The Inner Distance: An examination of Cyborg, Disembodiment, and Literature

摘要

My research and work explores disembodiment and the effects of being cyborg and archived within contemporary society. Through video, object, and atmospheric presence the work pushes boundaries between the physical and virtual. Considering contemporary technology and living, I examine how the connection to one's self has changed. This examination results in work that describes negotiations between the mind and body.;I apply 1990's cyborgian theory, current writings on virtual culture, as well as Classical philosophy and literature to generate concepts about identity and the body. My research runs parallel to society and personal development through technologies: specifically those that encourage a state of simulacrum. Through duplicating myself, I represent a decaying physical self in tandem with a thriving virtual self. A virtual identity is fluid, which allows my work to display particular traits of human identity using media, technology, and other sources to create context around traits such as vulnerability, voyeurism, and brutishness.;Through exploring my own representation, I aim to express the lack of conformity to my body and identify the space between physicality and digital archiving. My work creates internal dialogue that is visually executed through literary and theatrical vocabulary, cinematic vignettes, GIFs, layered objects, and media.;This thesis will discuss the distance between the consciousness and the body through cyborgian theory. In an attempt to measure and recreate the space between the body and the mind these pieces exist both physically and virtually. The interpretation of this distance and the understanding of replicating myself within a spectrum of disembodiment will be supported by theories written by Donna Haraway, Hiroki Azuma, Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deulze, and Jean Baudrillard.