This study is a practice-led research that visually examines how the sense of self and identity are experienced within the complexity and multiplicity of selves in a technologically saturated culture. This dissertation, “Deconstructing consciousness in contemporary hyperreality: The multiphrenic self and identity”, is the theoretical component of this research which underpins and discusses the visual works that comprise of three multimedia installations that focus on images of the fractured self, the re-imagining of faces behind facial recognition programmes, and the embodiment of space and aesthetic significance within re-appropriation of images within social media platforms. The practical component falls within multi-media art often associated with video art and installation art within contemporary art. By recognising postmodern identity theories, this study investigates the postmodern subject’s concept of self and identity formation within a world that is influenced by the constant glare of technology and viral1 media exposure. How the development and proliferation of technology in the contemporary world, shapes one’s sense of self and identity. The fragmented postmodern subject exists within this context of “viral media” that describes the endless parasitism and dominance of media, where information is perpetuated as part of representation. Due to the perpetual state of virtual re-invention of the “self” within this realm, a digital footprint of identity and traces of personal information are available to others publicly and globally. This context generates a fractured postmodern self that globally exists within a perpetual sense of the present. This research visually and theoretically reflects on the concepts of postmodern schizophrenia and the multiphrenic self, in relation to identity and how participation on social media platforms can enhance a feeling of fragmented self. To address the main argument, it is the contention of the research to deliberate that identity formation is continually and compulsively shaped and reshaped through adapting to specific social environments. The study further argues that the multitude of digital networks (and the everyday practices occurring within and between them) form a different kind of platform and space that affects identity formation. / Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology

Submitted by JULIANA LARISSA DE LAET GOMES null (laet.juliana@gmail.com) on 2016-03-01T01:45:33Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação final.pdf: 3942361 bytes, checksum: cfd4070a7cad2ebd8bcbaa4e8adba706 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Paula Grisoto (grisotoana@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-03-01T16:09:36Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 gomes_jll_me_mar.pdf: 3942361 bytes, checksum: cfd4070a7cad2ebd8bcbaa4e8adba706 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-01T16:09:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 gomes_jll_me_mar.pdf: 3942361 bytes, checksum: cfd4070a7cad2ebd8bcbaa4e8adba706 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-04 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A partir de um histórico da relação da cidade de São Paulo com os meios de comunicação, que resgata facetas de nossa cultura política, de um apanhado conceitual que ilumina os vários significados pessoais e coletivos da comunicação mediada e de uma pesquisa empírica viva que destaca imagens, experiências e lugares das manifestações de junho de 2013, essa dissertação oferece uma contribuição teórica que descortina o elo entre as pequenas telas individuais e as grandes telas coletivas que são palco da ação política contemporânea. Investiga-se a constituição de uma nova esfera pública a partir da atuação nas tecnologias móveis de informação e comunicação, que são denominadas pequenas telas. Através das pequenas telas os indivíduos se colocam na esfera pública, a grande tela. Atuar no espaço público, nesse contexto, envolve estar presente em tais telas, mas isso não basta. Os novos meios de informação e comunicação, como ímãs, atraem os indivíduos para determinados locais que se tornam centrais na ação, ao mesmo tempo em que os espaços somente podem se tornar centrais e se constituírem como espaços públicos quando a ação neles ocorre. O registro da selfie, dos vídeos e dos relatos das experiências vividas no espaço público durante a ação política, feito através das pequenas telas, são ferramentas de atuação política através das quais os espaços da cidade são ressignificados numa relação íntima, porém mediada, do usuário com eles. Tal experiência é vivida, então, coletivamente nas grandes telas que são palco da ação política. / From a historical account of the relationship between the city of São Paulo and the media, which retrieves facets of our political culture; through a conceptual overview that show forth the various individual and collective meanings of mediated communication; and through a vivid empirical research that highlights images, experiences and places of the demonstrations of June 2013, this dissertation provides a theoretical contribution that reveals the link between the individual small screens and the big screens that are the collective arena of contemporary political action. The establishment of a new public sphere is investigated from the deeds that take place through mobile information and communication technologies, namely small screens. Through these small screens, individuals set themselves into the public sphere — the big screen. Acting in the public space in this context involves being present in these screens, but this is not enough. New information and communication media, like magnets, attract individuals to certain places, which become central to action, insofar as spaces themselves can only become central and be constituted as public spaces when people effectively act within them. The selfie, the videos and the narratives of experiences occurred in public spaces during political action perpetrated through small screens are tools of political activity in which the city spaces are reinterpreted in an intimate, even though mediated, relationship with their individual users. These experiences, then, are lived collectively on the big screens, the arena of political action.

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Uppsatsen syftar till att undersöka hur Kim Kardashian West porträtterar sig själv i sina selfies och porträtt på sitt Instagramkonto. Fokus ligger på att undersöka detta utifrån maktaxlarna kön och sexualitet och hur hon iscensätter dessa i sina bilder. En av frågeställningarna som uppsatsen syftar till att besvara är hur hennes selfies och porträtt kan tolkas i relation till femininitet, sexualitet, kropp och makt. En annan frågeställning syftar till att besvara huruvida selfien som fenomen är sexistisk och objektifierande, eller om den är ett uttryck för självbestämmande över ens kropp. Materialet som används för att besvara frågeställningarna är fyra bilder som Kim Kardashian West har lagt upp på sitt Instagramkonto. Två av dessa är selfies och två är porträtt. Tre av bilderna föreställer Kim Kardashian West lättklädd och sexuellt poserande. En av bilderna porträtterar henne i ett entreprenörssammanhang. Uppsatsen utgår från flera teoretiska ramverk, exempelvis Erikssons och Göthlunds redogörelse för teoribildningen om hur kvinnokroppen har porträtterats genom tiderna och Mulveys teori om ”the male gaze”. Vidare redogör uppsatsen för tidigare forskning om bland annat selfies och porträtt och vikten av att ha ett personligt varumärke i en tid av medialisering och kändiskultur. Analysen baseras på en semiotisk bildanalys uppdelad i två olika nivåer, denotativ och konnotativ, på alla fyra bilder. Efter analysen följer en avslutande diskussion som återkopplar till frågeställningarna och drar slutsatser kring dessa. Resultatet pekar på att selfien är ett komplext fenomen. Trots att Kim Kardashian Wests selfies ofta anspelar heteronormativa ideal kring sexualitet och den kvinnliga kroppen, så kan selfien likväl tolkas som ett uttryck för självbestämmande som ett uttryck för sexism och objektifiering. Nyckelord: Kim Kardashian West, Instagram, selfie, sociala medier, kändiskultur, the male gaze, kvinnokroppen, femininitet, performativitet, objektifiering.

本研究探討小資女的微整型風潮，主要由兩大部分構成全文。第一部分是藉由台灣美容歷史的梳理，凸顯1990年代後由醫學主導的美容場域所塑造出的自然美神話。這神話使得選擇微整型實作的個人從自我認同到人際互動，多少都承載著自然美的價值去展演、觀看。透過訪談，本文進而揭示以微整型為日常保養的小資女，當她們在職場中從面試到工作與團體相處時，是如何發揮那隱而不見的「針」功夫，又如何以各種互動和對話技巧規避他人對自我外貌變化的猜疑。此外，本文也指出小資女身處在美容資訊隨處可見、選擇看似無窮的環境中，其個人決定如何在社會凝視下擺盪。應用Goffman的戲劇互動論，本文指出她們在職場上的儀式行為，尤其探問到在不同職場文化中的自我如何已經成為可以彈性形塑並要求改變的符號-物，甚至連同服裝及儀容也必須轉換為應當的儀式表達。 　　第二部分則是從自然美神話裡的矛盾元素去探究醫療細微化的科技視野下所呈現的當代生活。透過訪談，本文初步揭示女性在神話結構當中對於自然美的渴求，並且藉由微整型實作完成神話的矛盾要素。應用Baudrillard的消費社會觀，本文指出當女性在尋求差異以強調自我獨特性時，卻正相反地在迎合社會的共同性價值。此處除了小資女的自我敘述之外，本文也結合理論文獻及二手資料進階探究自然美形塑過程的三大面向，亦即物質技術、廣告消費和數位微整型。首先，我們基於物質、技術與醫師經驗等三個判準，將當前四大微整型技術劃出一條自然光譜。其次，我們從醫美診所的廣告文宣，梳理其中針對微整形技術的自然主張，了解業者的自然宣稱及消費者的自然認知。第三，我們還探討了電腦技術下的數位修圖以便凸顯出微整形的自然美意涵。從數位攝影的普及到網路平台的展演，我們在數位自拍與修圖等虛擬真實的媒介實作中探索自然美神話的疆界。 / This research comprised of two parts studies the emerging trend of cosmetic surgery practiced by young working females in Taiwan. In the first part, a short history of cosmetic practices is outlined to mark the formation of a myth of natural beauty since medical science and technology dominated the traditional field of cosmetic practices in the late 1990s. The myth makes the individual who has gone through cosmetic surgery carry the value of natural beauty while regarding one’s self-identity and performing in social interactions. Through in-depth interviews, the study shows that these young working females who have made cosmetic surgery an integral part of their daily beauty maintenance tend to exercise subtle strategies (art or kung-fu) of simulation, acting and interacting as if their beauty were all natural and real beyond suspicion at work-related situations. In addition, our study finds that personal decisions struggle constantly with the injunction of the social value (of natural beauty) as these young females are exposed to an excessive array of beauty information and surgery options. With resort to Goffman's theory of dramaturgical interaction, this study reveals some interaction rituals performed in different workplaces by these young working females. As a result, the individual self has itself become a sign-object malleable to change along with proper ways of clothing and grooming. The second part proceeds to explore contemporary living under the miniaturized purview of medical technology through the contradictory elements embodied in the myth of natural beauty. Once again drawing on in-depth interviews, the study reveals the female desire of natural beauty derived from the mythical structure, as well as their practices of cosmetic surgery which further realizes those contradictory elements in reproducing the myth. By applying Baudrillard’s theory of the consumer society, this study indicates that the more women intend to stress on their unique selves by marking out individual differences, the more they unintentionally cater to the common value of our society. In this regard, our study, apart from the self reports of interviewees, also combines theoretical discourses and secondary data to further explore the natural beauty process in its three main aspects, which might be termed as the cosmetic surgery of the material (technique), the representational (advertising) and the digital (social media). First, we delineate a spectrum of naturalism for the four major techniques of cosmetic surgery based on substance, technology and experience of the physician. Second, we examine the clinical claims and the consumer perceptions of nature shaped by advertising images and slogans circulated in the beauty industry. Third, we observe the trend of digital retouching with computer technology to sharpen the meaning of natural beauty in the practice of cosmetic surgery. From the relay of digital photography to the display of internet platform, we explore the mythical frontier of natural beauty by witnessing the digital retouching of selfies as a mediatory practice of virtual reality.

This diploma thesis deals with the position of women and men on the Internet social network called Instagram. The theme is first described from a theoretical point of view, explaining what web 2.0 is, what social networks are and how social networking helps with our socialization to society and our self-presentation. In this part are also explained the concepts of gender and gender stereotypes. My own research consist of three parts. The first part is a qualitative image analysis of so-called "selfie" photos of selected Instagram users, which revealed, that the women that I analyzed supported gender stereotypes in female imaginary, while analyzed men occasionally oscillated between masculinity and femininity. The second part is the analysis of the number of the likes under these "selfie" photos and the third part is the analysis of deep semi-structured interviews, which showed that women and men have much in common on Instagram. But overall, their position on this network according to my analysis is not the same.

Estamos viviendo un principio de siglo en el que las reglas del juego han cambiado en lo que a fotografía y producción fotográfica se refiere, debido en parte a la democratización de los actuales dispositivos electrónico-digitales de captura fotográfica y al desarrollo de Internet como espacio expositivo o de publicación. Asimismo, la proliferación de novedosas y diferentes formas de autorretrato dentro del medio cibernético-virtual, nos plantea nuevos paradigmas formales, conceptuales y definitorios vinculados a la historia de la imagen y a la teoría del arte. El self shot, definido como autorretrato fotografiado con un dispositivo digital para su posterior (o instantánea) publicación en la red de manera voluntaria o involuntaria, y sus diferentes tipologías, como el selfie o el mirrorpic, no son en absoluto un hecho aislado o un género puntual y arbitrario. Son cientos de miles las fotografías que se producen y publican diariamente en todo el mundo, siguiendo las premisas y normas que el propio fenómeno dicta: fotografías sujetas a unos cánones compositivos, estéticos y formales que concluyen en una inabordable imaginería de rostros y cuerpos autorrepresentados. Actualmente, este tipo de imágenes se han convertido en algo cultural, fomentando la propia transformación evolutiva del medio fotográfico (e incluso sirviendo, con su marcada iconicidad, como marco referencial para diversas representaciones en ámbitos ajenos: el arte, el entretenimiento audiovisual o la publicidad). No obstante, su génesis no fue tan popular, sino el fruto de una creación experimental e íntima vinculada a autoras adolescentes que, encerradas en sus cuartos de baño, se autofografiaban con una cámara compacta en la mano a través de su reflejo en el espejo y sin saber que estaban desarrollando unos protocolos conductuales que heredarían una década más tarde una gran multitud de grupos poblacionales de diferentes edades que se extienden por nuestras sociedades contemporáneas. La presente Tesis Doctoral aborda todos estos fenómenos e intenta vincularlos al hecho artístico y a cómo el mismo ha influido (y se ha visto, a su vez, influido) por los mass-media. Palabras clave: adolescentes, autorretrato, cuerpo, dispositivos electrónicos, erotismo, espejo, fotografía, fotografía digital, imagen, Internet, mirrorpic, postfotografía, redes sociales, selfie, self shot, smartphone, vida privada. / Estem vivint un principi de segle en el qual les regles del joc han canviat pel que fa a fotografia i producció fotogràfica a causa, en part, de la democratització dels actuals dispositius electrònic-digitals de captura fotogràfica i al desenvolupament d'Internet com a espai expositiu o de publicació. Així mateix, la proliferació de noves i diferents formes d'autoretrat dins del medi cibernètic-virtual, ens planteja nous paradigmes formals, conceptuals i definitoris vinculats a la història de la imatge i a la teoria de l'art. El self shot, definit com a autoretrat fotografiat amb un dispositiu digital per a la seua posterior (o instantània) publicació en la xarxa de manera voluntària o involuntària, i les seues diferents tipologies, com el selfie o el mirrorpic no són en absolut un fet aïllat o un gènere puntual i arbitrari. Són centenars de milers les fotografies que es produeixen i publiquen diàriament arreu del món seguint les premisses i normes que el propi fenomen dicta: fotografies subjectes a uns cànons compositius, estètics i formals que conclouen en una inabordable imatgeria de rostres i cossos autorrepresentats. Actualment, aquest tipus d'imatges s'han convertit en un fet cultural, fomentant la pròpia transformació evolutiva del medi fotogràfic (i fins i tot servint, amb la seua marcada iconicidad, com a marc referencial per a diverses representacions en àmbits aliens: l'art, l'entreteniment audiovisual o la publicitat). No obstant açò, el seu gènesi no va ser tan popular, sinó el fruit d'una creació experimental i íntima vinculada a autores adolescents que, tancades en les seues cambres de bany, s'autofotografiaven amb una càmera compacta a la mà a través del seu reflex en l'espill, i sense saber que estaven desenvolupant uns protocols conductuals que heretarien una dècada més tard una gran multitud de grups poblacionals de diferents edats que s'estenen per les nostres societats contemporànies. La present Tesi Doctoral aborda tots aquests fenòmens i intenta vincular-los al fet artístic i a com el mateix ha influït (i s'ha vist, al seu torn, influït) pels mass-media. Paraules clau: adolescents, autoretrat, cos, dispositius electrònics, erotisme, espill, fotografia, fotografia digital, imatge, Internet, mirrorpic, postfotografia, xarxes socials, selfie, self shot, smartphone, vida privada. / We are living at the beginning of a century in which the rules of the game have changed in terms of photography and photographic production. This is due, in part, to the democratisation of the current electronic-digital photographic capture devices and the internet's development as a space for exhibiting and publishing photos. Likewise, the proliferation of different, never-before-seen forms of self-portraits within the cybernetic-virtual medium presents us with new conceptual, formal and defining paradigms that are linked to the history of the image and the theory of art. The self shot, defined as a self-portrait photographed with a digital device for its subsequent (or instantaneous) voluntary or involuntary publication on the web, and its different typologies, such as the selfie or the mirror pic, is by no means an isolated event or a limited and arbitrary genre. Every day, hundreds of thousands of photographs are produced and published around the world, adhering to the premises and rules that the phenomenon itself dictates: photographs subject to compositional, aesthetic and formal norms that end with an overwhelming amount of imagery of self-represented bodies and faces. Currently, these types of images have become cultural by nature, advancing the photographic medium's unique evolutionary transformation (and even serving, with its marked iconicity, as a framework of reference for various representations in other areas: art, audio-visual entertainment or advertising). However, its origin was not so mainstream. In contrast, it was the result of an experimental and intimate creation tied to adolescent authors who, locked in their bathrooms, would photograph themselves with a compact camera in hand through their reflection in the mirror and without knowing that they were developing behavioural protocols that would be inherited a decade later by a vast number of population groups of different ages, that would then spread all throughout our contemporary societies. This Dissertation addresses all of these phenomena and tries to relate them to the artistic context and how this context has influenced (and has, in turn, been influenced by) mass media. Key words: adolescents, self-portrait, body, electronic devices, eroticism, mirror, photography, digital photography, image, Internet, mirrorpic, post-photo, social networks, selfie, self shot, smartphone, private life. / Gayet Valls, J. (2018). LOS ORÍGENES ADOLESCENTES DEL SELFIE Y SU REPRESENTACIÓN EN EL ARTE Y EN LOS MEDIOS DE MASAS [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/112728 / TESIS

Seit einigen Jahren kursiert im Internet der Begriff Yolocaust als Bezeichnung für ein vorwiegend jugendbildkulturelles Phänomen, welches das als unangemessen empfundene Erstellen von Foto­gra­fien im Stile der jugendlichen Selfiekultur in Holocaust-Ge­denk­stätten und das anschließende Teilen dieser Bilder in den sozialen Netzwerken meint und welches oft als Symptom einer gestörten Erinnerungskultur gedeutet wird. Dieser Beitrag er­schließt anhand der Plattform Instagram zunächst die graduellen Ausprägungen dieser Bildkultur und sucht anschließend über die Analyse der Programmatik und der allgemeinen Bildkultur des Netzwerkes nach Erklärungsansätzen in der medialen Eigenlogik. Abschließend wird nach pädagogischen Konsequenzen für die Vorbereitung des Gedenkstättenbesuchs gefragt, ohne eine pau­schale Verurteilung der Bildkultur anzustreben.

Taking selfies is a technique of self-monitoring, gaze and comparison, drawing from its regulatory force upon women. The photo-taking practice marks the surveillance of how individual gender performances fulfill the expectations of existing gender norms. The contemporary postfeminist hegemonic femininity presents woman as owning the right kind of dispositions, such as confidence or sexiness, in which case the area of the body plays a central role. In order to explore how performances of such femininity are constructed, this study uses content analysis to study the visual and textual content of Instagram posts. This master thesis analyses whether the Instagram users tagging posts #zanormalniholky (#fornormalgirls) are responsive through selfies to postfeminist femininity or rather use it as a form of resistance against the postfeminist discourse. Identity, including gender identity, is constituted through acts that purport to be its consequence. Selfies - as the results of this thesis show - have normative potential. Key words postfeminism, selfie, Instagram, social media, gender, self-portrait, self-presentation, feminism, #zanormalniholky, femininity, makeover paradigm

This research paper illustrates the social effects of social media and selfie posting on older age generations. These generational groups are called “Baby-boomers” and “Baby-busts” and are born before the existence of Internet and social media and therefore have had to adapt to the online context. The goal of this study is to make comparison between younger and older generations in terms of experiences, beliefs and feelings they encounter when posting and observing self-photos.  By using Semi-structured Qualitative interviews, which is set up as an interview guide based on questions designed to give open ended answers, we had the possibility to obtain a deeper understanding of the topic studied. This study has shown different perspectives of how generations born before the Internet era have adapted to social platforms and how they understood the selfie culture. Results identified have proven older age generations have higher level of self-esteem and prefer posting real and honest selfies, whereas the younger ones are interested in their looks and appearance on social media and they value their popularity by the number of likes received for their self-photos. As we discovered that likes and followers have no value for participants in our study, we concluded there is no reason like popularity seeking beneath their selfie posting habits. The target group in this study is instead using social media accounts as a source of inspiration, communication channel or a marketing tool for their professional life.