Digital Disembodiment:
Exploring the Human Relationship with the Virtual Body
“Cyberspace is a celebration of spirit, as the disembodied consciousness leaps and dances with unparalleled freedom. It is a realm in which the mind is freed from bodily limitations, a place for the return of the omnipotence of thoughts…”
Avatar: “In computing, an image which represents you…”
Disembodied: “Seeming not to have a body or not to be connected to a body”
Embodiment: “Someone or something that represents a quality or an idea exactly”
Aims
Human -Computer Interaction is a vast area of research, pertaining to many fields of study – where artists, scientists, technologists, designers have all come together to form societies solely intent on exploring the trends and possibilities of future human-computer interaction in an almost transparent future closing in on us at an incredible speed.
I will be researching the significance of the digital / virtual body and its role in the digital age, looking at the new sense of embodiment in digital spaces.
As Virtual Worlds become more integrated into society and our daily lives, issues arise around how we are represented (or present ourselves) as bodies in cyberspace and the impact this has on our own identities.
I intend to explore the relationship humans have with the virtual human form, the duality of physicality and the digital and the role of the body, and in doing so, I am hoping to identify the essence of the digital / virtual body, and the virtual world(s) it occupies.
Issues of embodiment and disembodiment will be researched, including abandonment of the physical body and also the act of re-embodiment as a virtual (interactive) body in cyberspace. The question of presence will be explored as the User-Viewer interacts in a time and space that is separate from their physiological environment.
In his book ‘Digital Sensations: Space, Identity, and Embodiment in Virtual Reality’, Ken Hillis observes the “impulses behind the Western transcendental wish to achieve an ever more perfect copy of the real…” and also “how the virtual technologies reflect a Western desire to escape the body”. My aim within this project is for the User-Viewer to experience a cyber-journey, exploring the human body in digital form and in doing so, delving into the soul and psyche of the ‘self’ in an attempt to challenge the perception of the real world and what it means to ‘live’ as a virtual being in cyberspace.
Objectives
Software skills:
I am intending to build a multimedia interactive site – a virtual instillation as my starting point, and will utilize a broad range of media to create this effect. I want to take / encourage User-Viewers to embark on an interactive journey within the site. I would like to create an immersive experience, where they themselves can explore the artificial or cyber-world around them, choosing their own route, and finding their own way around the site. Although limited by the pages and content provided, they will still feel the freedom to travel on this journey at their own pace, deciding their own route.
Regarding interactivity, I hope to create digital art that responds to the User-Viewer’s actions by tracking the motion of different parts of the body / face using motion-tracking software, highlighting the behaviour generated by the art piece through time. Thus the User-Viewer actually helps to modify the work of art, as Manovich explains: ‘… in this way the user becomes the co-author of the work’.
As 3d model figures / forms are an important part of this project – not specifically as avatars, but as part of the interactivity of the site, I will therefore need to study Poser (Curious Labs) for modelling requirements. Other software I will also need to study in more depth is Flash (for animation effects). I will also be utilizing video editing software, motion tracking software, along with the more familiar (to me): Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.
I will need to research how I am going to present the 3d models onto a web based platform – the process of which I am uncertain of at the present time.
Motion-tracking software has been researched and to date, I have located applications which only require the user-viewer to have a webcam installed in order for them to interact with the site.
Although the initial intention is for this project to be web-based, as the project evolves it may become necessary to present the site as part of a larger installation.
For the User-Viewer (U-V):
I want to invite the U-V on a cyber journey through a site presenting a dream-like state (or dreamscape), where they will be ‘guided’ by characters, can choose a ‘character’ to represent themselves, and have options, and choices along the way. I am hoping to create a feeling of adventure and discovery, in an attempt to create a sense of exploring the subconscious and delving into the (cyber) soul.
Rationale
I am extremely interested in the merging of the physical and digital worlds. I feel the role of the digital body is culturally significant and is an important aspect in the Cyber World experience, highlighting issues around body image and anonymity, apparently safe in the absence of superficial social judgements.
I would like to explore the relationships people have with the digital human form in the cyber-world, and how connected they feel, how ‘real’ the experience is. How important is their virtual image, to them and to others they interact with and what conflicts arise? Virtual worlds are not mere mirror images of our physical world; human abilities can be vastly different (the ability to fly in Second Life for example), Cyberspace has the potential to be egalitarian, but are the same prejudices in our current society prevalent (race, sex, ability, etc) when one is able to choose one’s image? And what does this mean to the physical body we readily discard?
This also raises the question of duality: whilst interacting as a virtual body in cyberspace, is a person embodied in both worlds simultaneously? And what is the significance of this fragmentation of embodiment to perception and subjectivity?
In this current society of image obsession and body – ‘augmentation’ in order to meet the ideal body, could living in the cyber-world lessen this obsessive quest, as body image is actually seen as it is: transparent, fleeting, superficial …
I will be questioning what it means to have ‘virtual body’ in online communities such as Second Life, and discussing issues of virtual identity and embodiment, in order to:
- Try to understand the culture of cyber worlds and the issues around such an immersive experience; i.e.: choosing a new body/image/avatar to represent oneself, and
- To explore the technical aspects as I would like to create a virtual environment for this project, and although I do not wish to use Second Life as the platform for my project, I think it is necessary / vital to explore this are for both technical and theoretical research.
I will also be researching issues around:
- Duality
- Identity and body image
- Digital embodiment and disembodiment
- Autonomy and free will
- Fantasy / fears
- Space and time
- Presence and the soul / psyche of the digital / virtual body
- Virtual worlds
In her book ‘Materializing New Media’, Anna Munster describes digital embodiment as “a differently produced mode of living or experiencing the body”
As humans manifest themselves into Cyberspace, it could be argued that interaction in cyber worlds could be not just another dimension (albeit digital), but that one is projecting the soul or psyche into this world (I refer at this point to the choosing of a new body in Second Life, and the disembodiment or the abandonment of the physical body). Physical reality is temporarily suspended as the participant ‘transcends’ the physical world for the virtual reality. This ‘reality’ is reminiscent of the dream-like state – almost akin to lucid dreaming, where the dreamer becomes aware of his presence in a dream, and attempts to control it to an extent). It could be argued that this abandonment of the physical body could allude to the release of the ‘spirit’. Disembodiment in the digital context tends to refer to the state of being ‘out of body’ and existing in a virtual environment.
As the viewer / user immerses his / herself Into the world of the digital, and the ‘real’ or the physical world and the cyber world starts to blend, I will be challenging the idea of the ‘user’ – or ‘viewer’, the controller or the controlled, the leader, the led …or the collaborator.
The cyber world has crept into our daily lives – in countless games, health & fitness (Wii-Fit), romance, etc. Children are growing up learning how to take care of virtual pets or how to baby sit by playing with / interacting with their Nintendo DS ‘game’ in a virtual environment. Teens can try out their dream career before leaving school. Adults play out fantasy roles in Second Life.
Now we are the characters, we have become the avatars, no longer the puppeteer pulling the strings, we as a society, have allowed this world to become part of our physical world, and in turn we have become part of that world, experiencing an alternate ‘reality’ complete with real emotions, and real fears. The cyber world is now an acceptable part of the real world.
We are currently moving into an age where virtual experience is almost as valid as physical experience. Our relationship with the digital and the computer is now personal.
Outcomes
By creating this project, I would like to allow U-Vs the opportunity to explore their own sense of ‘self’ and to discover whether these worlds of the digital co-exist or whether they blend into one multi-dimensional world. I am keen to see how the U-V indeed interacts with the site and am hoping that the choices they take on their journey, and the trail they leave will result in a better understanding of some of the issues mentioned previously. I am hoping in some form to bring about a sense of the digital soul / psyche either in an end product or within the journey itself.
Space:
Although I had begun to envision the site displayed on a large computer ‘touch screen’, and had even considered using Wii as a platform (although this met with the issue of finding a programmer which could prove too challenging and distracting), both of which would allow for interactivity, I have decided that initially the project will be displayed and run on the Internet as a website, therefore not limited to physical time and space, sitting happily within the post-modern criteria of accessibility for all, rather than purely housed in a physical gallery. Of course, this could raise issues such as usability (and ironically, accessibility) – depending on the specifications of the U-V’s computer, it may not run to its capacity – or may not even run at all on a slower computer, so this platform may be subject to change as the project evolves. After researching motion tracking software, I am also open to the possibility of utilizing a physical space for a collection of imagery and interactive installations, to sit alongside the website, but would still intend to make the website as close to the whole physical (virtual) experience as possible.
Media
As this is to be an interactive website installation, I am investigating further software possibilities as to which methods will work best. The site will include multimedia (digital imagery, voice, sound, text, film, animation, written literature, prose, fine art – sketches) in an attempt at informing, challenging and directing the U-V. Resources will include Adobe CS3, Poser, video editing software, motion tracking software, digital camera, camcorder, scanner, audio software, alongside the traditional sketch materials: pens, pencils and paints.
Methodologies
The work will be interactive – where the U-V will participate in the experience, rather than purely observing. In this respect, the work could be described as “Relational Art” (Bourriaud, N). By doing this, I aim to create a more holistic, immersive and embodied ‘human’ experience.
I intend to utilize a broad range of multimedia to produce this project, and so will need to study 3d character and modelling software such as Poser. To assist in the digital drawing or creating of the digital human body, I will combine traditional drawing and photography in collaboration with digital software, manipulating digital photographs to create new digitally altered / enhanced images.
As this is intended to be an interactive multimedia site, containing a montage of imagery, sound and text, I aim for this to be more of an interactive installation rather than a showcase for imagery, where the whole piece will be the artwork in itself. As content and form are all integrated, “the choice of a particular interface is motivated by a work’s content to such a degree that it can no longer be thought of as a separate level. Content and interface merge into one entity, and no longer can be taken apart.”
My aim is for the U-V to go on this journey, exploring the human body in digital forms and delving into the digital soul / psyche. I intend to incorporate a sense of visiting the soul, exploring the subconscious, leaving the physical body behind.
I also plan to create digital forms/bodies to be part of this site, but also want to in turn, reflect on this creative process, referring to Aristotle’s ‘four causes’ as a guideline:
- the make -up of the body
- how it was made
- the shape and nature of the body
- the aim and purpose of the body
All stages of the creative process and theoretical study will be recorded via the online blog, where reflexivity is considered a vital part of the creative process. It is expected the project may change as it begins to take shape, and again, this is where it is vital to be able to reflect on the creative journey.
Risk assessment
Virus attacks, loss of data/work, wrist Injury from repetitive typing/drawing, possibility of project growing too large and therefore growing away from the intent / losing its original purpose, eye strain.
Physical installation: Possible risks include trailing or loose cables, unstable display, electrical fire hazards.
I would also need to take into account the ergonomic aspect for the U-V when accessing / viewing the installations or website.
Timetable
I intend to devote approximately 8 – 15 hours per week on actual design and creation of artwork, 4 hours per week learning technical aspects/software, 2 hours on reflective practice (utilizing my weblog: http://annaleiza.wordpress.com ), and a further 2 hours per week researching software and theory. Additional time will be allocated as / when the project requires it, but this schedule is purely to enable me to begin the creative process with a clear understanding of how much time I need to devote to each area. This timetable is of course, intended to be flexible, as it is expected that time allocation will change as the project evolves and I become more familiar with applications.
November 2008 – Began studying Poser 3D software
December 2008: – Further theoretical research to prepare for finalization of proposal and also to gather thoughts / inspire imagery for practical project.
December 2008 – April 2010: – Continuous reflection and re-evaluation of project.
December 2008: – Added to Bibliography through theoretical research
December 2008: – Research of alternative software – i.e. motion tracking.
January 2009: – Completion of final draft of proposal – with ideas firmly in place.
January 2009: – First drawings / sketches for project to be formed
January 2009: – Begin studying Flash in more depth – animation
February 2009:- Study motion tracking software
March 2009: – 3D characters evolved and reflective process begun
Spring 2009: – Website map to be fully developed, installation ideas in place, suitable software chosen.
Summer 2009: – Early Draft of Site developed; sketches, animations, film ready to put in place.
Winter 2009: – Further theoretical research, further reflection on project – does it work / hold up to theoretical proposal?
Spring 2010: – Finalization / realization of completed project.
Bibliography:
Auslander, P. (1999), Liveness, Routledge
Benjamin, W. (1999), Illuminations: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Pimlico
Bolter, J. / Gromala, D, (2000), Remediation, Leonardo, MIT Press
Bolter, J. / Grusin, R, (2003), Windows and Mirrors, MIT Press
Bourriaud, N, (2002), Relational Aesthetics. Paris: la presses du réel
Bukatman, S, (1996), Terminal Identity, Durham and London: Duke University Press
Dix, A., et al. (2003), Human Computer Interaction, 3rd edition, Prentice Hall
Georges, T. (2003), Digital Soul, Basic Books
Haraway, D. (1991 ), Simians, Cyborgs and Women, 2nd ed., Free Association Books
Hayles, N. (1999), How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature and Informatics, Chicago University Press
Hillis, K, (1999), Digital Sensations: Space, Identity and Embodiment in Virtual Reality, University of Minnesota Press
Levison, P. (2001), Digital McLuhan, 1st edition, Routledge
Manovich, L. (2001), The Language of New Media, MIT Press
Bukatman, S, (1996), ‘Terminal Identity’, Durham and London: Duke University Press, P208
Anna Munster, (2006) ‘Materializing New Media: Embodiment in Relational Aesthetics’, P64, Dartmouth College
Bourriaud, N, (2002), Relational Aesthetics. Paris: la presses du réel
