Networked Self-representation: From the mobile screen to the video installation
My presentation at Elastic Spaces Symposium will foreground the tensions involved in the phenomena of selfies, understood as networked digital representations produced globally, in first person. Following the social political implications of this type of images, which imply a set of performances of race, gender, sexuality and social class, I created two pieces during the last year.
The audiovisual performance “Dating for export”, which integrated a soundscape performed live and the prototype of a 3D film, in which I quoted the standardized fashion in which users showcase themselves in the profiles of gay dating apps. As well, the multichannel video installation “Audiovisual Jungle: latino bodies & export fruit”, that combined a large projection and 8 LED monitors. Inspired by mobile screen imagery, as well as using it as the primary medium, both pieces aimed to expose the objectification and fetishization of latino bodies, at once exotized for white consumption and facing exclusion in the North American context.
Francisco Gonzalez-Rosas is a Chilean mixed media artist. His work is located at the intersection of sound, video and performance, exploring questions on self representation, gender, ethnicity and sexuality and their link to technology and digital media. He is Currently based in Montreal, Canada, doing the MFA in Intermedia at Concordia University. http://franciscogonzalezrosas.com/