<nettime-ann> Out Now! Culture of the Selfie: Self-Representation in Con

Ana Peraica, Culture of the Selfie: Self-Representation in Contemporary Visual Culture

Theory on Demand #24, Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam

http://networkcultures.org/blog/publication/culture-of-the-selfie/

Culture of the Selfie is an in-depth art-historical overview of self-portraiture, using a set of theories from visual studies, narratology, media studies, psychotherapy, and political principles. Collecting information from various fields, juxtaposing them on the historical time-line of artworks, the book focuses on space in self-portraits, shared between the person self-portraying and the viewer. What is the missing information of the transparent relationship to the self and what kind of world appears behind each selfie? As the ‘world behind one’s back’ is gradually taking larger place in the visual field, the book dwells on a capacity of selfies to master reality, the inter-mediate way and, in a measure, oneself.

Ana Peraica is a curator, art critic, theorist and lecturer in visual culture and media arts. She has curated online projects since 1998. She was the editor of Machine Philosopher (Jan Van Eyck Akademie, 1999), Žena na raskrižju ideologija (HULU, Split, 2007), Victims Symptom (LabforCulture/Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam, 2009), Smuggling Anthologies (MMSU, Rijeka, 2015), produced after curated shows. Her essays, published in magazines as Springerin, Documenta magazine, Pavilion, Art and Education Papers, and readers by Afterimage, Loecker Verlaag, P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E, were compiled in a manuscript Sub/versions (Revolver, 2009; in Croatian due 2018). Peraica is a book reviewer at Leonardo Reviews and she teaches the Media Art Histories program at University of Danube in Austria.