Digital technology erases touch as a sensory experience
Marcello Faletra contends that digital advancements have rendered touch obsolete as a key means of understanding, rendering modern anthropology and the aesthetics of touch nearly unfeasible. He observes that mirrors no longer represent the body, and hands fail to engage with tangible objects. Citing Claude Lévi-Strauss's "The Raw and the Cooked," he argues that the loss of physical contact is a collective concession to the supremacy of digital technology. Once vital for experience, touch has disappeared, and mistakes are prohibited in the digital sphere. This results in a body-less existence, akin to Marcel Duchamp's celibate machines. The divide between art and life, created by digital tools, compels artists to either embrace error or conform to digital idealism.
Key facts
- Marcello Faletra authored the article published in Artribune Magazine #40.
- The article discusses the loss of touch due to digital technology.
- Faletra references Claude Lévi-Strauss's 'The Raw and the Cooked'.
- Marcel Duchamp's 'The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even' is cited as an example of tactile error.
- Virtual exhibitions of Klimt and van Gogh are mentioned as instances of touch exiting experience.
- The article contrasts living histories with simulations and artist-artisans with idolaters of technique.
- Faletra is a essayist, artist, and author focusing on art criticism, aesthetics, and critical image theory.
- The article appears in Artribune Magazine, an Italian art publication.
Entities
Artists
- Marcello Faletra
- Claude Lévi-Strauss
- Marcel Duchamp
- Gustav Klimt
- Vincent van Gogh
Institutions
- Artribune