« Someone recently of me.

I vividly remember looking at his phone, asking:
"God, am I really like this in real life?".
I realised in that moment, I was unable to recognise myself.   

What did reality mean in that specific instant?
Why did my own body seem to be so unfamiliar to me?
Can a single digital representation call into question
the perception I have of myself?

I had asked him to delete it,
so I’m now unable to see that picture again.
I had deliberately requested that he delete this representation
because I couldn’t tolerate the idea of someone else
having a copy of me that I considered to be worse
— or perhaps just different —
than the familiar image I have of myself.

 A subconscious process of selection 
of what can be considered my body,
and what cannot be. »

00.2 Research Approach

→ Can a single digital image of my body call into question the perception I have of myself?
Guided by this question, "The Unfamiliar Body" unfolds as a speculation on the way the digital representation of the human body can affect our own self-recognition.

Behind the surface of this dissertation there is no presumption nor will to bring a scientific and objective analysis. Design wise, the project outcome offers new insights into the possibilities emerging at the intersection of graphic design and coding in order to develop structured narrative experiences. On the other hand, from a social point of view, the desired goal lies in the development of a growing critical consciousness concerning the value of the humans' physicality in the digital age.

For such dual reason, the purpose of the research project is to provide an insight into the way digital technologies have affected the social function of the body [chapter 04], shaping its increasing desire for an audience and the tendency to (virtually) perform itself [chapter 01]. In [chapter 02] a critical self-reflection around the shift of hierarchies between the physical body and its multiple digital simulations is presented; a journey across an increasing lost of physicality, in favour of a "post-value" attributed to an incessant circulation of the digital copies of the body. During this path it is tackled not only the perception of the digital-self [chapter 03], but also the way the other perceive the digital representation of our body [chapter 05].

Within the context of each chapter the above mentioned key concepts are supported by strictly subjective and personal thoughts. In order to avoid any form of assumption of my own writing, I clarify that such sentences present themselves to the reader as first-person quotations (easily recognisable by the use of «» ).

For an optimal comprehension it is also critical to underline that the jpg is here addressed not merely as a standard, but as the medium selected to represent our body in the post-digital age. At the same time, the choice to digitalise our body is specifically interpreted as a conscious and deliberate action of deformation that influences the perception we have of ourselves, of the world around us and of what we do consider to be bad, normal or ideal.

From a methodological viewpoint, the reader will be lead by a pool of different automated tests — mainly based on programming languages such as Javascript and Python. This specific approach, characterised by a strong link between questioning and visualisation, is representative of my own working method as a designer, and shows through the chapters the main constructive elements that compose the design of the final project "The Unfamiliar Body". As the user will notice, during these tests distortion is used to alter the digital image of the body which, since often seen as familiar, it is taken for granted, hence automatically perceived.

Eventually the last chapter [chapter 06] links the dots presenting the project outcome: an experimental coded experience — that from a development viewpoint can be called "app" — concerning the perception of the digital copy of the body. In a first-person narrative, the app twists the user's digital representation until it extends into the absurd and surreal, intensifying its inherent distortion and challenging the user's perception of his/her own digital likeness.

Before entering into the very heart of this dissertation, I would like to thank the following people for their support, time and presence during this research project (in alphabetical order): Filippo Aleotti, Erin B. Lillis, Marco Dalle Fratte, Simon Davies, Ada Favaron, Andrea Guccini, Rosie Heinrich, Joris Landman, Annemarie Quispel, Arthur Roeloffzen, Thomas Rutgers, Carmen Tondini, Petr van Blokland, Coralie Vogelaar.

01 The digitalisation of the body

01.1 From images to numerical sequences

Since the ‘90s digital technologies have become able to translate letters, words, texts, sounds and images into numerical sequences. This meant the possibility to digitalise our own body as well, and to share it.

As stated in the introduction [00 Foreword → 00.2 Research Approach], the act of sharing one or more representations of our body is here considered as a sentient decision, behind which lies the will to spread a digital file that represents you, that feels like you. But which are the consequences of the inherent subtle distortion belonging to the digital image of the user's body? Is it neutral the choice to go beyond different shades of alteration, accepting a self-reproduction for the sake of social recognition? To what extent can the act described so far be considered as unconscious?

It might sound familiar to state that nowadays digital technologies constitute an intrinsic part of our everyday lives, until the point that «it is impossible for man to imagine a position outside of technology».¹Heidegger, M. (1977). "The Question Concerning Technology" (Die Frage nach der Technik). Translated by William Lovitt. New York: Harper and Row. A commonplace that is as banal as true. Digital technologies are not considered anymore as just tools, but as extensions of our own lived body through which we actively perceive the world. This logically means they play a role in mediating the perception of the world around us. They are part of our private and public routine, establishing an insoluble link with the human body and interconnecting physical and digital existence by requiring bodily as well as sensorial interactions. As a result we live in a hybrid world where the concept of reality is blurred and no longer associated to a touchable quality nor to the state of things as they actually exist.

But in a hybrid world where there in no longer any limpid form of distinction between tangible and virtual (reality), it would be naive to state that this binary interaction between the physical human body and its digital representation does not have any social impact nor consequences on a private and public level. As stated by Maurice Merleau-Ponty, «a theory of the body is already a theory of perception»: by manipulating our senses and physicality, technologies actively affect the perception of the world and of the other. As a consequence, this bubble created by digital visual culture shapes our self-perception transforming the way we perceive our physical being.²«Technology mediates between the perceiver and the perceived and in this process it is embodied by the perceiver». Ihde, D. (1990). "Technology and the lifeworld: From garden to earth". Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. A shift of the accent from what is presented to how it is presented. A new context where the content gains a totally new dimension.

Now, think about this for a minute. We do obsessively check our body, producing and sharing digital copies of it, as a never ending performance able to fuel itself. A tense running — perhaps not fully conscious — towards the ideal copy. However, as a real race, the competing runner does not run just for his/herself, but also for the sake of public’s approval. In the post-digital context the body seems to have taken the shape of a shop-window ruled by an increasing need for an audience. But, as the curator and researcher Chus Martinez stated, «by performing the self, one becomes the self».

«While writing I glimpse my reflection in the computer screen.»

If the value of today’s digital representation of the body can be considered as representative of the era we live in, what does this could possibly mean? What does it tell us about ourselves and our society? Gilles Lipovetsky speaks about the contrasts that are constantly being reconciled with each other in today’s society of the spectacle. An old concept nowdays more truthful than ever: modern technology and play, the real of politics and seduction. Such body of thoughts leads to reasses the possibility to reach perfection (only) through digital artifice, celebrating the "unreal", both on a conscious and unconscious level.

The above mentioned concepts represent a simple introduction, and will be deepened in [03 Digital representation and self-perception → 03.2 Distortion as an intrinsic sine-qua-non]. In general, for a better comprehension, it should be acknowledged that what has been read so far has to be considered as a superficial foreword to the subject; from now on all the key points will be continuosly touched with different levels of in-depth analysis.

«Welcome to the (virtual) performance of the body.»

02 The post-value of the jpg

02.1 Shift of values: from non-duplication to over re-production

In order to make the theoretical overview of the previous chapter more tangible, digital technologies can be now analysed according to their active role in conditioning the function of the body.

As a first coseguence a lost of physicality should be underlined, in favour of a "post-value" attributed to the circulation of the digital representations of the body. I am specifically talking about a "post-value", since jpg happened to carry a value way more higher then the one it was born for. This new value is based on over-production, and consequently — due to a massive circulation within the digital sphere — on saturation. Thus the jpg will be here addressed in relation to its new value, as the medium chosen to compress and multiplied the representation of our body in the post-digital age.

If in the past being original, non-duplicated, meant being precious and genuine, today this law seems to be upside down. The imperative became copying, multiplying, reproducing. Over-production rules undisputed, from the single’s realm to the multitude. A paradox: repetition as a modern means to focus on individuality.

The body is repeatedly denied by the continuous series of images that reproduce it. Just think about the moment you take a picture of yourself. How many digital copies of your body do you produce in order to reach the one that your-self believe it to be the right one? A certain curatorial aspect lies behind this fictional tendency: eventually curating the digital body has become an intrinsic social practice of being online.

Decorporealisation has undoubtedly became a way to expand the meaning of the self-existence, creating a direct correlation between its value and the (re)production of the digital copies of the body. As a consequence the private explodes into the public, «creating a new social value, which is the publicity of the private».¹Barthes, R. (1981). "Camera Lucida. Reflections on Photography". Translated by Richard Howard. The hierarchy between the original and the copy sways: the real body — the tangible one — turns into a derivate, compressed by the "post-value" and exposure of the jpg.

In this sense, the common notion of photography as a certificate of presence²Barthes, R. (1981). "Camera Lucida. Reflections on Photography". Translated by Richard Howard. might open a debate. What can the virtual presence of multiple body’s representations possibly mean? On one side one may argue that this (presence) represents an indisputable confirm of the physicality of the user in time and space. On the other hand, due to its coded nature, I feel a duty to question the reliability of such existence, nowadays more than ever.

As the American author James Gleick stated, in the context of this digital hegemony, «the scale at which images proliferate and the speed at which they travel have never been greater»³.Gleick, J. (2011). "The information: a history; a theory; a flood". New York. When it comes to the digital realm, the traditional definition of photograph as a motionless image is not efficient anymore. Digital representations — not only of our bodies — leave, surfing the Internet and easily crossing national boundaries.

«While experimenting, the perception of my own body changes.
It becomes more fragile.
The line between physical and virtual starts to thin.
I am suddenly overwhelmed by my own digital copies.»

02.2 The role of pixels in relation to the digital body

When dealing with jpg it comes natural and necessary to stop momentarily on its contructive unit: the pixel. While experimenting with various digital representations of bodies, I could not avoid asking myself, «what is the role of pixels in relation to that body? What do these pixels really mean?».

Following a methodological approach characterised by a direct link between questioning and automated visualisation — as described at the beginning of this thesis [00 Foreword → 00.2 Research Approach] — as a first natural act I started to visualize my query, pushing forward the presence of pixels within the picture. As far as I was going, the body started to loose its familiar representation. The somatic traits lost their sharpness. Color became the only perceivable information. The RGB color model transmuted in the herald of the virtual body, replacing its physicality with coloured squared blocs. Added together, red, green and blue, not just reproduce a broad array of colours, but my own body. A simple concept that legitimises questioning the reliability of our digital copy, due to the ease with which is possibile to alter it.

Within the digital framwork the pixel is usually visualised as a squared block containing information of the "original" picture; more of them mean a more accurate representation. But what if this sample becomes a variable? A unity that can continuously mutate in shape — through an automated process programmed in Python — twisting the theoretical concept of accuracy strictly proportional to the number of pixels.

The undertaken approach clearely frames the pixel as a manipulable entity. A portion of space that contains informations about the overall representation; the smallest controllable element of the digital representation of our body on the screen. However — slightly twisting Stewart Brand’s famous quote — «informations wants to be free».⁴Brand, S. (1984). Conversation between him and Steve Wosniak at the first hackers conference, Marin County, California.

In relation to this thought, it has been chosen to manipulate the pixels of a jpg according to another parameter: its value of luminosity. By multiplying them for a chosen value — once again through a process written in Python — the results is a totally new representation. Such distortion — exaggerated on purpose — produces a portray of the user that has few in common with the "original one". A simple color-shift becomes a tool to distort the somatic characteristics of the face, echoing, both from a conceptual and visual point of view, the digital colour filters widely used on the web, and in particular on social media.

The approach introduced in this chapter will come back and deepened in the following one [chapter 03]; moreover, as the reader will see, the methodology behind these early experimental distortions will represent the base for several constructive elements of the final project [chapter 06].

03 Digital representation and self-perception

03.1 Can the digital representation of the body affect our self-perception?

As stated in the introduction, one of the leading struggles of this research — both from a theoretical and design viewpoint — regards the effects that the digital representations of our body have on our self-perception.

So far this point has been presented as an assumption. Body-digitalisation has been tackled as an action of deformation that influences the perception of the self, since already coded by outside conventions and stereotypes. But what is there behind the surface of such statement?

In order to tackle this query, a fundamental concept needs to be outlined: the human tendency to overstep the boundaries between a picture and its referent. A specific photograph is never distinguished from what it represents, or at least it is not immediately or generally distinguished from its referent; it requires a secondary action of knowledge or of reflection.¹Barthes, R. (1981). "Camera Lucida. Reflections on Photography". Translated by Richard Howard. This behaviour has been highly affected — or enhanced — by the new technologies and media, creating distorted perceptions of what surrounds us.

Nevertheless, due to a deep dissociation of consciousness from identity, "ourselves" do not coincides with our image. When it comes to distortion, it is never black and white. Its shades are various, and they come in a variety of levels of consciousness. Therefore, within this research it has been chosen to address case studies — represented by different automated tests — that embody a wide range of distortions.

To create a clear frame of comprehension in relation to this last concept, it is important to point out that here I will describe these distortions as "digital filters", without addressing lighter ones strictly related to the moment of creation of the digital copy — like angle, perspective, framing or light.

Entering the digital world, multiple digital lenses embrace our body. Personally, I have never been a fan of social media. I do not own an Instagram, Snapchat nor a Twitter account. But this has never been enough to escape their overwhelming content, making me realise that the strict distinction between online and offline is becoming day by day a fragile and questionable boundary.

Comparing past and present tendencies in relation to digital filters, one might notice that the well-known color filters have been more and more replaced by layers that can be added to the somatic characteristics of the user thanks to facial recognition algorhitms . While generally presented as a unique way to customise yourself, the tangible result is a twist of physicality in favour of an idealised representation aimed at audience engagement. "Idealised representation" and "audience engagement" should indeed be considered as two key elements in relation to the starting question formulated at the beginning of the chapter, that from now on, will be deepened and will return during the whole dissertation.

Theoretically speaking, digital filters are seen as a system that perform mathematical operations on a picture in order to reduce or enhance certain aspects of that image. However a glance at the above presented context might introduce another filter's function to the ones just mentioned: not just reducing or enhancing, but undoubtedly changing. It would be naive to claim that the multiple twists in the picture’s elements can be seen as an end in themselves, and they do not make a change on the overall appearance of the original image on a level which is deeper then the visual one.

«In front of these digital copies of myself
I loose the present perception of my body,
in favour of a new not tangible one. 📷 »

03.2 Distortion as an intrinsic sine-qua-non

While I was immersing myself into the digital realm, I could not avoid to dig into its analogue — often ignored — roots. Artists such as André Kertész , Ana Mendieta or Jean Faucheur should be taken into consideration in order to create a clear and honest frame of action.²The suggested names are merely based on a subjective selection; the reader, without any doubt, is legitimate to add or replace them with other valuable ones. It is of great importance to interpret this statement not as an universal truth, but in relation to a specific and subjective point of view.

Indeed the body of work of the above named artists include different hints of distortion of the human body. Pixelation, enlargements, reductions, superpositions, mirrors and other many techniques are used to create a blurred perception of the body, demanding of the viewer an effort for perceiving.

« Suddenly, what it seemed to be a light trend,
reveals its deep roots,
turning into a inner need of the human being. »

However from that period of time something has undeniably changed in terms of meaning. The social and political accent emerging from the work of the previously named artists has left place to a growing desire for distortion meant as a tool towards social acceptance.⁴In reference to [subchapter 03.1].

« While designing these distortions,
I started perceiving something artificial
about my own self-representation. »

There is something insightful behind the term "artificial". Originally it meant "to be in accordance with art" or "obtained by art", but modernism and performance art of the 70’s changed its meaning, giving to it a negative connotation.⁵Gers, I. (2013). "Art at Large". Arnhem: ArtEZ Press.

Even though in this specific context of research — related to digitalisation and automatisation — artificiality may be seen as just something mechanical that operates by formulas — which are the specific algorithms of distortion behind each outcome — the shade of something morally wrong still echoes.

One may say that the artificial representation of an apple does not influence its referent (the apple itself), since it is meant as a copy made or produced by human beings rather than naturally. However, since an artificial reproduction can be considered a copy from an aesthetic and/or functional point of view, it does distort the general perception people have of the referential object.

Such metaphor can be applied to the body's digital copy as well — which is artificial by definition. Digital reproduction has affected the indexical sign function of the photo⁶Sonesson, G. "Post-photography and beyond. From mechanical reproduction to digital production". In Visio, 4, 1: Postphotography., and consequently its own reliability and truthfulness. Semioticians used to declare that a sign vehicle is an index if it is really affected by its referential object. Nevertheless the problem is that in the field of image production nowadays we can seldom be sure about this real affection.

« The line between what can be considered to be
trustworthy and truthful and what cannot,
seems to have become thinner and blurred,
as my own digital image. 📷 »

04 Digital representation and body-function

04.1 Has the role of the body changed because of the growth of digitalisation?

If the previous chapter focused on the ability of the digital representation to distort the general perception of the referential body, it is necessary now to shift the accent from the perception of the body to its function.

In [01 The digitalisation of the body → 01.1 From images to numerical sequences] it has been introduced that digital technologies have affected some functions of the human body, leading to a redefinition of its senses. This is due to the ability of technologies to address multiple senses at once when it comes to their interaction with the physical body. However, as Viktor Shklovsky stated in the first place¹Shklovsky, V. (1917). "Art as Technique"., «if we examine the general laws of perception, we see that as (something) becomes habitual, it also becomes automatic.». This means that what is considered to be familiar, is taken for granted, hence automatically perceived; an approach that obviously brings consequences in terms of span and level of attention payed to each object of perception. Therfore, the seed of reflection below this chapter grows from the will to formulate a mindful analysis (even though subjective), avoiding mental passivity; a critical viewpoint that is often forgot, and should be instead considered to be a necessary value nowdays.

So here we are again trying to deploy a learned response to something familiar, as an attempt to depict a conscious role of the human body, not just in the physical space, but also in the virtual one.

At the beginning of this chapter it has been stated that the body's functions have been affected by digital technologies. This change will be addressed in relation to a consequential shift of hierararchy between the body's physicality and its virtual version. One specific question should be taken into consideration: how is it possible that something physical and tangible by definition²Body: the physical structure, including the bones, flesh, and organs, of a person or an animal. can be overwhelmend by its digital copy?

In order to tackle this query, body-digitalisation needs to be framed as an act of translation and modelling, in which the end point where the outcome exists is most of the time a screen device. A frame where the three-dimensionality of the body gains meaning just for the sake of a two-dimensional depiction. A window, where the exposed bodies need to be fed by social acclamation. Together with their devices, people do literary become weightless. The mass is no more needed. Lovers knowing each other only by means of their mutual virtual copy is a tangible reality that does not require any other explanations. But «the play is a representation of reality and not reality itself»³Brecht, B. Retrieved from https://www.ukessays.com/services/example-essays/drama/brecht-playwright-poet.php.

One may or may not agree. Nevertheless here the aim is to highlight the constructed nature of such direction, which might be described as a growing merging interdepence between the physical body and its digital copy. It might be argued that there is no real need to be alarmed: according to an optimistic point of view, to reveal the audience the construction behind this "new reality", already implies its changeability. However, is this process really reversible?

No written answer will be found to this query within the context of this dissertation. On the other hand — following the methodological approach as first explained in [00 Foreword → 00.2 Research Approach] — a subjective reflection will lead to a metaphorical visualization of the main queries of this chapter: do digital technologies, and in particular the fact that they allow the user to digitally represent his/her own image, affect the function of the body?

The focus is settled on a specific experience: that deeply unsettling moment of phsycological disorientation due to the mutation of something which has always appeared familiar into something unfamiliar. Such circumstance can be easily applied to the digital realm as the event that takes place in front of a clear gap between representation (how someone want the other to see something) and reality (what the others do really see).⁴However, from a design point of view, this usually hidden gap could be redesigned in a tangible and engaging way. As it will be shown during [chapter 06], the final project outcome of this research highly relies on such point: the gap between "physical" and "digital" — that may be also described as the space among "real" and "virtual" — opens multiple possibilities in terms of visualisation when it comes to the representation of the user's body.

At this point it should be clear that the world as it appears to our virtual experience does not accurately resembles the physical reality. As previously introduced in this chapter, one of the main functions of the body is related to the necessity of being omnipresent. However, another step can be made. When it comes to the function of the body in the digital realm, it is not only about being present; not only "the body as a window" — as introduced in [01 The digitalisation of the body → 01.1 From images to numerical sequences] — but also "the body for the window". It is about embracing self-commercialisation. It is about the subject becoming the object.

Such tendency is certainly not new to human behaviour; however the way it has been affected and enhanced by digitalisation is a visible reality. We digitally represent our body in order to bring it in front of others eyes. This cannot be denied.

In Western cultural history sight has often been considered the predominant sense. From a philosophical point of view the Ancient Greek already depicted vision as the sense that could come closest to perceive absolute truth.⁵Jay, M. (1993). But during this process of perception people often fail to notice the medium. Consequently our contact with things — in the case of this dissertation with digital representations — is erroneously perceived as direct.⁶As stated by Paterson, M. (2007). "The senses of touch: Haptics, affects and technologies". Oxford and New York: Berg. In the digital realm such concept brings fundamental consequences when it comes to perception. People are so familiar with the device — a computer or a mobile phone — that the perception of a digital representation through it is approached as unmediated. Through the sight, one is lead to read a digital picture (of a person) as an "universal truth" (in a Platonic way) without questioning its reliability. The medium is settled in the shadow; not only the one used to perceive but also the one used in the first place to produce the digital copy of the body. Following this body of thoughts digital technologies can be seen as catalyst of the supremacy of sight above the other senses. Through our eyes we acquire the knowledge of the word, as well as we build a subjective perception of ourself and the other — more and more mediated by technologies — inside and outside the virtual realm. But as Plato said, our senses can only provide us with appearances, not with universal truths.

According to Mark Paterson, due to this hierarchical relationship among the senses that places sight as the predominant one, the other senses have been grounded and forgotten.⁷Paterson, M. (2007). "The senses of touch: Haptics, affects and technologies". Oxford and New York: Berg. Even if I do agree with such concept, I want to draw the attention to a slightly different perspective in relation to the advent of digital technologies. Digital technologies not only have extended and redefined the senses of the body, but also have contributed to a revaluation of the motor skills associated to the human senses.

« I am now looking at myself.
My fingers move fast, tirelessly digitalising my words.
My thoughts are mirrored in the screen.
Below, my knees are motionless and useless. »

Since the advent of computers our fingers have gained an enormous power, becoming the agents that, almost automatically, depict our own representation — even though often temporary. In order to visualise this concept — in line with the binomial approach based on question-visualization previously anticipated — I have filmed hands doing the same action they are used to do with digital devices (mobile phone and pc) but in an unfamiliar way: without the device itself. As a result a kind of system took form, an hybrid, meaningless sign language.

« I’m staring at my hands while, under this new light, they are loosing meaning.
If I turn down the luminosity of the screen
I can see my eyes, deeply immersed.
A Japanese artist once declared that in Japanese culture
the new otaku man is a man or woman who,
in the privacy of his/her room, spends time with the computer
or other machinery as extensions of the body.
A felling of guilty now permeates my own body. »

05 Digital representation and the other

05.1 How does the other perceive the digital representation of our body?

As a graphic designer I do often use Skype as a medium to communicate with clients. Virtual meetings are no longer a distant reality. This made me question about how the other perceive my own digital representation — and viceversa. What we do see, what we think we know, might not be what the other see. As already stated in the previous chapter, perception is strictly subjective. "In front of the lens, I am at the same time: the one I think I am and the one I want the others to think I am […]".¹Barthes, R. (1981). "Camera Lucida. Reflections on Photography". Translated by Richard Howard.

But what if "the other" is Google? What if the perception belongs to an algorithm instead of to a human being? What if the judge is the virtual world we live in so many hours a day? Google’s search by image utilises reverse image search algorithms that allow to compare the uploaded digitalisation of the body (or its URL) to billions of images in Google’s back end, by building a mathematical model of it. Among the results, Google includes images considered to be "similar" to the generated search query.

As a first reaction I impulsively uploaded on Google different representations of naked bodies, playing in an increasing way with the presence of pixels . At first the similarity resulted mainly according to colour and surface ; as soon as nipples became visible the relationship was made with porn pictures . A quite outstanding and predictable result.

On the other hand another factor should be taken into consideration. The precision of the engine is based on popularity: this means that the accuracy of the results increases if the search image is more popular. A peculiar behaviour; an eco of Deitch’s Post Human, based on the idea that appearance as such will be more and more modelled on images that can already be found in a certain culture or historical tradition.²Deitch, J. (1992). "Post Human". That is why I started to conduct the research tests with new generated digital copies of the body, in order to avoid the possibility to have among the results the same one. In this way "the lack of information" becomes a crucial coding element.

Not only images, but words as well: Google Search by Image offers the best guessed word matched with the image submitted, based on the metadata of the visual results. What does these words and images mean? Can these answers affect the consciousness of our own body? Is it right to call them so? Can they really be considered as answers?

« Curiosity leads me to test the representation of my own body,
in particular of my face.
I start to take snapshots and upload them
on Google Image Reverse Research.
Suddenly my digital copy becomes a multifaceted human being.
At 09:32 a.m I am a lady

, at 09:40 a man

.
An alternative interpretation of the self emerges from this impulsive test:
"Myself as other". »

Starting from these early tests, using Python I automated the same process performed by Google Search by Image. In particular I decided to add another layer to the functions usually performed by Google Search by Image: the choice to relate the scraped results — and by scraped results I mean the first (five) most similar results offered by Google — to each other. Such operation can be performed using different levels of opacity , subrtracting , adding , or multipling the luminosity of the pixels of each picture. This step represents a turning point for the research. Indeed it will return and be deepened in the project outcome presented in the following chapter.

06 The Unfamiliar body

06.1 Introduction to the project outcome

The experiments mentioned so far — and others that I deliberately decided to not include — led me to put into discussion and redefine my own approach as a designer.

Even if the various conducted tests clearly outlined a specific research-approach based on a strong link between questioning and visualisation through coding, I did not fell satisfied with their fragmentary aspect. One step was missing.

How can I make the audience experience the same lost of familiarity of the body that I have experienced at the beginning of this research project? How can I re-design that communal alienating moment when in front of a taken digital image of our own body we are totally unable to recognise our image? How can I convey a sense of defamiliarisation as «an instrument to overcome appearances in order to achieve a deeper understanding of reality»?¹Ginzburg, C. "Making Things Strange: The Prehistory of a Literary Device", reference taken from Zane, L. (2011). "Defamiliarization in the Domestic Poetry of Sylvia Plath".

It is with this struggle in mind that, within this chapter, the final research outcome will be outlined through a deconstructive path among its main five constructive elements (one for each subchapter).

06.2 Coding as a key towards a flexible first-person narrative

"They must not sit back and feel, but sit forward and think".²Shklovosky’s concept of defamiliarisation can be compared to Bertold Brecht’s Verfremdungseffekt (alienation effect), a technique designed to make the audience feel detached from the action of the play, in order to avoid immersion in the fictional reality of the stage or any kind of empathy with the characters. Bertold Brecht wanted his audiences to adopt a critical perspective and to be moved to go forth from the theatre and effect change in the world outside.³as anticipated in [chapter 04]. An aim that can be compared to the one of this project for what concerns the will to design "a strategy of conscious re-engagement with those conceivably banal and ordinary everyday practices that, by way of their habituation, tend to fade into transparency and, once hidden in plain sight, slip under the radar of critical thinking".⁴definition of Shklovosky’s concept of defamiliarisation by Crouch, C. (2009). "Subjectivity, Creativity, and the Institution". Universal-Publishers.

Starting from the pool of automated tools of body-distortion shown in the previous chapters, the missing binding agent of the project has been found in the role played by a personal narration⁵see personal introduction in [chapter 00]. — that creates an experimental relation between the coding component and the narrative one. This narration is the text choosen as the thesis' introduction [00 Foreword → 00.1 Personal Introduction]. A first-person narrative that describes from a subjective point of view that deeply unsettling moment when in front of a taken digital picture someone is totally unable to recognise his/her own image.

From a techical point of view, it has been chosen to develop the narration in Flask, a micro web framework written in Python that allows the use of HTML, CSS and Javascript as well . This environment gives the possibility to design an app able to host the text together with the different visual representations inspired by the early automated tests conducted during the research, and shown during this dissertation. Such concept will be clearer once the reader will reach the subchapter [06.6 Design of an automated structured experience] where different examples will be concretely given.

At this point, in view of the above, a fundamental difference must be underlined with Brecht’s body of theory. Unlike his technique, the one developed during this research does not want to prevent audience’s "immersion" in the virtual reality. However, the word "immersion" has to be considered with a slightly different meaning: a deep mental involvement which is not passive, but rather active and conscious in order to engage and challenge the user's perception of his/her own digital copy. A concept more similar to the one of identification with the narrated episode; a fundamental ingredient in order to make sense of the narrative events.

Indeed, as it will be explained in the next chapter, the use of the computer camera allows the user to become the main character of the narration. A choice designed not only to allow a continuous shift of the protagonist, but also to enhance the aesthetic of the outcomes, lending an intimate accent: in fact each snapshot has a different meaning according to the current user's background, experience and so on.

Before making the next step, it is important to clarify that, even though the undertaken approach to narrativity is not a traditional one, the typical principles of the film form will be taken into consideration, since crucial to maintain the audience's interest.⁶Principles of film form: similarity/repetition, difference/variation, development and unity/disunity. What is presented to the user is not a sequence of casually related events taking place in space and time. The relation among the different part of the project is rather subtle, ambiguous and open to different meanings, since it relates on psychological causes as the motivation of the narrative events. This choice of a subjective and mental narration relies on the tendency of the human mind to look for significance. An approach specifically designed to intensify the experience and enhance the critical positioning in relation to the digital copy of the body.

06.3 Snapshots as narrative images

As anticipated in the previous subchapter, one of the main constructive elements of the final project lies in the choice to use the computer camera to take a snapshot of the user. This stolen image not only represents the first input of the narration, but the mainstay of the whole project; indeed, during the narration the snapshot returns continuosly changing its appearence according to different parameters.

From a practical point of view, such approach is made possible by saving the snapshot in the first place , and recalling it — mainly through an AJAX request to the server — across a coded path that performs shifting of certain parameters of the snapshot. In this way the first-person text can be supported by multiple pictures simply generated starting from the first one.

A metaphorical layer lies behind this choice, which has been previously mentioned in [02 The post-value of the jpg → 02.1 Shift of values: from non-duplication to over re-production]: the common tendency of people to produce multiple digital copies of their body; the value of over-production and saturation.⁷See [chapter 02].

One may argue that a snapshot can be seen as a single slice of time. However this represents just one reading perspective. Within the project outcome the image represents more than the somatic characteristics of the person in front of the camera: it brings to surface the habitual side of the hidden referential act, which is the choice to digitalise the human body.

In opposition to what Jan Baetens⁸Baetens, J. (2009, September). "Is a photograph worth a thousand films?". Visual Studies, Vol. 24, No.2. may argue, the project consequently enhance a strong faith in the capacity of the (digital) snapshot to generate a psychological effect. What makes it "narrative" has a lot to do with the intimate way the user reads his/her own digital image.

At this point, the first two constructive elements described (a flexible first-person narrative and the related use of snapshots) bring the project in the realm of digital image manipulation and production. In such environment it is fundamental to bring to surface the impact of code as agent that highly shapes the outcome from a visual point of view. The act of coding not only influences the treatment of the picture, but also affects the whole methodology of the project. The role of the designer shifts, as well as the mindset, going beyond programming.

There is a certain acceptance that must be acquired, a kind of faith hidden in the code itself, a tolerance towards the unforeseen, the error. The act of coding, when performed by a designer, gains new shades. Within the context of this research project it has been choosen to script⁹The term script has been employed with an IT accent, and can be read as "to program". the design in order to enhance the value of reusability and adaption to variables — which in this case are represented by the different sessions deepending on the succession of the app's users.

Code allows to automate the manipulation of the same input picture according to several parameters. As seen in the previous chapters the snapshot can be approached as a group of pixels whose values of luminosity intensity can be multiplied\divided for a integer or a float, added or subtracted. They can be shifted, repeated, reflected. Once the parameters have been programmed and coded, the input can change time to time, continuously creating different outcomes.

Even though based on coding, the undertaken approach must be seen as design based, since it creates a model that shapes different outcomes that look alike. As it will be stated in the following paragraphs, the same point of view must be applied to the whole app itself. From micro to macro: a middle way between the artistic creation of unique pieces and the production of identical items.

The relation between the distorted snapshots and the narration is not accidental. Every manipulated picture is meant as a metaphor of a keyword or a concept subtly hidden behind the first surface of the text. For instance, the concept of non-identification in front of the digitalised body is expressed through a process of web scraping¹⁰The code has been written using Python and Beautiful Soup package. that parse, extract and display the first five results similar to the taken snapshot, based on reverse Google image search engine.¹¹As seen in [chapter 05]. A pool of pictures highly suitable to be overlayed, multiplied or divided, in order to create a new digital copy of the user.
With the same approach, the previously discussed "new value of proliferation" of the body's digital copies has been visualised through an automated multiplication of the user’s snapshot in different sizes, masks and perspectives.¹²See [chapter 02] Others examples could be done, but I leave them to the interpretation of the user who will experience the app in an exhibition-context.

In relation to this subchapter a last concept should be outlined: the need to minimise the human tendency to act in front of the camera — a behaviour which has been highly confirmed during the early tests of the app. For such reason the snapshot is taken without the user knowing it. Both from a technical and conceptual point of view, this expedient is designed to anticipate the possibility that the user might pose or might try to control the digital representation of his/her body; no photographic performance should take place. Moreover, the live camera has been implemented by the use of a blurred effect that denies the user a first limpid and focused digital reflection of his/her own image, in favour of a stronger contrast with the stolen snapshot — which is nitid and sharp — that will be shown later in the app-path.

« Once I feel myself observed by lens, everything changes:
I constitute myself in the process of "posing",
I instantaneously make another body for myself,
I transform myself in advance into an image. »

The stolen snapshot wants to awake the audience. In order to do so the project plays with the fact that the user may or may not agree with the digital copy of his/her body that will be screened in front of his/her eyes. For all its simplicity, this kind of experience is aimed at moving the critical sense of the users, trying to leverage the unconscious ideal depiction they suppose of themselves.

06.4 The body of type

« Whilst typing I start looking at the keyboard.
The typographic value of this input device unfolds in front of me.
Suddenly the written words on my screen obtain a new value. »

So far the first-person text has been tackled in relation to its narrative and cohesive value. Within the context of this chapter it will be approached from a different perspective, strictly related to its typographical aspect.

With the awareness that the digital type constitutes a far too broad topic to be properly tackled within this dissertation, several concepts will be intentionally omitted in order to go straight to the point; notions concerning the mathematical side of digital fonts, TrueType, OpenType, WOFF, the definition of "typing" and "character" won't be discussed for the sake of brevity and coherence with the main query of the dissertation.

Within this project the approach to digital typeface has been inspired in the first place by the one used to manipulate and distort the snapshot of the user. Such approach enhance the physical value of the typeface, estabilishing a methaporical relationship between the text and the human body. As our body, a typeface can change according to different parameters:

height,

length,

size,

and position.

From a design point of view, such metaphor opens a wide experimental range based on a dynamic approach. A clear example of this technique is the opening title of the reasearch project "The Unfamiliar Body". On a technical level this is made possibile by using a CSS animation that animates the HTML element of the title — designed as a SVG file; as a result the static value of the typeface vanishes.

It is now possible to tackle the metaphorical relationship between the digital typeface and the body from a terminology viewpoint as well. In fact we do refer to the size of the character as the "size of the body"; the text is often addressed as "body text"; the group a type belongs to is called "font family"; some components of the single character recall the name of part of the body, human and not: ear, shoulder, tail.

In addition, it is worth to mention that in the web environment, HTML standard language relates to a structure based on strong anatomical relationship.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>The head</title>
</head>
<body>
<header>The header</title>
<p>The body of text</p>
<footer>The footer</footer>
</body>
</html>

After the introduction part — which corresponds to the opening title above discussed — the app unfolds the text step by step with the help of a strong technical choice. To clearly explain this decision, it is necessary to contextualize it by recalling some key concepts of the reserach project.

As stated in the previous subchapters [06.2] and [06.3], "The Unfamiliar Body" highly relates on the choice to create a context where the user can identify with the narrated events. For this reason it has been chosen to display the text in such a way that the design choice could facilitate the audience's identification. After different user tests conducted between the programming part of the project (from January to April 2018), typewriter effect disclosed itself as the right choice . The reason behind is quite intuitive and elementar. The target of the project outcome is composed by users that have a medium/high level of familiarity with digital devices, and the act of typing places itself among the well known daily actions related to this interaction. Again, from a programming point of view, the outcome has been reached through the use of Javascript: with a chosen speed the digital characters appear one after the other, emulating the real act of typing.

In the next chapter this choice will be deepened and contextualised — together with the previously described main project-elements — in the frame it belongs to: the screen space.

06.5 Screen viewport as interface to the digital environment

At this point the deconstructive analysis undertaken at the beginning of the subchapter [06.1] have displayed the most relevant design choices of the app. It is now fundamental to place them in a wider frame that, from a design point of view, must convey a digital feeling to the audience in order to clearly show the context in which the projects positions itself.

As previously stated, even though "identification" — according to the meaning explained in [06.2] — is considered to be a sine qua non of this project, an alienation effect must be reached in order to free socially conditioned phenomena from the "stamp of familiarity", revealing them as other than natural.¹⁴Stam, R. (2000). "Film Theory, An introduction". Department of Cinema Studies, New York University: Blackwell Publishers. Because of this specific reason, the different distortions of the user's snapshot have been overstated according to different levels. A subtle and familiar distortion would have been too much "usual" and "light" to create a sense of alienation and to make the user question his/her recognition.

Another controversial point — in a Brechtian manner — is the role that aesthetic plays in framing the experience.¹⁵«Brecht theorised a rejection of a totalling aesthetic where all the tracks are enlisted in the service of a single, overwhelming feeling.»; Stam, R. (2000). "Film Theory, An introduction". Department of Cinema Studies, New York University: Blackwell Publishers. Several variables should be considered: interaction, color, size, movement, time. For a matter of relevance it has been chosen to address here just the first one: interaction. Until what extend is permitted to the user to interact with the designed app? Can the audience choose? Should they be the agent, or viceversa, should they powerless witness what is happening to their digital representation? This crossroad implies a significant difference, not only for what concern the user's interaction with the work, but on a coding level as well.

The way people are used to interact in a digital environment is characterised by a certain tendency to over-act, over-click. To subtract such power means going against the way the audience believe interaction will be. Consequently, to design an interaction deliberately against the habits, becomes a way to create a feeling of defamiliarisation, challenging the habitual ways of seeing and understanding objects, forcing the audience to perceive them with totally new eyes. Shklovsky claimed that art defamiliarises objects by presenting them as if seen for the first time and thus removes them from the automation of human perception.¹⁶Bowen, J. P., Keene, S., Ng, K. (2013). "Electronic Visualisation in Arts and Culture". If in front of a web browser our brain sends impulses of activation, the counterpoint is making our fingers powerless, denying any form of interaction; and by removing the cursor after the first interaction (click on "start" button), this is exactly what the project aimes at.

« The physicality of my human body loses his power.
It becomes a static witness.
My digital copies assume a new overwhelming value. »

06.6 The design of an automated structured experience

With the previous subchapter, all the constructive elements of the research project have been now unfolded. The specific choices explained so far work together to convey a particular feeling, pushing until the absurd the intrinsic distortion behind the digital representation of the body — which is the starting point of the research itself.

Step by step the introduction text¹⁷See personal introduction in [chapter 00]. unfolds, leading the user through a coded experience based on a combination of words and digital pictures characterised by different levels of distortion. This outcome — which from a technical point of view has been described so far as an app — can be potentially experienced in a web environment as well as within an exhibition context.¹⁸As it will displayed for the first time during the show "Floating Frames", from 28/06/2018 to 02/07/2018, Werkwarenhuis Tramkade 22, 5211 VB ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

It is in relation to this last exhibitory possibility that a specific curatorial decision has been taken. In order to enhance the alienating atmosphere and facilitate the identification, a voiceover has been added; a narrative voice that carries the user sentence after sentence. The choice of using an expedient with which the audience is familiar with is not a fortuitous choice, and its impact should not be taken for granted. Due to the fact that the narrative voice is largely used in various fields (as in the cinematographic and advertising industry), the user already has background experiences that dictate how it should sound like. That is why, in order to break the audience's preconceptions, the choosen narrator's voice cannot be identified as a canonical one: to prevent the possibility to create a strong character (that statistically might go against the idea of identification) I decided to collaborate with a voice actress specialised in mechanical voices. The result is a voiceover that detaches itself from the average by being an hybrid between a woman and a machine. An higlhy robotic voice would have been tricky, since it might have run the risk to become a parody, as nowdays often append on the web. The user's perception is instead subtly challenged by a variation between a neutral woman's voice and words on which the mechanical accent prevails. A thin line between human and digital that recalls — once again — the underlying paradox of the research project.

As a result "The Unfamiliar Body" presents itself as an automated interactive experience based on a first-person narrative, during which the single user becomes the main protagonist. The aim of the research project is not only to bring to surface the intrinsic distortion that lies behind the digital copy of the body, but also to allow the user to experience it through a process based on visual exaggeration.

« Estrangement seems a good antidote to a risk we all face:
that of taking the world, and ourselves, for granted. »

07 Final considerations

I would like to conclude with a personal consideration regarding the dual aim of the research project "The Unfamiliar Body".

As stated in the first place at the beginning of this web page [00 Foreword → 00.2 Research Approach] this dissertation does not pretend to be a scientific analysis of the influence that the digital representation of the body has on human beings. Nevertheless such awarness did not release me from the duty to formulate something concret and reliable. Thus, from a design perspective, I hope to have been able to present a tangible example of the potentiality of programming, together with graphic design, in the development of structured experiences that can stimulate a critical awareness of perception by engaging and challenging the user.

The choice of embracing the word of programming as a tool to improve the effectivness of my research and design solutions has necessarily affected not only my present positioning, but also the future one. The undertaken research approach has indeed changed my own working method as a designer both on a methodological and productive level. I will now clarify such concept.

During the research phase it has been chosen to develop automated processes as a way to answer specific queries. The introduction of programming within this phase has led to a growing cohesion of theory and practice, bringing numerous benefits from a productive point of view. First of all it has allowed to start translating the research topic from a textual point of view to a visual one. Moreover, even if the automatisation of the process surely entails a first investment in terms of time dedicated to the writing of the code itself, it does bring a consequential speeding up of the productive process. With just a single click, and in a small amount of time, it is possible to produce potentially infinite outcomes starting from the same input and changing just a single parameter — as shown at the end of [05 Digital representation and the other]; or vice versa it is possible to generate multiple results simply replacing the name of the input file (which is the main approach used in the app).

Besides this, from a social point of view, both the app and the thesis have been designed to raise a critical consciousness concerning the value of the physicality of the human body in the digital age: as an unconscious performance, the research project strongly demands a critical reading of the perception and the role of our body in the digital environment. Such goal should be framed in relation to the fact that, as a graphic designer, I developed over the years a strong focus on the relationship between the body and the media, in particular the digital ones.

To sum up, this choice has to be considered as a long term premises of my own positioning in the field of design, since it includes:

→ critical positioning about a topic of social relevance in the post-digital age;
→ automatisation of the design process both on a research and productive level;
→ combination of different medium, or in oder words "production of an outcome suitable for different medium"; "The Unfamiliar Body" is in fact suitable to be experienced on a digital level as well as on a printed one, since it includes both a digital installation (the app) and a printed declination of the outcomes in the shape of posters (as shown at the end of [05 Digital representation and the other]).

I would like the reader to see this last chapter — as well as the project itself — as a starting point rather then as a real conclusion. The chapter began recalling the dual aim of the research project, and continued by framing it in relation to my own practice. With the same circular approach, I plan to continue strengthening my critical position in the design realm in relation to topics body-related, taking advantage of programming to improve my own approach both in terms of research testing and productive efficiency.

« Our body is what keeps the "visible spectacle" of the world "constantly alive". »

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