SELFIE MYSELF CONCEPT > Dario La Stella, Valentina Solinas INTRODUCTION With Selfie MySelf project we want to meet the contemporary generation of teenagers to critically analyze their media exposure in relation to the selfie phenomenon and the use of new technologies related to social media. CONCEPT Selfie MySelf addresses the current issue of virtual image consumption as opposed to concrete experience. The focus of the analysis is the difficulty of living an experience when it happens, because we are engaged in recording it on a digital medium; difficulty that creates a distance between living an experience and representing it. The same distance that exists between being an image of me (myself) and having an image of me (selfie). Jean-Luc Nancy in his book "Corpus" says that the body is "open" as far as its perceptions arrive, in this case therefore the body is always in relationship with the world around itself. To be means to be in relationship, not to have bodily boundaries, but perceptual ones. Having means to put boundaries between the body and the rest of the world. The visual aspect is a significant part of our contemporaneity of which the selfie is the emblem. Reality is increasingly experienced through the visual medium of the photo or video, creating a fracture between experience and the visual representation of it: photographing yourself in a place becomes more important than being present. The fear of not remembering an experience if not documenting it excludes us from the experience itself and in the anxiety to capture the shots that best represent us, we lose the intensity of the moment. From this point of view "The Society of the Spectacle" described by Guy Debord has a literal meaning, a society that exists only when it represents itself in an image that everyone can see and share. Visual support has become the tool that allows us to belong to this company. We are caught in the representation of the reality we want to control. Targeted by stimuli that we cannot control, our time is shattered, interspersed with the continuous verification of social media which, with an effect similar to that of drugs, makes us dependent, never satisfied, full and simultaneously emptied. As shown by some research including the Yale Stress Center, this continuous pressure affects the cognitive functions responsible for remembering, learning and making decisions. The project is articulated through sub-projects, workshops, shows, exhibitions, performances, social research and social media. ARTICULATION SURVEY One of the research tools of the project is an anonymous questionnaire of 30 questions divided into personal data, digital tools, perception of one's own image. The questionnaire has the dual function of collecting statistical data on the selfie phenomenon and of creating a base on which to elaborate texts for possible artistic elaborations (dramaturgy, storytelling, poetry, etc.). WORKSHOP The workshops provide a training path through which participants experience the expressive and creative aspects of the performing arts, paying attention to the contextualization of their image in the context of the reference community, both virtual and concrete.
SELFIE MYSHOW Selfie MyShow is the blog of Selfie MySelf project. www.selfiemyshow.wordpress.com
SELFIE MYCITY The Selfie MyCity sub-project is an experiential awareness-raising process on the perception of one's own image in relation to the surrounding urban environment with which to create a dialogue.
Another sub-project is the Possibili Derive performance, born from the suggestions of Selfie MySelf. Its structure includes two performers and an installation of mirrors. The performance is specifically designed for museum spaces. More details on the page. Photo Andrea Macchia |