Bent Fausing

Blend of criminal portrait, surveillance, ambivalence, entertainment, mythology of the gaze, and meaning of the face. On Thursday, August 25, 2023, a mugshot, a criminal portrait, was taken at the Fulton County Jail of former President Donald Trump. It has entered visual culture as a mixture of criminal portraiture, surveillance, ambivalence, entertainment, and mythology of the gaze. Everything is centered around his face as the essential, and this focus and union with the other elements is the subject in the following.

This is an article about the new AI images. I seek to take a few steps back and look meta-like at the phenomenon, AI images. I do this to be able to better and more thoroughly address questions about fascination, new word-and-image contexts, the digital unconscious and developments within digital cameras. It is new, and yet already a part of us all. What does the new consist of and how are we all affected? The starting point is the special thing that makes us human, our image-creating abilities and desires.

One hand we are unique, every one of us. This uniqueness manifests itself visually in the face, first of all. At the same time it is also in the face, we carry the same features and senses, which belong to all of us: eyes, nose, ears, smell and touching (touching is everywhere, but the thin skin of the face makes it especially touching).

If we see a lot of selfies, we will see a lot of faces. On one hand unique, on the other stereotyped. They are not only stereotyped because of features mentioned, put because we tend to seek the same expression, which is the currency right now.

Fotografiet er som en firkantet skive af rum og tid.  Firkanten kan fastholde erindringer, traumer og drømme, altså vores mest af alt tavse udtryk. Den virkelighed, der helt uomtvisteligt viser sig på fotografiet, åbner op for andre billeder, nemlig erindringens, traumets og drømmens udtryk - altså fjerne, ubevidste og tavse billeder. Denne åbning bliver muliggjort ved, at virkeligheden fikseres som billede og denne fiksering er paradoksal: tiden og rummet bliver både fastholdt og ophævet ligesom i de indre billeder. De kan forenes i det øje, der med Roland Barthes tænker. I artiklen skelner jeg ikke mellem analoge og digitale fotografier, fordi jeg for det første mener, at der er tale om en kontinuitet. Fr det andet var det digitale fotografi kun i sin begyndelse med navne som Nancy Burson og Aziz/Cucher.
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English:
The photograph is like a square slice of space and time. The square can retain memories, traumas and dreams, ie our most of all silent expressions. The reality that unequivocally appears in the photograph opens up other images, namely the expression of memory, trauma and dream - that is, distant, unconscious and silent images. This opening is made possible by the fact that reality is fixed as an image and this fixation is paradoxical: time and space are both maintained and abolished, just as in the inner images. They can be united in the eye that thinks with Roland Barthes. In the article, I do not distinguish between analogue and digital photographs because, firstly, I believe that there is a continuity. Second, digital photography was only in its infancy with names like Nancy Burson and Aziz / Cucher.

The industrialization produces a veil in its aestheticization, and in this veil lies a criticism and heterotopia in its images of dreams. This is the dynamic duality in Walter Benjamin's incomplete project, 'Paris, Capital of the Ninetieth Century'. Benjamin deals especially with the passages. They are new architectural phenomena that connect streets through alleyways with shops. Passage has a more spacious meaning, pointing to the way Benjamin reads the metropolis. Passage means in Benjamin's optics threshold or transition, namely between I and things, awakening and dream, potential and realization. 'I and things' are essential, when it comes to exhibitions of commodity, where things are made personal and particular. This personification or anthropomorphization plays a crucial role in Benjamin's analysis of the metropolitan aesthetics. The article seeks to answer why and how Benjamin sought this path in his mapping of modernity's aestheticization and...

O self e a identidade nao sao apenas topicos relacionados aos selfies. Eles estao ligados ao desenvolvimento das midias desde o Renascimento, as self-midias. Esta e a tese a seguir. O sujeito, o self, e mais claramente exposto no rosto; e rosto e identidade tornam-se importantes nas midias desde o Renascimento. Os selfies sao justamente o mais novo desenvolvimento nesta tradicao, a qual comecou com a invencao do espelho, o livro (impressao), e a pintura em miniatura. Todos eles poem o sujeito, tanto produtor quanto receptor no centro. Este foi o inicio do sujeito moderno. O desenvolvimento continuou por todos os seculos posteriores. Os selfies sao a nova criacao para descobrir, explorar, visualizar e encarar o self (o proprio) do sujeito. Assim, o que se segue ira enfatizar o self, o rosto, onde o self e mais visivelmente expresso e visto, e as self-midias, onde o individuo pode encarar a si proprio (a).

A corona selfie: a vaxxie! One can be vaccinated against corona. There are divided opinions about the vaccine. But if you are in favor, then you do not only  take an injection with the vaccine, you also take a corona selfie, a vaxxie, as it is called. One takes a vaxxie to show that it is not dangerous to be vaccinated. Vaxxien is one of the first neologisms in 2021. The word is new, but it both fits in and stands out in the big selfie context.

The article investigates the relation between Trumpism and visual aesthetics from Trump Tower to Capitol Hill, January 6, 2021.Trump had no organized cultural policy and thereby he differed from other despotic regimes, he had only himself as a brand. Other despotic regimes, such as in the Soviet Union under Stalin and Germany under Hitler, had immediately organized aesthetics politically. Trump had himself as the brand, not an arranged cultural policy, not a well-organized aestheticization of the politics with Water Benjamin’s term. He had himself as a grandiose brand. which the surroundings should mirror and give narcissistic supply back.

This is an extended version of my article, The Visual Aesthetics of Trumpism, which was uploaded January 12., 2021.

Emojis have become a prominent part of human communication, gaining in popularity ever since the first emoticon appeared in the 1980s. People merrily add smiley faces and icons to their messages, and in 2015, the Oxford Dictionary chose an emoji as its Word of the Year. Now, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a massive increase in our use of emojis, as online communication has become an ever-greater part of our everyday lives. But what do emojis do, and why are we so enamoured with them?

The industrialization produces a veil in its aesthetization, and in this veil lies a criticism and heterotopia in its images of dreams. This is the dynamic duality in Walter Benjamin’s incomplete project, ‘Paris, Capital of the Ninetieth Century’. Benjamin deals especially with the passages. They are new architectural phenomena that connect streets through alleyways with shops. Passage has a more spacious meaning, pointing to the way Benjamin reads the metropolis. Passage means in Benjamin's optics threshold or transition, namely between I and things, awakening and dream, potential and realization. ‘I and things’ are essential, when it comes to exhibitions of commodity, where things are made personal and particular. This personification or anthropomorphication plays a crucial role in Benjamin's analysis of the metropolitan aesthetics. The article seeks to answer why and how Benjamin sought this path in his mapping of modernity's aesthetization and finally how it manifests itself in relation to Benjamin’s theory during the National Socialism’s aesthetics of politics and later in the digital passages of late modernity as commodity aesthetics driven by algorithms.

Keywords: Walter Benjamin, passage, commodity aesthetics, metropolis, modernity, late modernity, antrophomorphication, images of dreams, aesthetics of politics, digital passage, influencer, unpacking unboxing.

The sky unites and connects us no matter where and who we are. It is everywhere, universal, elastic and always in metamorphosis in time and space. The Danish People’s Party [Dansk Folkeparti] places itself outside this unique experience of the universe. They have become stationary monuments in an imitation of old family photos. Like all family photos, this, too, is a construction for the occasion - yet, not for a private experience but with an anonymous public as receiver.

Nothing can gather a family like sitting for a photo session, and nothing can keep others out of the picture like the postulated unit of the family photo. The family photo is – also in this case and more than ever - exclusive and not inclusive.

This is an analysis of a poster campaign, which the Danish People's Party ran I the summer of 2016. What does the poster do in the digital area? Why are they gathered like on a scene? Why a white background? And why.?...All in all, the owls are not what they seem to be.

This article has appeared in a Danish Journal. It will now appear in an American and a Swedish Journal.

The self and identity are not only topics related to the selfies. They are connected to the development
of media since the renaissance, the self-media. This is the thesis of the following. The subject, the self,
is most clearly exposed in the face, and face and identity becomes important in the media since the
renaissance. The selfies is just the newest development is this tradition, which began with the invention
of the mirror, the book (printing), and the small painting. They all put the subject as both maker and
receiver in the center. It was the beginning of the modern subject. The development continued
throughout the coming centuries. The selfies is the newest creation to discover, explore, visualize and
find the self of the subject. The following will thus emphasis the self, the face, where the self is most
noticeably expressed and seen, and the self-media, where the individual can face him- or herself.

(This is an unabridged, extended, revised and better version of the article, which was uploaded in August 2014. It was originally a keynote lecture from July 2014).

O self e a identidade não são apenas tópicos relacionados aos selfies. Eles estão ligados ao
desenvolvimento das mídias desde o Renascimento, as self-mídias. Esta é a tese a seguir. O sujeito, o
self, é mais claramente exposto no rosto; e rosto e identidade tornam-se importantes nas mídias desde o
Renascimento. Os selfies são justamente o mais novo desenvolvimento nesta tradição, a qual começou
com a invenção do espelho, o livro (impressão), e a pintura em miniatura. Todos eles põem o sujeito,
tanto produtor quanto receptor no centro. Este foi o início do sujeito moderno. O desenvolvimento
continuou por todos os séculos posteriores. Os selfies são a nova criação para descobrir, explorar,
visualizar e encarar o self (o próprio) do sujeito. Assim, o que se segue irá enfatizar o self, o rosto, onde
o self é mais visivelmente expresso e visto, e as self-mídias, onde o indivíduo pode encarar a si próprio
(a).

http://inss.ku.dk/english/calendar/what-is-an-image/
International Conference on 9th and 10th April 2015 (University of Copenhagen) with keynote speakers: James Elkins, Lev Manovich and Joanna Zylinska.

Images multiply rapidly in these years as apps, tablets, social media, selfies, GPS, drones, visualizations in science, not least, medicine, etc. An image is very dynamic and very moving at this time. The conference will focus on these changes - and try to see if there is still something that can be assembled to a characteristic of What is an Image?

Dette er om synets fascination, billedernes levebrød. Men det e r også fascinationens dobbelthed: vi vil gerne se, men vi lige så gerne ikke se. Udgangspunktet er et billede som Paul Auster har anbragt som et frontispice i bogen ’Opfindelsens af ensomhed’ (The Invention of Solitude’). Jeg analyserer billedet og kommer frem til dets kerne af væren og vision. Selv om det blot er et stivet øjeblik af liv. Jeg sammenligner også med Roland Barthes' La Chambre Claire og den frontispice, han brugte dér. Afslutningsvist argumentere jeg for at se det kemiske og det digitale udtryk som del af en fælles udvikling og ikke som absolutte modsætninger. Artiklen kommer i tysk og engelsk oversættelse. (In English: This article is concerning the fascination of vision, the fundament for images. However, it is also about the duality of fascination and aversion in the attraction: We would like to see, but we would just as soon not see. The starting point is the picture to the left, which Paul Auster has placed as a frontispiece in the book The Invention of Solitude 1980 (in Danish: Opfindelsen af ensomhed). I analyze the image, reaches its core of life and vision, although it is only a starched moment of living, and thus bound to the past, to death. I also compare with Roland Barthes’ La Chambre Claire and the frontispiece Barthes placed there. I finish with some thoughts about the nature of the image, what is an image, and that both analogue and digital images are made creatively and received creatively.- The article will appear in an English and German translation.

This is not brand new; in fact, I do not even mention the word selfie. However, it was very rewarding for me in terms of the intellectual and emotional richness and challenge, I got in return from working with this article and the questions and the answers it deals with. Maybe it will be good for you, too, now. Furthermore I write in the beginning: “The characteristics of digital images and the use Orlan makes of them, as well as the crisis in representation that she and the media mark, are linked with the notion of 'sore society’. Why is there a displacement from representation towards presentation of the real and the trauma? Why is the place for physical and psychic affect and their present dissolution sought in visual aesthetics?” I think this points towards some tendencies in the selfies – the healthie, the dark selfie, the sello selfie, etc.

I first coined the term, Self-Media, in my article “Selfies shape the world. Selfies, healthies, usies, felfies" (March 2014, see references p. 14). I had no opportunity at that point to go deeply into the term and its implications. I will try to do that subsequently.
The self and identity are not only issues connected to the selfies. It is connected to the development of media since the renaissance; this is the thesis of the following key-note. The subject, the self, is most clearly exposed in the face, and face and identity becomes important in the media since the renaissance. The selfies is just the newest development is this tradition, which began with the invention of the mirror, the book (printing), and the miniature painting. They all put the subject as both maker and receiver in the center. This was the birth of the modern subject. The development continued throughout the coming centuries. The selfies is the latest invention to discover, explore, visualize and find the self of the subject. The following will therefore naturally focus on the self, the face where the self is most clearly expressed and seen, and the self-media, where the subject can face itself.

There are a few minor typing errors in this version, if they irritate you please read a corrected version here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/236971521/SELF-MEDIA-The-Self-the-Face-the-Media-and-the-Selfies

A revised and extended version of this article is to be found here: https://www.academia.edu/13785723/Self-media._The_self_the_face_the_media_and_the_selfies

The mirror is one o the pivotal innovations that became widespread during the Renaissance and puts the self and the subject at the centre. The same is true of the so-called selfie – which, since it became popular in the second half of 2013, has become divided into various subcategories.

- Please also see: http://www.scribd.com/doc/213679678/Selfies-shape-the-World-Selfies-Healthies-Usies-Felfies

This is in Danish but will soon appear in an English translation. It is about Selfies, and the new form of Selfies, the Healthies, the Usies, the Felfies... and about the development cultural-history of Selfe-Media....and a world famous Selfie that no one has ever seen, but nevertheless affected many people...see for yourself!

http://www.kommunikationsforum.dk/artikler/selfies-healthies-usies-felfies

Please use this link to get to the article: https://www.scribd.com/doc/167602342/Selfies-and-the-Search-for-Recognition-See-for-your-Selfie  - A new concept has begun to pop up everywhere: the selfie. It means a photograph of yourself that you yourself have taken. Time Magazine designated it one of the most used buzz words of 2012. And, in our digital age, these quick self-portraits are numerous and flourishing, and it is not just the mirror or the raised arm that characterizes selfies as a genre but also a particular aesthetics. It is about reflection, identity and recognition – human beings want to control how they are seen.

"This is about Pinterest, but with a differet approch than usual to social networks. Pinterest is an image site par excellenece. The images are as Windows that open outwards and also lets us look inwards and displays the soul and heart, the unintentional or pre-conscious desires. Happy Pinning!

http://www.kommunikationsforum.dk/artikler/pinterest"

The word façade, to put on a façade, comes from face. You put on another and maybe fake face. The images here have been taken to see different facades in different environments. Some invited me close, some opened up, and some closed all doors and openings. Here lies another thesis in my approach to the facades: that we perceive a face no matter what we see. The fundamental matrice from the early stage between mother and infant follow us as a source of finding ‘faces’ that we like or dislike, openings we would like to relate to or not, transgress or stay away from. Children very often draw a car or a house like face, a several cartoons and tv-commercials have taught them this antrophomorphisation. The singing bagel is my own favorite.

About the mirror and reflection as fundament in creating subjectivity and seeing oneself as the Other. Our ability to see ourselves when we look at ourselves is something uniquely human. We are through mirroring different from other individuals, despite the many commonalities, we share. Reflection means for nothing to bend back, reflect and consideration. In the mirror image the individuals bend back to observe themselves. Through this view of ourselves gives us an opportunity to evaluate ourselves and think about ourselves. In the mirror meets the external face with the internal consciousness. When we look in the mirror, the face possess us because it shows the allure, we are bound to. We get a mirror of consciousness and in the broader sense a self-reflection.

Last year Samsung introduced a mobile phone called "Soul" made with a human touch and including itself a “magic touch”. Through the analysis of a Nokia mobile phone TV-commercials I want to examine the function and form of digital technology in everyday images.
      The mobile phone and its digital camera and other devices are depicted by everyday aesthetics as capable of producing a unique human presence and interaction. The medium, the technology is a necessary helper of this very special and lost humanity. Without the technology, no special humanity, no soul - such is the prophecy. This personification or anthropomorphism is important for the branding of new technology. Technology is seen as creating a techno-transcendence towards a more qualified humanity which is in contact with fundamental human values like intuition, vision, and sensing; all the qualities that technology, industrialization, and rationalization, - in short modernity – have taken away from human existence. What old technology has removed now comes back through new technology promoting a better humanity.
      The present article investigates how digital technology and affects are presented and combined, with examples from everyday imagery, e.g. TV commercials and internet commercials for mobile phones from Nokia, or handheld computers, as Sony-Ericsson prefers to call them. Digital technology points towards a forgotten pre-human and not only post-human condition.

Reflections about Fascination, Affect, Interaction and Sensoric Images in Digital Culture and New Technology. I come up with a new term - 'In-Between-Images', which are the images created in between the perceiver and the perceived. We are active and interactive with these images, which are created out of all perceptual and sensoric material and stimuli in our surroundings.: https://www.scribd.com/doc/29786523/Bent-Fausing-In-Between-Images-Reflections-on-Fascination-and-Affect-and-Sensoric-Images

Se venligst her: http://www.scribd.com/doc/210752877/Bev%C3%A6gende-billeder-Om-affekt-og-billeder

Et andet ord for at blive bevæget, er at være i affekt. I daglig tale anvender vi mest udtrykket negativt, i retning af at 'komme i affekt' eller 'bringe nogen i affekt'. Men affekten har flere og også positive betydninger. De går kort og godt ud på, at det er affekten, der gør os menneskelige. Maksiner kan måske måle affekt, men de kan ikke føle affekt. Det kan kun vi, det er affekten, der gør os humane.

at bevæge sig og blive bevæget af billeder og det billedlige er knyttet tilkroppen og dens sanser, synssansen især. Sammenhængen mellem disse tre led - billeder og det billedlige, bevægelser og kropssanser - er endnu et af bogens centrale temaer.

Af alle medier føler vi stærkest affekt ved billeder. Det blotlægges gennem en række intense analyser af forskellige billedlige udtryk. Bogens analyser kobles sammen med kulturhistoriske redegørelser for de bevægelige billedmediers vækst, teoretiske indkredsninger af hvaddet egentlig vil sige at være i affekt, og hvorfor billeder og det billedlige bibringer os denne - viser det sig i bogen - positive følelse, affekt.

Synet er knyttet til kropslige og neurale sammenhænge frem for at være en isoleret sans i sig selv. Kroppen er den basis og den ramme, som vi ser ud fra. Sagt på en anden måde, billeder eksisterer kun i og igennem den iagttagende krops reaktioner. Det er affektive krop, der skaber det endelige billede. Perception er med andre ord afhængig af menneskelig affekt. Affekt og billeddannelse er uløseligt knyttet sammen. De uindrammede, form- og kropsløse digitale data bliver via mødet og afkodning somatiske og sanselige. Teknologien er blot en hjælper på vejen til at skabe oplevelsen. Tanker som disse er ikke kun gængs inden for moderne teori om oplevelse og digital æstetik.i De bliver også bestanddele i den måde, man former marketing og tv-reklamer for - som i dette tilfælde - en mobiltelefon fra Nokia, hvis slogan som bekendt er ”Nokia connecting people”. Lad os se nærmere på, hvilken status kroppen, affekten og moderne teknologi får i en tv-reklames selvfremstilling af det mest succesfulde stykke moderne, digital teknologi, mobiltelefonen, og hvilken funktion denne teknologi får for interaktion og billeder.
”At brænde igennem skærmen”, er et udtryk vi ofte bruger, når en person eller hændelse slår igennem ikke mindst på tv, så vi glemmer skærmen. Vi føler os til stede, som vi ansigt til ansigt, eller person til person. Der bliver altså foranstaltet en menneskelig relatering, interaktion, af en særlig grad på trods af skærmen på grund af de særlige menneskelige egenskaber hos personen eller ved begivenheden på skærmen; eller – som det bliver fremhævet i det følgende - fordi teknologien er særlig god til at eliminere skærmen og til at lade humaniteten bryde igennem teknologien. Skærm kommer etymologisk af et ord, der betyder hud. Nogle særlige menneskelige egenskaber trænger igennem og gør huden levende som om, der ikke var medie. Huden bliver ikke en beskyttende skærm derimod noget levende og vitalt, der interagerer. Denne særlige personliggørelse er væsentlig for brandingen af ny teknologi. Mobiltelefonen og dens digitale kamera anskues i tv-reklamen som fuldbyrder af menneskelig interaktion, der foranstalter en særegen følelsesmæssig og kropslig bekræftelse. Mediet er en nødvendig hjælper til denne særlige menneskelighed.

Please use this link to get to the book: https://www.scribd.com/doc/247100275/Bent-Fausing-Dr%C3%B8mmebilleder

Bogen beskriver i en række intense analyser forbindelsen mellem ydre og indre billeder: altså mellem de moderne mediers billedverden og drømmens og erindringens indre billeder. I fokus for undersøgelsen er desuden kønnet, altså hvordan billeder viser, omformer eller skjuler kønnet, 'det andet', som begæres og betragtes og fortrænges.

Det er en bog om at blive bevidst om det, vi ser - f. eks. i medierne. Men det er også en bog om at forstå de billeder, der opsøger os indefra (i drømme og erindring) - og en bog, der skærper blikket for samspillet mellem de ydre og de indre billeder, og hvorfor vi søger mod de første og opsøges af de sidste.

An English translation of one of the main chapters in  the book will come. Here is an English translation of the abstract: The book describes in a series of intense analyzes the link between external and internal images; thus between the modern media imagery and internal images of dreams and memories. The focus of the study is also gender, i.e. how the pictures show converter or conceal the sex, 'the other', which is requested and considered and displaced. It is a book of becoming conscious of what we see - for example in the media. However, it is also a book about understanding the images that seek us from within (in dreams and memories) - and a book that sharpens sight of the interaction between external and internal images, and why we are looking at the first and is visited by the last.

There is a close relationship between the screen emergence and formation of the self, the modern self-reflective individual. The context is reflected most recently via selfies, images of the self taken with a smartphone or digital camera and posted on a social media. We are created all the time through technology. This is done via wearables, where we measure our heart rate, our time, our bike rides, by taking selfies, send and receive messages, pictures, smileys, SMS, MMS or using Skype. We are thus constantly in the process of creating an image of ourselves. We make a self-reflection. We will identify and interpret these self-images or self-trackings from different perspectives in the presentations.
The digital media changes rapidly. The taste of euphoria is over, today the digital media and digital world has reached maturity – and that means a life with many contradictions. The society and the subject have been datafied. In this country, we have had a ministry for digital media and digitalization since 2014.

Introduction to international seminar 'Reflecting Ourselves Through Digital Media' 3.11.16, University of Copenhagen. Please see images for this presentation in my Power Point: https://ku-dk.academia.edu/Papers/Upload?cb=https%3A%2F%2Fku-dk.academia.edu%2FBentFausing&section=Papers&source=three_step

There is a close relationship between the screen emergence and formation of the self, the modern self-reflective individual. The context is reflected most recently via selfies, images of the self taken with a smartphone or digital camera and posted on a social media. We are created all the time through technology. This is done via wearables, where we measure our heart rate, our time, our bike rides, by taking selfies, send and receive messages, pictures, smileys, SMS, MMS or using Skype. We are thus constantly in the process of creating an image of ourselves. We make a self-reflection. We will identify and interpret these self-images or self-trackings from different perspectives in the presentations.
The digital media changes rapidly. The taste of euphoria is over, today the digital media and digital world has reached maturity – and that means a life with many contradictions. The society and the subject have been datafied. In this country, we have had a ministry for digital media and digitalization since 2014.

Human experience is based on everything that surrounds us. Not the physical reality, but our perception of and reflection on it. This perception and reflection - presence, intimacy and materiality - are transformed by telematics: Separate rooms can be merged, and the boundaries between our virtual and physical bodies are constantly broken with technology. Perception and reflection are in synergy.
Reflection means etymologically to bend back, to mirror, and to think. My presentation will take its point of departure in this etymology and make perspectives to modern use of refection in digital media. I will take a look at the establishing of the modern self and possibilities of self-reflection, too. My examples will be from the so-called dark-selfies and from a new selfie form, which merge the present with the previous progressing into the future. I will discuss the media reflections as loos and/or gain. As another but short viewpoint telepresence, Skype, will be discussed, where new screen types, presence and reflections are established. In a perspective, I debate my term sore-society in relation to my topic and especially the dark selfies.

We pick up the world and form it through the images we shape and seek out. Internal and external images intervene. We go out into the world with our images and the world enters us through its images. The body is the intermediate link for the images, which come to and from us. We are not only sensing subjects; we are constantly symbolizing and getting hold of our sensoric affects through imagery. To see and sense is in itself a way of articulating. We cannot stop it. The images must come out – in dreams, in concrete pictures, constructed or not, in phantasms, in sound images, in the metaphors of words, in bodily expressions, in sensations of textures, and in synesthetic sensing. The world is perceived from the inside though the body and we have the possibility to look at it from the outside through the images, which are made from this material. The Image-Currency, The Indefinite Image, The Self-Image, The Force of the Image.

The sky is the perfect image and metaphor for life. The sky changes colors, shapes and surfaces, then returns quietly but is no longer the same. Everything changes constantly and irreversibly.  So does the digital system, but at the same time it is unchanged with connotations like height, excellence and godlike - like the sky. For both reasons the digital systems, platforms and companies can use the sky as an important part of their sensoric imagery, which makes up the brand. The symbolic unity with sky is strong and very imaginative and has great power.

Dette er en uændret e-udgave af en revideret udgave fra 2018. Bogen kom oprindelig i 2002, desuden i 2008 og i revideret udgave i 2015, som denne e-udgave altså stammer fra.

Vi taber aldrig ansigt. Sådan lyder min tese kort. Hvordan det kan være, vil jeg belyse ved at udbygge tesen gennem følgende ti punkter og samtidig skitsere en teori om ansigtet og ansigtets betydning i forskellige billed- og lyd-billedmedier i bogens efterfølgende afsnit.
      (1) Fundamentale kropslige funktioner foregår i og 'igennem' ansigtet. (2) Vi husker ansigter mere end noget andet, ansigtet er vores første og primære middel, som vi relaterer og skaber interaktioner med. Ansigter er designet til at blive set og husket, og et ansigt er et ansigt overalt, det er tvær- eller transkulturelt. (3) Nu om dage, specielt gennem tv og internet, har vi i løbet af en måned mulighed for at være i nær og  intim kontakt med langt flere ansigter, end nogen person tidligere ville have været i stand til i et helt liv. Ansigtets betydning ikke mindst i tv og på internettet kan kort opsummeres i udsagnet 'mere af mere'. "Klik ind på mig" hedder det sigende om både forbindelsen mellem de to medier og ansigtets centrale betydning i dem begge nu: Klik ind på mig på nettet, og det vil sige klik på billedet af mit ansigt i bogstaveligste forstand, og få mere af mit kendte ansigt/min kendte person fra tv: "Anette Heick bli'r Tv-stjerne på nettet" . 4) Nærbilledet, close-up'et, af ansigtet er konkret og samtidig mindre abstrakt; close-up'et er finalt og ikke desto mindre uendeligt. Nærbilledet får overfladen til at briste. (5) Vi lever i den andens ansigt, som så igen lever i vores ansigt. Denne dobbelt-berøring er perceptionens sprog, ligesom det også er det fundamentale udtryk for: (6) Interface. De begreber, vi bruger til at beskrive ting i omverdenen bl. a. medier med, indrammer objekterne og de oplevelser, der skal forbindes med dem, og fortæller os til en vis grad hvad, vi skal føle og tænke om dem. Det gælder så også interface. (7) 'Ansigtets tid' (Douglas Coupland) modsat den personlige computer, kort og godt pc'erens tid. Ansigtet synes sammen med andre kropslige funktioner af forsvinde i cyberchat-grupper eller 'chatten' og e-mails på internettet, og alligevel vi taber heller ikke ansigt hér. Det vil jeg forklare gennem brugen af især 'emoticons' og endvidere med det gamle fænomen 'prosopon'. (8) Ansigts-ansigts tiltrækning, ansigts-ansigts frastødning - eller hvorfor Sigmund Freud og hans efterfølgere ikke ønskede at se ansigtet og iscenesatte terapi-scenariet, sådan at de ikke kunne se ansigtet. (9) Den øgede face-to-face interaktion i de visuelle medier og forbindelsen til spejlet og den moderne individualitet. (10) Nærbilledet af ansigter, eller tingenes ansigter.
      Disse punkter kan så igen indkredses og udbygges med disse problemstillinger:


 'Vi taber aldrig ansigt'  for at vende tilbage til og bruge talemåden på en lidt anden måde. Det vil i min sammenhæng sige, at ansigtet er et fundamentalt fokalpunkt, selv for mennesker der ikke kan se eller udtrykke ansigtsudtryk f. eks. i forbindelse med lammelse, vedbliver ansigtet at være det væsentligste opmærksomhedsfaktor. (Naturligvis kan man meget direkte beskadige sit ansigt, og derved kan man sige, at vi konkret 'taber ansigt'. Men det er altså ikke det, hverken talemåden eller min brug af den sigter til!).

 Vi skulle egentlig kende os selv bedst, for vi har adgang til vores følelser, associationer, prioriteringer og tanker. Andre har dog et fortrin i forhold til alt dette. De har nemlig adgang til vores ansigt, som langt hurtigere udtrykker sindstilstande,  reaktioner og relationer.

 Ansigtet er den primære relaterings medie. Barnet kan både bruge sit ansigt meget tidligt i forhold til andre dele af kroppen, og det relaterer sig til først og fremmest mod den andens, morens, ansigt i den koreografi af fysiognomier, stemmer og kropsbevægelser, der udgør omverdenen for det lille barn. Barnet lærer også hurtigt at aflæse ansigtets mange forskellige udtryk, dets polyfoni.

 Vi ser et ansigt, ligemeget hvad vi ser. Fordi ansigtet er det primære interaktions- og relateringsudtryk, vil det forblive en fundamental matrice, der overføres til andre ikke blot ansigter, men fænomener i det hele taget. Vi overfører et ansigt på alt andet, vi ser.



Ansigtets er ikke vores eneste kropslige ytringsmiddel. Ansigtet ikke kan afsondres fra centrale kommunikationsveje som kroppen og sproget. Hvorfor så alligevel dette enkelt-studie om ansigter, som dog også søger at inddrage de andre kommunikationskanaler? Fordi både krop og sprog og har været genstand for så mange studier, mens ansigtet og dets mange udtryk og funktioner kun har været genstand for få. Måske bliver ansigtet overset også inden for forskning, fordi det har så stor betydning. Desuden fordi - som dette og det sidste punkt ovenfor angiver, og som en række af de andre punkter også lægger op til - ansigtet samler, formidler og overskygger de øvrige udtryksmidler.

It is probably lesser known that Edvard Much was a very gifted photographer, too, experimenting with double-exposures, new angels, excessive cropping and new ways of seeing. I think his photographs make more impression than his other works, to me at least with all due respect to all his other works.  He also made thoughts about this – at that time – new medium, ideas in line with another multimedia artist, August Strindberg. This approach is summarized by Aaron Siskind in this way: “Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever... it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything...” Munch wanted to remake the emotion, the touch tangible, and the unseen seen through the photographic image. And he did.

The visual turn has been introduced and discussed since around 2000, as an opposition to the linguistic turn around 1900. Even though the internet was still approached as a media of words. Since then social media and the internet turned more and more towards the visuals: Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook’s Timeline, Snapchat, and Pokémon Go. In 2015 media scholar, Nicholas Mirzoeff pointed out that the most notable uses of the internet is to create, send and view images of all kinds. Three matters will be investigated in my presentation, 1) why does this change occur, 2) what is an image – and what is an image in the age of the internet, and 3) what is the relation between the images and the subject at the screen. Alternatively, to rephrase the last: why are the images so important?
I will investigate these three matters via analysis of two TV-commercials for smartphones from 2007 and 2016. The analysis will investigate images and bodies, images as affect, images and trauma in the TV-commercials through the following theoretical approaches:

The visual turn has been introduced and discussed since around 2000, as an opposition to the linguistic turn around 1900. Even though the internet was still approached as a media of words. Since then social media and the internet turned more and more towards the visuals: Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook’s Timeline, Snapchat, and Pokémon Go. In 2015 media scholar, Nicholas Mirzoeff pointed out that the most notable uses of the internet is to create, send and view images of all kinds. Three matters will be investigated in my presentation, 1) why does this change occur, 2) what is an image – and what is an image in the age of the internet, and 3) what is the relation between the images and the subject at the screen. Alternatively, to rephrase the last: why are the images so important?
I will investigate these three matters via analysis of two TV-commercials for smartphones from 2007 and 2016. The analysis will investigate images and bodies, images as affect, images and trauma in the TV-commercials through the following theoretical approaches:

Please also see my Power Point for images, info-graphis and the like for this article: https://www.academia.edu/29876701/Power_Point_for_Self_-Reflecting._To_Bend_Back_To_Mirror_and_to_Think_in_Digital_Visual_Media


Human experience is based on everything that surrounds us. Not the physical reality, but our perception of and reflection on it. This perception and reflection - presence, intimacy and materiality - are transformed by telematics: Separate rooms can be merged, and the boundaries between our virtual and physical bodies are constantly broken with technology. Perception and reflection are in synergy.
Reflection means etymologically to bend back, to mirror, and to think. My presentation will take its point of departure in this etymology and make perspectives to modern use of refection in digital media. I will take a look at the establishing of the modern self and possibilities of self-reflection, too. My examples will be from the so-called dark-selfies and from a new selfie form, which merge the present with the previous progressing into the future. I will discuss the media reflections as loos and/or gain. As another but short viewpoint telepresence, Skype, will be discussed, where new screen types, presence and reflections are established. In a perspective, I debate my term sore-society in relation to my topic and especially the dark selfies.

MÜNCHHAUSEN BY INTERNET.
Sygdomme florerer på Internettet, sociologen Sherry Turkle pegede på fænomenet allerede i Life on The Screen (1995). Ofte antager sygdommen form af Münchhausen by Internet. Jeg har i to forelæsninger, den ene på UCPH og den anden på Rigshospitalet, søgt at komme om bag fænomenet og set på den anerkendelse, som sygdom på Internettet og de sociale medier kan give i form af opmærksomhed, likes, exhibitionisme, medfølelse og tilgivelse. Godsorgen, som anerkendelsen hedder på Norsk. Jeg tager udgangspunkt i den såkaldte Kemoland sag og en række beslægtede forløb, hvor sygdomme bliver inddraget og brugt som et billede... på noget andet; som et traume, man er nødsaget til at dække over ved hjælp af et erstatningsbillede. Her er min Power Points til forelæsningerne. Selve teksten vil først være tilgængelige ved udgivelser senere. Men måske kan dette give forståelse over for fænomenet, over for de syge og over for dem, der desværre må (mis)bruge det.

Udtrykket Münchhausen by Internet blev skabt af psykiateren, professor Mark Feldman i 2000.

On May 25, 1975, at the Café de Flore, a meeting took place between Roland Barthes and the American artist living in Italy, Cy Twombly. From this meeting, two short texts emerged, which responded, took up and shed light on each other. But they also reflected Barthes in Twombly, and Twombly in Barthes. Now they have been published in a book.

In an inventive and empathetic analysis, Roland Barthes explores Cy Twombly's universe, he deploys his own culture to make that of the American painter living in Italy resonate, in an aesthetics of the fragment practiced by both. These two texts have not aged a bit and continue to shed light on Twombly's work.