“Without Stones There is no Arch: Subjectivity and Identity Production in Virtual World Aesthetics” presented by Ramírez
Symposium:
Session Title:
- VR / AR – Virtual Self
Presentation Title:
- Without Stones There is no Arch: Subjectivity and Identity Production in Virtual World Aesthetics
Presenter(s):
Venue(s):
Abstract:
This paper presents paths of identity and subjectivity production that have stemmed from experiencing virtual aesthetics in networked interaction. It is through the intensive communication with computers and social networks that one currently delineates life, work and leisure time, representing our self to others in a permanent and often curated way within a narrative. A voluminous body of contemporary research demonstrates that both the production of sociality and subjectivity (via the ‘invasion’ of intimacy by sophisticated systems of communication, sociability and surveillance) belong to the broader domain of Bio Politics and the Economy of Attention/Affectivity. One ominous future view on this, points to the standardization, normalization and complete control of our behaviour through newer/stronger affective technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, 3D virtual interaction, ubiquitous and wearable computing, etc. Emerging from the analysis of virtual aesthetics, dual subjectivity and myth-making—all at the centre of my doctoral research—I present an alternate view that stems from SL-Based Art and the examination of the topics above mentioned. My goal is to widen the dialogue on the subject so the human, affective, psychological and aesthetic components emerging from virtual aesthetic interaction, in social and non-social networks, do not become excluded or neglected.
