About the misery of the virtual image

ABOUT PULL OF A VIRTUAL IMAGE

A few considerations about the condition of the digital image in the era of new media domination, without pretending to be a meaningful text, but rather a reflection on the state of affairs. The situation of recycling thoughts, ideas and words described in the previous post also applies to images. There is a huge flood of visuality, an overproduction of images, and thus the devaluation of its meaning. I wrote about it in my PhD thesis “Identity De-reconstruction. Image in the age of digital media ”. Every day, representations of moments are produced in the form of "quick photos", "selfies", "snapphotos" no longer in order to stop the moment, not from the need to share the encountered phenomenon, but from the ego's need - to show oneself, to exist in this huge mechanism called the network . The intention is not to give value to the world, but to reproduce an image of oneself, often untrue, showing an illusion, a creation that does not have much in common with reality.

Sharing images is exactly the same as duplicating someone else's thoughts, wanting to appear online. This externalization, exhibitionism of every aspect of life, not necessarily one's own, because it is often not that wonderful, it becomes a global disease. The illusion of yourself and your life is harvesting. Is the sunset seen in solitude the same sunset that was captured on an iPhone, shared on Facebook and commented on by a group of friends, acquaintances, strangers from the network? The ego grows as the number of likes increases, and the individual still cannot see the beauty beyond the screen of the monitor. The moment was stopped because it was not lived properly. It had actually slipped over its surface, so she had no time to leave a trace. With one click, this unique manifestation of divinity that nature spread before man turned into a millionth banal picture with no content behind it.

And yet something stopped the recipient to note the encountered view and explore the moment. Some element twitched in the heart, preventing him from passing. Was it a desire to create, express yourself, become an artist for a moment? Or maybe it's already a routine of documenting, sharing, disseminating yourself, creating a world in which you can look and see your greatness, popularity, amazingness, admire your "cool" and find its confirmation. What drives individuals to grind and act like this? Producing images on an unlimited scale with no value at all after the thousandth share, they even lose quality.

Hito Steyerl in his essay "The Wretch of the Screen" describes this phenomenon of losing the quality of images that roam the resources of the Internet - copied, ripped, processed, shared, converted, they lose their original meaning , they become a poor copy of themselves. In the chapter "In Defense of Poor Image", he notices, on the example of films that are copied and translated, often losing linguistic subtleties, often by amateurs, that this type of image gains importance and has its own own audience. A completely new quality is born, which begins to function on its own principles, creating a specific aura around itself, building its audience, temporarily floating on the surface of the network. However, being aware that the rapture will end soon and the interest of the audience will end. Just as the sunset appeared in the form of a photo only to disappear in a moment (Snapchat application), the images circulating on the web have their "shelf life". The well-known videos, memes, "demotivators", themes, photos, images appearing from months ago, or even worse, from years ago, become unpalatable. They don't inspire anyone anymore, and their wit has long been used up.

This endless movement of images is very aptly summarized by Piotr Zawojski in one of his articles - "The Art of Image and Imaging in the Age of New Media". “Pictures wandered and wander - similarly, reflection on them is a constant movement - thoughts, logos, reflections. Perhaps the movement of images and the movement of reflection on them sometimes freeze in some strange synchronicity, but most often these two worlds remain asymptotic to each other. They come very close to each other, almost overlapping, but this direct meeting never occurs. Pictures, as nomadic creatures, seek media for themselves, while the media place their hopes in pictures ”. (Piotr Zawojski, The Art of Image and Imaging in the Age of New Media, published by Oficyna Naukowa, accessed on August 5, 2017: http://www.zawojski.com/2012/12/16/sztuka-obrazu-i-obrazowania-w -epoce-new-media-3). Images search for their places by exploring the farthest corners of the Internet, subordinating newer and newer media to themselves and finding their spaces in virtuality for good. You cannot argue, because the situation is gaining ground