Abstract
This case study examined several images from a series of related, technologically-influenced artworks. The images were composed during collaborative group work where the participants' goal was to create an illustrated narrative that retold an ancient myth in a modern, technological context. The images were analyzed through a visual and social semiotic lens in order to understand this particular group's assumptions about human and technological relations. Although technology is often implicitly associated with modernist terms (such as instrumental or utilitarian), postmodern interpretations of technology are becoming more culturally widespread and are garnering closer examination. Analyses of the images drawn by the principal artist suggest postmodern interpretations of human-technological integration. Rather than showcasing modernist qualities of completeness and instrumentality, technological integration in the selected artworks appeared to be depicted as partial, fetishized, and simulated.
About the author
Her research interests are visual semiotics, social semiotics, technological culture, and postmodern philosophies. Her publications include ‘Eye wax cybernetic: visualizing images of human/technological fusion’ (2003); and ‘nora: doll-maiden; hedda: suicide-mother; alving: ghost crone’ (2003); ‘Soft leaders, hard artifacts, and the groups we rarely see: Using video to understand peer learning processes’ (with C. Hmelo-Silver et al., in press).
© Walter de Gruyter
