possible by these new technologies? "Face to Face" explores new forms of portraiture that incorporate a variety of different technologies from digital prints to single channel digital video an interactive installations.
Both art and technology act as mirrors that reflect our selves and our relationship to the world.... more Both art and technology act as mirrors that reflect our selves and our relationship to the world. Both also create “quasi-others” – entities which we endow with subjectivity through the projection of ourselves. Mirror States draws together art and technology, combining these two powerful systems of reflection and projection. The exhibition presents digital and interactive artworks that offer arresting glimpses of the self and intriguing interactions with digital others.
Our lived experience is that of a mixed reality. The online and the offline-the real and the virt... more Our lived experience is that of a mixed reality. The online and the offline-the real and the virtual-are becoming increasingly blurred and enmeshed. Humans take on the virtual form of avatars to interact in cybernetic virtual environments. Computers become 'social actors' interacting face-to-face with human audiences through the screen interface or by leaving the screen to interact as physically embodied robotic entities. This paper investigates the phenomenological nature of our embodied and lived experiences with both screen-based and physically embodied entities and explores the way sensorial and emotional affects are distributed between the physical and the virtual. Examples are drawn from a range of new media art projects focusing on the audience experience of different screen-based (virtual) and embodied (robotic) entities and the mixed reality terrains they inhabit with their human audiences.
Something new is happening with our screen experiences. All of a sudden, we're not just spect... more Something new is happening with our screen experiences. All of a sudden, we're not just spectators watching our screens, we're active participants, performers and media makers. We're all tired of just watching. In the digital age, we are entering the screen...
Our lived experience is that of a mixed reality. The online and the offline-the real and the virt... more Our lived experience is that of a mixed reality. The online and the offline-the real and the virtual-are becoming increasingly blurred and enmeshed. Humans take on the virtual form of avatars to interact in cybernetic virtual environments. Computers become 'social actors' interacting face-to-face with human audiences through the screen interface or by leaving the screen to interact as physically embodied robotic entities. This paper investigates the phenomenological nature of our embodied and lived experiences with both screen-based and physically embodied entities and explores the way sensorial and emotional affects are distributed between the physical and the virtual. Examples are drawn from a range of new media art projects focusing on the audience experience of different screen-based (virtual) and embodied (robotic) entities and the mixed reality terrains they inhabit with their human audiences.
This article explores the way audiences respond to
screen-based (virtual) and embodied (robotic) ... more This article explores the way audiences respond to screen-based (virtual) and embodied (robotic) entities in the mixed reality terrain of the gallery space. While it would seem that physical three-dimensional objects in a gallery space, especially self-moving objects such as robots, have a distinct advantage in the reality stakes over screen images, the author suggests that there is no hard and fast distinction between how audiences respond to robotic entities and to screen-based virtual characters. It is the ability of an artwork to respond to and ‘dialogue’ with its audience—to ‘look back’ and ‘talk back’—that is the key factor in making it an engaging and believable social partner. Artists discussed include Mari Velonaki, Stelarc, Ruairi Glynn, Karolina Sobecka and Golan Levin.
In the 21st century, the human subject is increasingly constituted as an assemblage of human-comp... more In the 21st century, the human subject is increasingly constituted as an assemblage of human-computer-communications networks as our individual agency, cognition and subjectivity extends into, and through, our prosthetic digital technologies. The physically intimate sensory experience of the human-machine cyborg body is most clearly evident in prosthetic implants and direct bodily attachments but in this paper I also argue that the networked visual avatar body that we see in games and virtual online environments creates a new type of virtual cyborg body. This self-avatar assemblage represents a complex intermediation of the physical and the virtual—an exemplary instance of new symbiotic human-computer amalgamations that enable the intermingling of real and virtual bodies as well as of cognitive processes, subjectivities and identities. Psychoanalytical and phenomenological accounts of our prosthetic relationships with technology as well as neuroscientific studies of mirror neurons and autoscopic phenomena provide useful models to help us understand the lived experience of these intimate human-technology assemblages. The distribution of subjectivity, agency and affect between our online and offline bodies produces a mixed reality experience—an emerging paradigm for experience in the 21st century.
This research project investigates the rapidly evolving contemporary phenomenon of the avatar, a ... more This research project investigates the rapidly evolving contemporary phenomenon of the avatar, a virtual image-body that represents individuals in computer-generated terrains. In online chat spaces and websites as well as in computer games and virtual worlds, it has become increasingly common to interact with others through these visual identity stand-ins. Often in the form of cute, animated cartoon characters (both human and non-human) individuals choose how they want to represent themselves, frequently choosing visual identities that are very different from those of their offline selves. While the digital avatar represents some unique new opportunities for individuals to choose and control their prosthetic visual identities, this thesis demonstrates that the idea of the physical self being represented by a virtual image-body is not as new or as revolutionary as the hype surrounding avatars in digital environments might suggest. In fact, the idea of a virtual image-body has been around for a long time, manifested in the technological mediations or ‘body-images’ seen in mirrors, paintings, film and video. These mediated images of the self act as our proxies and stand-ins extending and reactivating the self in a variety of different environments and situations. With cumulative advances in imaging and media technologies, our mediated images have become increasingly malleable, responsive and interactive. More and more, as we interact with each other through images and screens, the mediated face-to-face encounter is coming to extend and augment—and even to replace—the physical face-to-face encounter. The aim of this thesis is to explore the unique affordances of the digital avatar as well as to situate it within a broader media ecology of earlier technologically mediated ‘image avatars’ of the self including mirror images, photographs, film and video. Through this investigation of our different image avatars, this thesis argues that the self is becoming a mixed and multiple reality, both physical and virtual. Through our image avatars, we experience ourselves as both self and other, physical and virtual, singular and multiple, dispersed through our various avatar identities as they migrate from the physical world to photographs, video, the internet, games consoles, personal computers and mobile phones.
With the incorporation of new digital technologies into the visual arts, we are also seeing the a... more With the incorporation of new digital technologies into the visual arts, we are also seeing the advent of distinctly new forms of interactive and responsive artworks. Robotics, computer graphics, and animation techniques combined with sensing technologies and automated, ...
How have new media and digital technologies changed the way we think about portraiture, identity ... more How have new media and digital technologies changed the way we think about portraiture, identity and faces? What new forms of audience engagement and interaction are made possible by these new technologies? "Face to Face" explores new forms of portraiture that incorporate a variety of different technologies from digital prints to single channel digital video an interactive installations.
Both art and technology act as mirrors that reflect our selves and our relationship to the world.... more Both art and technology act as mirrors that reflect our selves and our relationship to the world. Both also create “quasi-others” – entities which we endow with subjectivity through the projection of ourselves. Mirror States draws together art and technology, combining these two powerful systems of reflection and projection. The exhibition presents digital and interactive artworks that offer arresting glimpses of the self and intriguing interactions with digital others.
Our lived experience is that of a mixed reality. The online and the offline-the real and the virt... more Our lived experience is that of a mixed reality. The online and the offline-the real and the virtual-are becoming increasingly blurred and enmeshed. Humans take on the virtual form of avatars to interact in cybernetic virtual environments. Computers become 'social actors' interacting face-to-face with human audiences through the screen interface or by leaving the screen to interact as physically embodied robotic entities. This paper investigates the phenomenological nature of our embodied and lived experiences with both screen-based and physically embodied entities and explores the way sensorial and emotional affects are distributed between the physical and the virtual. Examples are drawn from a range of new media art projects focusing on the audience experience of different screen-based (virtual) and embodied (robotic) entities and the mixed reality terrains they inhabit with their human audiences.
Something new is happening with our screen experiences. All of a sudden, we're not just spect... more Something new is happening with our screen experiences. All of a sudden, we're not just spectators watching our screens, we're active participants, performers and media makers. We're all tired of just watching. In the digital age, we are entering the screen...
Our lived experience is that of a mixed reality. The online and the offline-the real and the virt... more Our lived experience is that of a mixed reality. The online and the offline-the real and the virtual-are becoming increasingly blurred and enmeshed. Humans take on the virtual form of avatars to interact in cybernetic virtual environments. Computers become 'social actors' interacting face-to-face with human audiences through the screen interface or by leaving the screen to interact as physically embodied robotic entities. This paper investigates the phenomenological nature of our embodied and lived experiences with both screen-based and physically embodied entities and explores the way sensorial and emotional affects are distributed between the physical and the virtual. Examples are drawn from a range of new media art projects focusing on the audience experience of different screen-based (virtual) and embodied (robotic) entities and the mixed reality terrains they inhabit with their human audiences.
This article explores the way audiences respond to
screen-based (virtual) and embodied (robotic) ... more This article explores the way audiences respond to screen-based (virtual) and embodied (robotic) entities in the mixed reality terrain of the gallery space. While it would seem that physical three-dimensional objects in a gallery space, especially self-moving objects such as robots, have a distinct advantage in the reality stakes over screen images, the author suggests that there is no hard and fast distinction between how audiences respond to robotic entities and to screen-based virtual characters. It is the ability of an artwork to respond to and ‘dialogue’ with its audience—to ‘look back’ and ‘talk back’—that is the key factor in making it an engaging and believable social partner. Artists discussed include Mari Velonaki, Stelarc, Ruairi Glynn, Karolina Sobecka and Golan Levin.
In the 21st century, the human subject is increasingly constituted as an assemblage of human-comp... more In the 21st century, the human subject is increasingly constituted as an assemblage of human-computer-communications networks as our individual agency, cognition and subjectivity extends into, and through, our prosthetic digital technologies. The physically intimate sensory experience of the human-machine cyborg body is most clearly evident in prosthetic implants and direct bodily attachments but in this paper I also argue that the networked visual avatar body that we see in games and virtual online environments creates a new type of virtual cyborg body. This self-avatar assemblage represents a complex intermediation of the physical and the virtual—an exemplary instance of new symbiotic human-computer amalgamations that enable the intermingling of real and virtual bodies as well as of cognitive processes, subjectivities and identities. Psychoanalytical and phenomenological accounts of our prosthetic relationships with technology as well as neuroscientific studies of mirror neurons and autoscopic phenomena provide useful models to help us understand the lived experience of these intimate human-technology assemblages. The distribution of subjectivity, agency and affect between our online and offline bodies produces a mixed reality experience—an emerging paradigm for experience in the 21st century.
This research project investigates the rapidly evolving contemporary phenomenon of the avatar, a ... more This research project investigates the rapidly evolving contemporary phenomenon of the avatar, a virtual image-body that represents individuals in computer-generated terrains. In online chat spaces and websites as well as in computer games and virtual worlds, it has become increasingly common to interact with others through these visual identity stand-ins. Often in the form of cute, animated cartoon characters (both human and non-human) individuals choose how they want to represent themselves, frequently choosing visual identities that are very different from those of their offline selves. While the digital avatar represents some unique new opportunities for individuals to choose and control their prosthetic visual identities, this thesis demonstrates that the idea of the physical self being represented by a virtual image-body is not as new or as revolutionary as the hype surrounding avatars in digital environments might suggest. In fact, the idea of a virtual image-body has been around for a long time, manifested in the technological mediations or ‘body-images’ seen in mirrors, paintings, film and video. These mediated images of the self act as our proxies and stand-ins extending and reactivating the self in a variety of different environments and situations. With cumulative advances in imaging and media technologies, our mediated images have become increasingly malleable, responsive and interactive. More and more, as we interact with each other through images and screens, the mediated face-to-face encounter is coming to extend and augment—and even to replace—the physical face-to-face encounter. The aim of this thesis is to explore the unique affordances of the digital avatar as well as to situate it within a broader media ecology of earlier technologically mediated ‘image avatars’ of the self including mirror images, photographs, film and video. Through this investigation of our different image avatars, this thesis argues that the self is becoming a mixed and multiple reality, both physical and virtual. Through our image avatars, we experience ourselves as both self and other, physical and virtual, singular and multiple, dispersed through our various avatar identities as they migrate from the physical world to photographs, video, the internet, games consoles, personal computers and mobile phones.
With the incorporation of new digital technologies into the visual arts, we are also seeing the a... more With the incorporation of new digital technologies into the visual arts, we are also seeing the advent of distinctly new forms of interactive and responsive artworks. Robotics, computer graphics, and animation techniques combined with sensing technologies and automated, ...
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Books by Kathy Cleland
Papers by Kathy Cleland
screen-based (virtual) and embodied (robotic) entities
in the mixed reality terrain of the gallery space. While
it would seem that physical three-dimensional objects
in a gallery space, especially self-moving objects such
as robots, have a distinct advantage in the reality
stakes over screen images, the author suggests that
there is no hard and fast distinction between how audiences
respond to robotic entities and to screen-based
virtual characters. It is the ability of an artwork to
respond to and ‘dialogue’ with its audience—to ‘look
back’ and ‘talk back’—that is the key factor in making
it an engaging and believable social partner. Artists discussed
include Mari Velonaki, Stelarc, Ruairi Glynn,
Karolina Sobecka and Golan Levin.
While the digital avatar represents some unique new opportunities for individuals to choose and control their prosthetic visual identities, this thesis demonstrates that the idea of the physical self being represented by a virtual image-body is not as new or as revolutionary as the hype surrounding avatars in digital environments might suggest. In fact, the idea of a virtual image-body has been around for a long time, manifested in the technological mediations or ‘body-images’ seen in mirrors, paintings, film and video. These mediated images of the self act as our proxies and stand-ins extending and reactivating the self in a variety of different environments and situations. With cumulative advances in imaging and media technologies, our mediated images have become increasingly malleable, responsive and interactive. More and more, as we interact with each other through images and screens, the mediated face-to-face encounter is coming to extend and augment—and even to replace—the physical face-to-face encounter.
The aim of this thesis is to explore the unique affordances of the digital avatar as well as to situate it within a broader media ecology of earlier technologically mediated ‘image avatars’ of the self including mirror images, photographs, film and video.
Through this investigation of our different image avatars, this thesis argues that the self is becoming a mixed and multiple reality, both physical and virtual. Through our image avatars, we experience ourselves as both self and other, physical and virtual, singular and multiple, dispersed through our various avatar identities as they migrate from the physical world to photographs, video, the internet, games consoles, personal computers and mobile phones.
screen-based (virtual) and embodied (robotic) entities
in the mixed reality terrain of the gallery space. While
it would seem that physical three-dimensional objects
in a gallery space, especially self-moving objects such
as robots, have a distinct advantage in the reality
stakes over screen images, the author suggests that
there is no hard and fast distinction between how audiences
respond to robotic entities and to screen-based
virtual characters. It is the ability of an artwork to
respond to and ‘dialogue’ with its audience—to ‘look
back’ and ‘talk back’—that is the key factor in making
it an engaging and believable social partner. Artists discussed
include Mari Velonaki, Stelarc, Ruairi Glynn,
Karolina Sobecka and Golan Levin.
While the digital avatar represents some unique new opportunities for individuals to choose and control their prosthetic visual identities, this thesis demonstrates that the idea of the physical self being represented by a virtual image-body is not as new or as revolutionary as the hype surrounding avatars in digital environments might suggest. In fact, the idea of a virtual image-body has been around for a long time, manifested in the technological mediations or ‘body-images’ seen in mirrors, paintings, film and video. These mediated images of the self act as our proxies and stand-ins extending and reactivating the self in a variety of different environments and situations. With cumulative advances in imaging and media technologies, our mediated images have become increasingly malleable, responsive and interactive. More and more, as we interact with each other through images and screens, the mediated face-to-face encounter is coming to extend and augment—and even to replace—the physical face-to-face encounter.
The aim of this thesis is to explore the unique affordances of the digital avatar as well as to situate it within a broader media ecology of earlier technologically mediated ‘image avatars’ of the self including mirror images, photographs, film and video.
Through this investigation of our different image avatars, this thesis argues that the self is becoming a mixed and multiple reality, both physical and virtual. Through our image avatars, we experience ourselves as both self and other, physical and virtual, singular and multiple, dispersed through our various avatar identities as they migrate from the physical world to photographs, video, the internet, games consoles, personal computers and mobile phones.