Fictioning in the thirdspace: contemporary artworks that call forth a new digital way of being

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Fic�oning in the thirdspace: contemporary artworks that call forth a new digital way of being Aimie Harding

Author: Publication Year/Date: May 2024

Document Version: Fine Art Hons dissertation

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.20933/100001303

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Fic�oning in the thirdspace: contemporary artworks that call forth a new digital way of being

Abstract

Taking ini�al inspira�on from Luciano Floridi’s idea of re-ontologisa�on through digital technologies, this essay approaches a new digital way of being through the prac�ce of fic�oning in contemporary art. As a prac�ce that concerns the imagining of future worlds and ulterior reali�es, it provides the framework to analyse four artworks that u�lise digital technologies in different ways to call forth this new digital way of being The first artwork, Emissaries, by Ian Cheng is used to form an understanding of the self as a machine outside of capitalist ideology. When the self is considered in collabora�on with the machine, it allows us to derive new meanings through rela�ng to the unfolding narra�ves of the characters in Emissaries’ simulated world. The second artwork, The Maw Of by Rachel Rossin represents the characteris�cs of the thirdspace- a term deno�ng experience as equally comprised of real and virtual space that acknowledges the change in what cons�tutes experience created by the mass implementa�on of digital technologies. The third and fourth artworks The Pregnancy Sense and Seismic Sense by Moon Ribas explore the no�on of becoming technology to reinforce the extent of technology’s influence in the world through technological implants that are introduced within the body to create new sensory experiences. In doing so, Ribas performa�vely communicates her experience as a form of immaterial wri�ng that aids in avoiding restric�ve language which limits what we can imagine the future to be These artworks are used to work towards a new digital way of being that understands technology’s influence in how we access and interpret daily life in our current world and acknowledges the influence they will con�nue to have on our experience in the future.

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INTRODUCTION

In a �me where the mass implementa�on of digital technology is altering what cons�tutes the world around us, there feels a need to consider how this changes the ways in which we fundamentally experience the world on a daily basis. This is a crucial idea in the work of Luciano Floridi who, through his wri�ng, seeks to re-ontologise the self and the world in regards to these technologies. He defines this process as “a very radical form of re-engineering, one that not only designs, constructs or structures a system anew, but that fundamentally transforms its intrinsic nature” (2007:4) This reontology is necessary for Floridi due to rapidly evolving digital technologies that “are crea�ng and shaping our intellectual and physical reali�es, changing our self-understanding, modifying how we relate to each other and ourselves, and upgrading how we interpret the world” (2014: vi). As this change is happening regardless of whether or not we are aware of it, Floridi discusses the key components of the implementa�on of digital technologies to form a more accurate understanding as to how we, as humans, are connected to this digital technology and proposes how it might inform our understanding of ourselves going forward into the future. In the preface to his book The Fourth Revolution: How the Infosphere is Reshaping Human Reality, Floridi considers the ques�on: “What could we do in order to iden�fy, coordinate, and foster the best technological transforma�ons?” (Ibid: vii). I want to use this ques�on as the star�ng point to interpret a new digital way of being informed by the prac�ce of fic�oning within contemporary art. It will allow me to acknowledge the scale of the role technology plays in our current lives in order to move towards a new, more accurate ontology or way of being. I find contemporary art an effec�ve way of illustra�ng elements of this new way of being as it can contain and share informa�on with its viewers in uniquely accessible ways. It offers experience at the forefront of its communica�on which allows the viewer to gain a situa�onal understanding of the nature of digital experience. Fic�oning is specifically useful for this as it is an approach to artmaking and the world as a whole that seeks out the crea�on of new narra�ves to view present and future worlds through The various different forms and media that fic�oning can entail is explored in

depth by David Burrows and Simon O’Sullivan in Fictioning: The Three Myth-Functions of Contemporary Art and Philosophy. They define the term as “refer[ring] to the wri�ng, imagining, performing or other material instan�a�on of worlds or social bodies that mark out trajectories different to those engendered by the dominant organisa�ons of life currently in existence” (2019: 1). I want to adopt this defini�on of fic�oning as a means of determining the artworks I discuss, as well as establishing the means through which I analyse how the ulterior understanding they offer builds the required awareness.

A second term I wish to draw from Burrows and O’Sullivan to inform my argument is mythopoesis: the act of myth-crea�on through providing new ulterior narra�ves. Whilst s�ll ac�vely involved with the crea�on of future worlds, mythopoesis is concerned with the audience that the work is made for. It is “a name for a summoning – or calling forth – of a people who are appropriate and adequate to those new and different worlds presented in art, films, performances, wri�ng and other prac�ces (a futureorienta�on which, paradoxically, in certain instances, might also involve a turn to the past)” (Ibid: 15).

Mythopoesis invites a new imagining of the future by revitalising elements of the past into future facing contexts and offering different ways of living in our current reali�es. To fic�on and create using mythopoesis the ar�st or artwork reaches out into these imagined ulterior futures pulling their audience along with them into this newfound understanding. Beyond understanding its effects on its audience, I wish to use mythopoesis to provide a method to aid in analysing how these artworks approach this new digital way of being. From this defini�on, I will discuss four contemporary artworks made within the last ten years as they approach the future in ways that clearly display or rethink our rela�onship to digital technologies. Where relevant in my analysis of how each artwork approaches this, I will take a turn to the past as prescribed by mythopoesis to discuss relevant philosophical texts that help produce this understanding. This new digital way of being will be one that is reconciled to embrace the human as cons�tuted by technology and will remain permeable to further change so that it can con�nue to adapt as even more imagined and real futures are brought into our present.

As the ini�al step into exploring this new way of being, the first chapter will seek to highlight a collabora�ve rela�onship between humans and digital technology In order to arrive at this, I will first need to locate the dominant trajectory of the self as rela�ng to the machine This trajectory is informed by capitalist ideology which perpetuates a dehumanisa�on of the self through associa�on with the machine as a means of producing capital. It contains the possibili�es of the future within strict boundaries, preven�ng the opportunity to imagine otherwise. From here, I will seek to recontextualise the idea of the self as a machine through a reading of Sherry Turkle’s The Second Self, in which Turkle interprets the computer as a personified tool that can be used to work through our own problems (2005). To apply this to contemporary art I will create a link through discussing Dorothea von Hantelmann’s The Experiential Turn which details the shi� towards the cura�on of experience as an integral component in art-making in recent history (2014). This new understanding of the self as a machine enriches the possibili�es of a new way of being outside of capitalism and provides the basis to introduce the first artwork, Emissaries, by Ian Cheng. Emissaries is a trilogy of simula�ons following the unfolding narra�ves of ar�ficial intelligence characters within its programme (2015) Emissaries marries a human understanding of the world through digital technologies by building upon the prac�ce of fic�oning through what Cheng describes in his own work as worlding- the process of crea�ng a world that evolves past the ar�st ’s ini�al input to become a self-sustaining system that is capable of making its own decisions and interac�ng with its world. Through this we will see that Emissaries challenges the dominant trajectory of rela�ng the self to the machine as, in order for the viewer to access and relate to the unfolding narra�ves contained within Emissaries, they must take part in this collabora�ve rela�onship

A�er having established this collabora�ve rela�onship that we use to access Cheng’s work, I will introduce the next artwork by Rachel Rossin en�tled The Maw Of, an installa�on that explores the human body across physical and virtual environments through various digital medias such as virtual reality, augmented reality, video work and electronic components (2022). Here, I will introduce Federica Buongiorno’s wri�ng on the thirdspace as described in Towards a Philosophical

Understanding of Digital Environments (2021). She describes the thirdspace as cons�tuted by the coming together of real and virtual spaces into one en�rely new space. Similar to Floridi, she also writes towards crea�ng a stronger acknowledgment of the evermore digital world we are situated within To reflect this sen�ment, an awareness of the nature of the thirdspace will be reinforced in The Maw Of through Rossin’s use of virtual reality in conjunc�on with other digital media. As part of this I will highlight the importance of the viewer’s physical body moving throughout the components of the installa�on as providing a grounding for digital experiences to be had (Floridi, 2014). The final point in this chapter will touch on the global reach of digital bodies Rossin conceptualises through the augmented reality component. This will reinforce the influence of digital technologies as it brings Rossin’s work into context with the viewer ’s phone to show how connected the world has become.

To fully realise this new way of being, the final chapter will explore how digital technologies have become so prevalent in current and future worlds that they no longer only cons�tute our environment but have become a func�oning part of the human body itself. Proposed by the Cyborg Founda�on as a process of becoming technology, I will discuss The Pregnancy Sense and Seismic Sense by co-founder Moon Ribas whose prac�ce involves the crea�on of technological implants for the human body to offer new sensory experiences of the world (2021; 2016). To understand how Ribas’ prac�ce can call forth this new digital way of being, it will only be fi�ng to discuss Donna Haraway’s A Cyborg Manifesto to see what she offers on the cons�tu�on of the cyborg and of the cyborg ’s poli�cal func�on of wri�ng (1991) I will expand on Haraway’s no�on of imperfect wri�ng with what wri�ng collec�ve Wu Ming

offer on the risk of restric�ve language in order to work between these two statements to arrive at an understanding of Ribas’ prac�ce as a form of immaterial wri�ng which communicates her experience through performance (2003).

Throughout we will see that these instances of fic�oning imagine ulterior reali�es that provide us with the opportunity to create a clearer understanding of digital technology’s influence in the current world. Through an analysis of these four contemporary artworks supported by turning to the past to discuss

relevant texts I will indicate how they call forth a new digital way of being that is aware of the immense scale of digital technologies and the direct influence they have on the ways in which we as individuals and as a world operate on a daily basis.

CHAPTER 1 –

ENVISIONING NARRATIVES THROUGH RELATING THE SELF TO THE MACHINE

In order to be able to approach this new digital way of being, an ini�al rela�onship between the dis�nctly human self and digital technologies must be drawn out so that it can be further built upon in the discussion that follows. In making our way towards this rela�onship, it is important to first consider a previous trajectory of being with technology as laid out by capitalist ideology. This is captured within the phrase the ‘self as a machine’ to represent a dehumanising and future-limi�ng perspec�ve. To introduce a new interpreta�on of the self as a machine, we will take a turn to the past through The Second Self by Sherry Turkle to highlight how we relate ourselves to computerised technology. Through Turkle’s wri�ng I will move towards a reclama�on of the self as a machine outside of capitalist ideology as the current engendered idea. This will recontextualize the self as a machine as a collabora�on between humans and digital technology to be genera�ve of this new way of being I will provide an instance of this rela�onship playing out within Ian Cheng’s Emissaries, a narra�ve-based world simula�on that requires this collabora�on as part of the making or ‘worlding ’ process. It also brings these technologies into rela�on with ourselves, opening up a situa�onal understanding through which the viewer can relate to and interpret the narra�ves of the characters within the simulated environment.

WHAT IS BEING DISLODGED BY THE CALLING FORTH OF A NEW WAY OF BEING?

Prior to establishing this collabora�ve rela�onship between human and machine in Emissaries, it is important to locate what a present day dominant trajectory looks like regarding future technologies so that this can be challenged and recontextualised in light of the unfolding narra�ves found in Emissaries To do this we need to look at an understanding of the self as a machine as prescribed by

capitalist ideology. An understanding of the self as a cog in the machine as seen in Marxist theory, denotes the individual as component of a bigger opera�on that seeks to accomplish the produc�on of profit. The individuals as part of this machine are o�en disconnected from the fruits of their labour seeing litle to no personal return (Miller, 1965: 300). This leads to an understanding of the self as a machine as limi�ng the human experience, stripping us of some of our human characteris�cs by reducing the individual and socie�es as a whole to the tasks of labouring to produce capital goods (Ibid: 303). It engenders limited possibili�es of the future, as it influences what we can imagine future technologies to be with the margin of success being tools useful for produc�on and capital gain. If we take this as the dominant trajectory of how we see ourselves as technology, we become stuck within the container of capitalism and incapable of embodying future worlds through human-technology rela�ons presented in different acts of fic�oning.

As there is an incompa�bility between the goals of capitalism and fic�oning, I want to propose a different way of understanding the self as a machine that emphasises our humanness in rela�on to technology. To understand ourselves in terms of the machine, I want to infer the phrase ‘the self as a machine’ in a way that works to humanise us as collabora�ve beings within digital environments. To reimagine this phrase, I want to take a turn to the past through a reading of The Second Self by Sherry Turkle. In this book our cogni�ve rela�onship with computer systems and informa�on processing so�ware is explored in depth in order to highlight how the func�oning of our brains is not dissimilar to that of a machine and how our thinking processes having shi�ed to accommodate the new processing capaci�es that computers offer beyond our human capabili�es. She explores the computer as a second self through the ways in which we assign it human characteris�cs and quali�es as if it is a thinking, independent and sen�ent being (Turkle, 2005: 260). “They integrate their computer experience into their developing iden��es in ways that have nothing to do with becoming computer experts. They use programming as a canvas for personal expression and then as a context for working through personal concerns. They use the computer as a construc�ve as well as a projec�ve medium” (Ibid: 132) Here Turkle is using ‘they ’ to refer to how adolescents perceive computer technology, as at

this age they are in a forma�ve stage in developing their sense of self and how their self relates to the world unveiling itself around them. The ways in which we relate to the world necessarily brings the objects in our environment into context with ourselves, making it easier to understand the computer with personified characteris�cs as a whole, rather than interpre�ng each of its individually func�oning components.

To help illustrate this point further and relate to it through an instance of contemporary art, I wish to introduce the artwork Emissaries by Ian Cheng. We can take Turkle’s use of ‘they ’ to refer to the ar�st and viewers of digital artworks as the projec�ve medium through which a world is created. With this world comes this necessary collabora�ve human-technology rela�onship. Emissaries is a narra�ve trilogy of programmed simula�ons using ar�ficial intelligence that each focus on a central character called the Emissary. The Emissary “is caught between unravelling old reali�es and emerging weird ones” (Cheng, 2018: 174). The programme is a living system that grows and is ever changing throughout its dura�on as the Emissary moves through and interacts with the surrounding world (Ibid: 23). Each simula�on’s own narra�ve begins with the predetermined staging of an event that causes the Emissary to “u�lise [its] new cogni�ve ability”, to confront challenges presented by the environment and the other AI characters which alters the story arc of the Emissary as it atempts to fulfil its newfound narra�ve goals (Ibid: 51). To describe this process in more detail I will focus on the first simula�on in the trilogy, Emissary in the Squat of Gods, which is set in an ancient village beside an ac�ve volcano (Figures 1.1 & 1.2) The villagers believe that their thoughts and ac�ons come to them via the voices of their ancestors in their minds, which encourages them to stay in the village despite the immediate danger presented by the erup�ng volcano. The Shaman is the village’s “devoted leader… who is gi�ed at channelling the voices of the Fathers in �mes of stress” represen�ng these immaterial voices guiding all of the villagers (Ibid: 81). The Young Ancient or Emissary is hit by debris and ash from the volcano which makes the voices of her ancestors go silent in her head, allowing her the newfound ability to fulfil ac�ons for herself- seeking to convince the other villagers to flee to safety with varying degrees of success each �me the simula�on plays out (Ibid: 85)(Figure 1.3)

To connect Turkle’s idea of rela�ng to computers through experience with Emissaries, I want to pull from Dorothea von Hantelmann’s The Experiential Turn (2014). In her essay she discusses the shi� in recent contemporary art towards the conscious cura�on of the experience an artwork creates. Through this shi�, the ar�st has a stronger focus towards the effects produced during the experience as “the meaning of these works manifests itself in an experience” (Ibid). These works make the dura�on of the viewer’s experience integral to its func�oning as an artwork where the finished work is a result of collabora�on between ar�st, artwork and viewer, “lead[ing] to a concept of situated knowledge, an understanding of meaning as something that is always and inseparably linked to a situated and embodied subject” (Ibid). The crea�on of situated knowledge is clear in Emissaries as the viewer ’s rela�ng to and empathising with the unfolding narra�ves of the Emissary is necessitated by the projec�on of human characteris�cs onto the programme’s choices.

In order to explore how Emissaries requires this collabora�ve rela�onship to be experienced fully, I find it valuable to interpret what Cheng himself offers on his own prac�ce as a process of fic�oning, or as he refers to it ‘worlding’: “worlding is the act of devising a world: by choosing its dysfunc�onal present, maintaining its habitable past, aiming at its transforma�ve future, and ul�mately, le�ng it outlive your authorial control” (Cheng, 2019) What Cheng offers about worlding enriches the prac�ce of fic�oning as an open-ended proposi�on into the future. Cheng has necessarily designed Emissaries as a genera�ve system to develop beyond his input and evolve on its own as a self-contained living ecosystem that emulates the unpredictability of life in our natural world. The construc�on is a collabora�on between Cheng and digital programming so�ware to fic�on this new digital ecosystem of a world, and this ini�al collabora�on provides the basis for further collabora�on with the viewer who derives narra�ves from the Emissary through associa�on with the human and technological components. The viewer draws out parallels between our world and Cheng’s that we can relate to, empathise with, and take back into our lives beyond the simulated world of the Emissary. The collabora�ve requirement of this artwork is the reason why Cheng can create effec�ve narra�ves and begin to destabilise the boundary between what is human and what is digital technology. In an

interview with Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Cheng ponders where to place the limits of a human being, offering that: “technology is maybe the one underlying force that really forces us as human beings to consider what the container of human being really is and how much it can stretch or where it will break” (Louisiana Channel, 2017) What is Emissaries breaking? The simula�on is the container of the Emissary’s experiences to con�nuously play out within but, as the viewer interprets and pulls these narra�ves into our world it pulls with it a reality necessitated by this collabora�on. It realises digital technology as crucially influen�al in our understanding of current and future worlds, breaking the container previously upheld by capitalist ideology in determining our rela�onship to the machine.

Acts of fic�oning such as Emissaries become an ini�al access point for this new digital way of being as it displays the nature of our collabora�ve rela�onship with digital technology in aiding our interpreta�on of the world around us. Through a reading of The Second Self we have seen that we can move beyond a restric�ve, dehumanising account of the self as a machine in capitalism to understand the self in conjunc�on with digital technology as a projec�ve medium through which we can relate to current and future worlds cons�tuted by this technology. The unfolding narra�ves in Emissaries are accessed by the viewer through u�lising this collabora�on to interpret decisions made by the Emissary in the ar�ficial intelligence system to relate to them emo�onally. By le�ng Emissaries’ programme develop a life of its own without the creator dicta�ng its path, it allows the technology to influence the cons�tu�on of its own world. This is an understanding that can be brought into our world to acknowledge the increasing prevalence of digital technologies in upholding our real world infrastructures.

CHAPTER 2

BUILDING AN AWARENESS OF THE THIRDSPACE

Having established an understanding of the collabora�ve rela�onship between humans and digital technology, I want to situate this rela�onship within the thirdspace in order to further map out this digital way of being. The thirdspace is an environment where the physical and virtual come together to form an en�rely new space (Buongiorno, 2021: 104). In this chapter, I want to explore this se�ng of the thirdspace through an interpreta�on of Rachel Rossin’s The Maw Of, an installa�on which seeks to explore the human body through digital media. This installa�on comprises of a virtual reality experience in conjunc�on with other video and electronic components to create an awareness of the nature of the thirdspace In discussing this, I will turn to what Luciano Floridi offers on the physical body providing a necessary pla�orm to support digital experience, an idea mirrored in the physicality required to explore Rossin’s installa�on Most importantly, in this chapter I will discuss how The Maw Of brings forth an awareness of our experiences with and through digital technologies, and thus how this experience prepares us for the future through an acknowledgment of the thirdspace’s con�nued involvement in our daily lives to come.

To situate ourselves within the thirdspace I want to introduce The Maw Of, a mul�-media installa�on artwork by Rachel Rossin (2022). The work spans across various digital technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, a video installa�on on circular LED panels, projected video, as well as electronic components The Maw Of depicts a female body with its nervous system mapped out both digitally on screens and physically through electrical components arranged in the form of the nervous system displayed in a glass case (Figures 2.1, 2.2, 2.4 & 2.5). Rossin explores the physical body as cons�tuted by these digital electronic systems through represen�ng the internal structure of the body that is responsible for our physical sensa�ons in the world. She makes the invisible visible both in regard to the physical body and digital technology through the portal like circular LED panels depic�ng

images of the internal nervous system of the body (Figure 2.3) The grid like patern of the LEDs is reminiscent of a microscopic view of digital screens which are made up of individual miniscule LEDs that, when viewed together, make up the legible image we see on the screen (Figures 3.1 and 3.2) These panels retain a clear image whilst also displaying a screen’s ‘inner workings’ of individual LEDs by scaling up the microscopic screen on these panels to visualise what the human eye cannot see on its own (Exploratorium, 2023). This creates a portal that welcomes the viewer into a reinforced awareness of the scale of digital technology throughout current reality. Rossin’s space uncovers and emphasises the components that make up our experiences within what Federica Buongiorno calls the thirdspace (2021).

THE THIRD SPACE AS THE SPACE ENCOMPASSING ALL EXPERIENCE

Here I want to draw from a text by Federica Buongiorno, Towards a Philosophical Understanding of Digital Environments, to define the quali�es of the thirdspace to situate The Maw Of within. Buongiorno describes the thirdspace as having universal relevance throughout current experience within digitally technological socie�es due to the immense scale of its implementa�on in our daily lives which renders it almost invisible (Ibid: 99). “[The] thirdspace does not coincide with the intersec�on of real space and virtual space (defined as “border space”): It rather represents an emergent dimension, a truly new and “third” space which effects the interac�on between the virtual and the real” (Ibid: 104). The first space concerns virtual space referring to all digital based phenomena and the second space concerns real space encompassing experiences within the physical world that does not involve digital medias. This thirdspace is where the two occur at the same �me and are enmeshed together into the same experiences. However, it is not simply just a case of these two spaces coming together. When put together, they create an en�rely new space for experience that is simultaneously cons�tuted by both real and virtual phenomena. This thirdspace is an en�rely new dimension for experience as both the real and virtual are “conceived as equally real by the subject” (Ibid: 104) They

hold an equal influence in informing our percep�on of current and future technological worlds as opposed to before this mass implementa�on where experience was primarily situated within the real space with virtual space being entered less frequently.

For the purposes of discussing the thirdspace as represented and made visible by The Maw Of, there is a need to emphasise Rossin’s use of virtual reality as a component that aids in progressing towards this understanding but is not capable of doing so by itself. However, as one of the most mainstream technologies for forming digital environments, virtual reality is a fairly accessible tool for fic�oning that allows the nature of our rela�onship to technology to be put on display experien�ally in The Maw Of in a more physically encompassing way than Emissaries

As an imagina�ve space for the tes�ng of new modes of experience, virtual reality is some�mes misunderstood as crea�ng a transcendent space for out of body experiences in which the body is seemingly le� behind for the mind to gain access to exclusive experience. In actuality, it only simulates a perceived effect of transcendence due to its limited provision of audio-visual s�mulus that is not immediately associated with physical sensa�ons of the body unlike touch. All digital reali�es cannot func�on without a physical reality to ground itself within. To explain this further, it feels relevant to return to Luciano Floridi’s wri�ng to see what he offers on the crea�on of a self outside of the body:

“There is no development of the self without the body, but once the later has given rise to a consciousness, the life of the self may be en�rely internal and independent of the specific body and faculty that made it possible…all this does not mean that the self requires no physical pla�orm. Some pla�orm is needed to sustain the constructed self” (2014: 70) We may envision ourselves as digital bodies within these digital environments, but this is en�rely upheld on the basis that there is first a physical body to receive the s�muli required. Within virtual reality this ‘transcendent’ effect is limited to the dura�on of experience as we must physically place ourselves into this projected digital body and remove ourselves from it via headset. Further to this, even the dura�on of the experience itself hinges

on our physical grounding in the world through the need to move our physical body to find different viewpoints within the virtual environment.

This point also holds prevalence towards other digital experiences where there may be a less defined going into and out of the experience. As the physical body is a necessary pla�orm for digital experiences, the loca�on of The Maw Of in the Tieranatomisches Theater in Berlin provides an interes�ng se�ng for experience. The LED panels and VR headsets are spread across the varying levels of theatre stands, crea�ng a more conscious movement throughout the space as the viewer climbs the stairs and walks around the artwork (Figures 2.1 & 2.2). The characteris�cs of the space make for a more physical journey throughout the installa�on than what would typically be expected for a virtual reality artwork 1. This reminds the viewer of their own body being in this space as they posi�on themself into their own viewpoints in both the real world environment and in the virtual reality experience. This is not a side effect of Rossin’s work but integral to its func�on of exploring real and digital bodies, as seen in her prac�ce statement: “these virtual and physical components cannot be viewed at the same �me, but the experience of switching in and out of, or between, such different modes of percep�on is at the heart of Rossin’s work” (2023). The experience of virtual reality is not seamless with the real world and Rossin’s prac�se re-highlights the two components that create the thirdspace. Despite crea�ng accessibility to digital experiences, virtual reality is only effec�ve when it is not the only ar�orm (Wilk: 2019). This is seen through Rossin’s use of virtual reality that enriches the installa�on’s dynamic across the physical and digital to showcase these ‘different modes of percep�on’ that come together to curate an awareness of the thirdspace within the viewer.

Perhaps one instance in this work where digital integra�on could be perceived as further reaching into physical space is the augmented reality component. Accessible through an online website, part of the exhibi�on exists online reaching out beyond the physical theatre space towards a poten�ally global

1 For reference see Lossy, another work by Rachel Rossin as a comparison to the layout of The Maw Of (Figure 4). The image shows a virtual reality headset displayed on top of a plinth in the centre of the gallery space. The layout of the space in Lossy does not seem to hold a dis�nct or unique influence over the viewer moving throughout as the floor is one level and there are no obstacles other than the plinth itself.

audience. The ability to access this part of the work from anywhere in the world with a connec�on to the internet further indicates just how far reaching digital bodies can be within the thirdspace. By incorpora�ng the viewers phone into the artwork to view this component, it helps to further emphasise the extent of digital technologies by bringing the work into context with objects used in daily life. It “transports the story’s leading figure out of the browser window and into the hands of the audience” (Whitney Museum of American Art, 2022). This creates a stronger presence of the digital body in the real world despite being confined within a phone screen that can only place the body into a live video of the physical environment. This plays an important role in cemen�ng the thirdspace’s relevance towards current and future reali�es as it shows how the infrastructure of the physical world is always connected to or available to connect to digital spaces.

Through this chapter I have explored the environment of the thirdspace as the se�ng to situate our collabora�ve rela�onship to digital technologies within. I have done this through explaining the thirdspace as an emergent (yet not always visible) space that came into frui�on as a result of the mass implementa�on of digital technologies in daily life. This space denotes the coming together of the real and the virtual where both are of equal importance in informing our digital way of being. I have made these quali�es of the thirdspace clear through an interpreta�on of Rachel Rossin’s The Maw Of, an installa�on that explores the human body by enmeshing various digital medias together visually and experien�ally within a physical space. The circular LED panels func�on as a literal visualisa�on of the invisible through their resemblance to microscopic images of digital screens. The virtual reality component func�ons as a medium for imagining digital experience whilst acknowledging the importance of the physical body as a necessary pla�orm that upholds these experiences. Rossin acknowledges this through the physical movement of the body that is required to move around the various digital works. The third component of the augmented reality experience func�ons to indicate

the global reach of digital technologies. In being accessed via the internet on a viewer’s phone, it brings Rossin’s work into context with objects used in daily life to show the ease of connec�ng to digital environments from almost any physical loca�on. All together, these components found in The Maw Of provide the viewer with a situated awareness of their body in current and future technological environments.

2.1- Main space of installa�on showing layout and video displayed on circular LED screens.

2.2- Second image of the main space of installa�on showing different s�ll from video displayed on circular LED screens.

Figure

Figure

Figure 2.3- Close up of circular LED panel showing grid like patern of display.

3.1

3.2

Images of phone screens under a microscope. Le�: Apple iPhone 5 Right: Samsung Galaxy Note 4 courtesy of Exploratorium (2023) Pixels, Pictures, and Phones: Take a (super) close look at your smartphone and you may be surprised by what you see. [Online Ar�cle] Available at: htps://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/pixels-pictures-phones Accessed: 05/12/2023

Figure

Figure

Figure 2.4- Glass case displaying electronic components laid out in the configura�on of human nervous system.

Figure 2.5- close up of electronic component ’s screen displaying video

Rachel Rossin The Maw Of (2022)

S�lls taken from video documenta�on of exhibi�on The Maw Of courtesy of Vernissage TV (2022)

Rachel Rossin: The Maw Of / KW on location, Tieranatomisches Theater, Berlin [Online Video]

Available at: htps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZUP7v5zhLQ Accessed: 04/12/2023

Figure 4

Rachel Rossin Lossy (2015)

Image of exhibi�on layout showing Oculus Ri� headset in centre of room on plinth and pain�ngs on the walls. Courtesy of Rachel Rossin (2015) Available at: htp://rossin.co/ Accessed: 07/12/2023

CHAPTER 3

BECOMING TECHNOLOGY

In this final chapter, I want to refer back to the ques�on proposed by Luciano Floridi in the introduc�on: “What could we do in order to iden�fy, coordinate, and foster the best technological transforma�ons? ” (2014, vi). At this point, I have iden�fied our collabora�ve rela�onship with digital technologies through recontextualising the self as a machine and introduced the thirdspace as the environment for all experiences to be coordinated within. The last step I want to take in discussing this new digital way of being is to explore a technological transforma�on of the body through Moon Ribas’ prac�ce of becoming technology as part of the Cyborg Founda�on. Her prac�ce centres around the crea�on of technological implants and atachments for the body that offer new sensory experiences of the world. Through discussing this no�on of becoming technology, I will once more highlight the prevalence of digital technologies in our current society in a way that emphasises how they now also cons�tute our bodies, not just our environment. In understanding how Ribas’ prac�ce is demonstra�ve of this, I will turn to Donna Haraway ’s A Cyborg Manifesto to see what she offers on the power of a cyborg iden�ty through the necessary act of wri�ng By pairing this with a statement made by wri�ng collec�ve Wu Ming concerning the issue of restric�ve language in rela�on to myth crea�on, I will pose Ribas’ prac�ce as a performa�ve wri�ng of experience. Through this, I will show that the no�on of becoming technology approaches future technologies in an open manner, crea�ng space for further transforma�ons of human experience and connec�on with the world.

THE CYBORG FOUNDATION

The Cyborg Founda�on, founded by ar�sts Moon Ribas and Neil Harbisson in 2010, is an organisa�on and art movement that encourages the innova�on of technological devices that can be worn on or

implanted into the body to generate new sensory experiences beyond human capabili�es 2 Encompassed by the phrase “becoming technology,” their prac�ce seeks to introduce technology into the body which “opens up the possibility of having addi�onal organs and senses beyond the ones confined to our species” (Cyborg Arts, 2023) They fic�on the body as a site for genera�ng these new experiences through an internal collabora�on with digital technologies. This is illustrated in Moon Ribas’ The Pregnancy Sense, which features a wearable piece of technology that allows the recording and transmi�ng of a “digital pregnancy ” for another person to experience (Giron & Ribas, 2021). The technology is comprised of a belt that is worn around the pregnant person’s waist containing an ultrasound sensor that records audio of the baby’s heartbeat and the movement of the amnio�c fluid (Figure 5) This transmission is accessible through a phone call that, in this case, the father can hear in real �me through bone conduc�ve headphones (Ibid). Whilst the piece only transmits an auditory experience of this pregnancy, it offers the opportunity to imagine a new connec�on to life outside of the self through emo�onal connec�ons that create a conscious being-alongside another life. It builds a collec�ve way of being with each other in the world through technology. The conceptual underpinning of this work is to share experience through digital technologies to highlight the “difference between the technology that allows you to know things and the technology that allows you to feel things” (Cyborg Founda�on, 2020). This crea�on of feeling is at the forefront of Ribas’ imagina�on when exploring the produc�on of new experience, where the individual’s lived experience of the world is expanding through conceptual innova�on. This challenges how we view the self as connected to the world. It unveils a new digital way of being by exposing the self to this future-oriented innova�on that calls forth a new understanding of what it means to connect with the world through technology.

2 The Cyborg Founda�on seeks to create sensory experiences that previously were not a part of the human condi�on. There is an important dis�nc�on between these cyborg implants and the vast amount of implants used within the medical field e.g. hearing aids.

An older work by Ribas’ that is useful in forming an image of the goals of her prac�ce is Seismic Sense (2016). The �tle of this work refers to the technology worn on Ribas’ feet that is connected to an online seismic sensor that tracks all earthquakes on the Earth and the Moon (Figure 6). These components vibrate when this sensor records an earthquake taking place, allowing Ribas to feel these movements of the natural world in real �me. Described as an “artwork that happens inside [the] ar�st” the work develops a personal connec�on to the world further pursuing the crea�on of feeling and situated knowledge (Cyborg Founda�on, 2023). In subsequent work Ribas “translates her seismic sense on stage” through the medium of dance in Waiting for Earthquakes. (Cyborg Arts, 2020; 2013). If the artwork occurs inside Ribas then these performances become a means of communica�ng and fic�oning her lived experience as an invita�on for the audience to imagine what this connec�on to the world might feel like. To recall Hantelmann’s The Experiential Turn to understand the nature of this communica�on of ideas in Ribas’ performance: “we communicate…with ourselves and others who enter into the same experience” (2014). Ribas draws her audience into the conversa�on surrounding these technological transforma�ons of the body through her performa�ve transmission of the experiences contained within her body. It calls forth a poten�al curiosity in the audience to discover similar feelings and par�cipate further in Ribas’ conversa�on by becoming technology themselves.

A NEW WAY OF BEING OUTSIDE OF DEFINITIVE LANGUAGE

It only feels fi�ng to turn to the past to discuss Donna Haraway’s A Cyborg Manifesto to learn what she offers on the power of cyborg iden��es towards crea�ng a new understanding of the self and of the world required to uphold this self. Writen at the �me as a radical feminist expansion and cri�que of Marxist labour theory, Haraway argues that we are all already cyborgs and can use our cyberne�c nature to push back against the patriarchal capitalist system and envision life outside of it. Haraway describes the cyborg as “a hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality as well as a creature of fic�on” (1991, 149) It is an inherently poli�cal iden�ty that emerges in retalia�on to

patriarchal capitalism as an “unfaithful” and “illegi�mate offspring” that allows the cyborg to move beyond the limita�ons enforced by capitalism to seek out new rela�onships within the world. (Ibid, 151). It does this by working against the capitalist implementa�on of microelectronics that “are everywhere and… are invisible” (Ibid, 153) As seen in the previous chapter, this new digital way of being acknowledges the scale of technology’s use within the infrastructure of current and future worlds. It is also further acknowledged in Ribas’ work through the encouragement of placing microelectronics within the body for the purposes of self-discovery and not capitalist mo�va�on.

An interes�ng requirement of Haraway’s cyborg is the process of wri�ng as a means of an imperfect transla�on of ideas and meaning. She states: “Wri�ng is pre-eminently the technology of cyborgs… Cyborg poli�cs is the struggle for language and the struggle against perfect communica�on, against the one code that translates all meaning perfectly, the central dogma of phallogocentrism” (Ibid: 176).

To draw a parallel between Haraway’s interpreta�on of wri�ng and of the prac�ce of fic�oning it could be said that they both involve an abstract and ulterior narra�ve. Here, fic�oning can be understood as an expansion of Haraway’s wri�ng prac�ce that does not necessarily champion the literal act of wri�ng as its main propellant of new ideas and growth. Wri�ng through the means of performance, as seen in Ribas’ work, allows for an imperfect experien�al communica�on of this new digital way of being.

There is s�ll a further poli�cal responsibility in this communica�on of ideas in that to fic�on, or create a myth, is to possibly minimise or erase certain aspects of lived reali�es. There is a power and ethical responsibility in developing a language (whether writen or performa�ve) that portrays these fic�ons of the body in the world without repea�ng restric�ve or exclusionary understandings of this self in the world as mediated and cons�tuted by digital technology. In an interview where wri�ng collec�ve Wu Ming were ques�oned about linguis�c innova�on they answered: “the problem is that the “wooden language” ... is ethically unacceptable, it is a jargon made of slogans and clichés that keep experience away” (2003). It is crucial to discuss this problem as part of the process of mythopoesis (Thoburn: 2016, 280). If we take this wooden language as provided by phallogocentric narra�ves that contain

fixed impervious ideas of the self, the body, and of how one should perceive their being within the world, we can interpret Ribas’ work as offering an ulterior way of being with the world that seeks out experience itself. Whilst the writen word s�ll plays an important role in Ribas explaining her prac�ce, it is not the central means of communica�ng her ideas. By focussing on experience as the foremost method of communica�on Ribas can approach fic�oning herself in a way that evades some of the problems caused by restric�ve or defini�ve language 3 . An imperfect communica�on method is created through the performance and transla�on of Ribas’ work in the eyes of the viewer where they can interpret their own understandings, supplemented by Ribas’ writen accounts of her prac�ce.

Here we have seen the no�on of becoming technology as the final offering towards this new digital way of being. Moon Ribas’ prac�ce places an importance on the use of technology to curate new sensory experiences in the world. Fic�oning through performance offers an ulterior method to communica�ng ideas that is not strictly defini�ve or perfect. The importance of this has been derived from Haraway’s condi�on of the cyborg as a creature that must write imperfectly to avoid falling back into the methods of patriarchal capitalism and from Wu Ming on the importance of avoiding wooden language that perpetuates restric�ve defini�ons. This prac�ce of becoming technology sa�sfies both Haraway and Wu Ming’s concerns through performance as an imperfect method of communica�on that remains open to interpreta�on. Experience is at the forefront of Ribas’ communica�on, supplemented by wri�ng, to convey her goals and encourage others to take interest in becoming cyborgs to access a new understanding of the world by crea�ng their own technological sensory organs.

3 It is important to note that this communica�on method, whilst offering a poten�al means of evading restric�ve limita�ons enforced by capitalist ideology, is not a solu�on to avoiding all restric�ve language or ideals. This is in part due to the nature of performance where the viewer can impose their own conscious or subconscious restric�ons through their interpreta�on.

Figure 5

Moon Ribas The Pregnancy Sense (2021)

Image courtesy of Moon Ribas and Quim Giron (2021) Available at: htps://www.moonribasquimgiron.com/pregnancy-sense Accessed: 06/12/2023

Figure 6

Ribas wearing technological component of Seismic Sense Image courtesy of Thoughtworks Art (2016) Available at: htps://thoughtworksarts.io/projects/seismic-sense/ Accessed: 10/12/2023

CONCLUSION

Inspired by Luciano Floridi’s re-ontologisa�on of the self as informed by technological worlds, I have theorised a new digital way of being that understands the nature of technological experience in current and future worlds. By building my approach through the prac�se of fic�oning, it has allowed for an explora�on of digital technologies as presented through contemporary artworks that envision ulterior reali�es My analysis, as informed by mythopoesis, turned to the past to draw from relevant philosophical texts to determine how these artworks work together to produce an understanding of this digital way of being

Through an explora�on of Emissaries by Ian Cheng I have cul�vated a collabora�ve rela�onship between the human and digital technologies as a reclama�on of the self as a machine outside of capitalist ideology. I have explained how Emissaries has broken the container of capitalist ideology that restricts our possible imaginings of the future through an interpreta�on of Sherry Turkle’s The Second Self which describes the forma�ve process of using computers as a projec�ve medium to process our own reali�es and experiences of the world As a result of a collabora�on between Cheng and ar�ficial intelligence programming so�ware, Emissaries becomes a self-sustaining world within which the characters unfold their own narra�ves. Viewers of this work are then able to u�lise their own collabora�ve rela�onship to digital technologies to emo�onally relate to the ac�ons of the main character of the Emissary whilst they observe the world play out. The rela�onship that is required by Emissaries has facilitated an understanding of ourselves as par�ally cons�tuted by these digital technologies

The Maw Of by Rachel Rossin has provided a situated awareness of the nature of the thirdspace within which this collabora�ve rela�onship to technology exists. I have shown that the thirdspace is central to understanding this new way of being, as an emergent space equally comprised of real and virtual phenomena. By using this term to call forth an understanding of how our experiences in the world are

cons�tuted, I have emphasised the immense influence of technology ’s implementa�on within the infrastructure of society. As this direct influence of technology on the cons�tu�on of our world is not always visible, I have discussed Rossin’s work as a means of illustra�ng this. Her explora�on of the human body through both physical and digital permuta�ons displays the nature of the thirdspace within the viewer’s experience. This can be seen visually through a scaling up of the microscopic, grid like structure of screens mimicked by the large circular LED panels. It is also explored experien�ally through Rossin’s use of virtual reality in conjunc�on with other digital and physical media. At this point, I also discussed the importance of the viewer switching between different modes of percep�on for Rossin in her work which aids in discerning the physical body as founda�onal to accessing digital experience. Finally, it is shown spa�ally in the augmented reality component that allows permuta�ons of Rossin’s digital body to exist in numerous loca�ons at any one �me which emphasised just how far reaching internet based digital technologies are

I have also emphasised the extent of the transforma�ve nature of technology’s implementa�on in the world through the no�on of becoming technology found in the art prac�ce of Moon Ribas as part of the Cyborg Founda�on. The phrase is used to encompass the process of crea�ng new sensory experiences of the world through combining technology within the body I have proposed this prac�ce of becoming technology as the final step in theorising this new way of being In Ribas’ work we have seen an offering of an ulterior reality that posits the body as a site for technological innova�on to discover feeling and connec�on to the world. We have reached an understanding of how Ribas effec�vely communicates her ideas via performance through a reading of Donna Haraway’s A Cyborg Manifesto, paired with a statement given by the wri�ng collec�ve Wu Ming to relate to the poli�cal and ethical responsibility that comes with fic�oning and mythopoesis. As a result of this I have considered Ribas’ prac�ce of fic�oning through performance as an immaterial, experien�al expansion on the process of wri�ng.

Ul�mately, the prac�ce of fic�oning in the thirdspace calls forth this new digital way of being by cura�ng experiences that allow its viewers to derive narra�ves, environments and new connec�ons through engaging with technology. Each ar�sts’ prac�ce has curated these experiences by combining physical and virtual environments through which we have understood the influence that rapidly evolving technologies have had on our current reality and prepared a founda�on from which to develop as we move into the future.

REFERENCES

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Artworks

Cheng, I. (2015) Emissaries: Emissary In The Squat Of Gods [Digital Simula�on] Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden: Washington

Ribas, M. (2016) Seismic Sense [Performance] Thoughtworks Arts Residency, Available at: htps://thoughtworksarts.io/projects/seismic-sense/ Accessed: 10/12/2023

Ribas, M. (2013) Waiting for Earthquakes [Performance] Available at: htps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Un4MFR-vNI Accessed: 05/11/2023

Ribas, M. (2022) The Pregnancy Sense [Implanted in the Ar�st ’s Body] Available at: htps://www.moonribasquimgiron.com/pregnancy-sense Accessed: 06/12/2023

Rossin, R. (2022) The Maw Of [Digital Media] Whitney Museum of American Art & KW Ins�tute for Contemporary Art: Berlin

Rossin, R. (2015) Lossy [Pain�ng and Digital Media] Zieher Smith & Horton: NYC

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Anderson, L. (2017) The Chalkroom [Digital Media] Mass MoCA: Massachusets

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Xcessive Aesthe�cs. (2022) Studio Digital Native [Digital Project] Design Academy Eindhoven