fall senior thesis project - digital media studies
A computational art program exploring the expression and reclamation of Asian American racial identity in virtual communities. The program renders participants’ images into typographic portraits based on their own words about self-identity. It also includes a live webcam mode. Coded in the Processing programming language.
INTRODUCTION
In today’s world, identity formation and expression are intrinsically tied to virtual digital spaces. The introduction of the Internet provided for the creation of new virtual communities that are ubiquitous and instantaneous, yet are crucially tied to the physical world. The Digital Age has also brought upon a redefinition of new media, with the additional tiers of examining human- computer interactions and the computerization of culture. If virtual communities are irrevocably connected to the physical world, then it can be postulated that users bring and reinforce the power structures of the physical world into their virtual communities. How do users express their racial identity on these platforms? How do they interact with the cultural ideologies of race and the digitalized versions of themselves—as well as those of other users?
Asian America shares many commonalities with the virtual communities of the Internet. Geographically uncentered and unbounded, they both encompass a heterogeneity of experiences and identities. Asian American communities have been historically disenfranchised and racialized to reinforce status quo in the United States; both the creations of the term “Asian American” and the Model Minority Myth are deeply rooted in denying the systemic racism that other racial minorities experience. One can even argue that Asian America is an “imagined nation,” built upon a shared belief in diaspora. How can agency be returned to such an imagined nation? How does the strengthening of ties to nationhood in virtual communities translate to the physical world?
In Imagined Communities, the political theorist Benedict Anderson argues that the three institutions of power that shape national consciousness under colonial rule are the map, the census, and the museum. Inspired to explore this tripartite framework in a neoliberal context, my project will focus on “a museum” of portraits that visualize Asian American images and language. Utilizing photographs of participants and self-identified information from the survey that they fill out, the program will create typographic portraits of the participants. The program will also include a live webcam that integrates audience members into the digital nationhood.
CREATIVE PROCESS
I conducted interviews with 24 individuals from the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. Each individual was asked to complete short-answer questions on their self-identity and a word-association game with words related to political, personal, and interpersonal relationships.
Taking these answers and self-images provided by the individuals, the Processing program creates personalized typographic portraits through a pixel manipulation algorithm. The portraits undergo a fluxing animation sequence inspired by the Gestalt principles, before turning indecipherable. The screen then prints "ASIAN AMERICA", which explodes and disperses into infinitesimal particles. The program then repeats the process with the next portrait.
The program also includes a live webcam mode that welcomes audience members into the digital nationhood. This mode alternates between 1) live webcam footage that is manipulated to print "ASIAN AMERICA" continuously and 2) a screen that prints the statement "I AM DIASPORA." Audience members switch between the live webcam mode and typographic portraits mode via keyboard interactivity.
THEORY + INFLUENCES
Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities
Lev Manovich, The Language of New Media
Marshall McLuhan, "The Medium is the Message"
Sherry Turkle, "Virtuality and Its Discontents"
Alexandra Chang, Envisioning Diaspora: Asian American Visual Arts Collectives
Elaine Kim et. al, Fresh Talk/Daring Gazes: Conversations on Asian American Art
Lisa Nakamura, Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet
David Roh et. al, Techno-Orientalism: Imagining Asia in Speculative Fiction, History, and Media
