Abstract

The central thesis of this paper is that in digital media the operations and representations of the human body reveal close somatic and aesthetic links with each other, the latter often working as forms of mitigation of the effects of the former. I will argue, therefore, that, in the digital domain, the modes and contents of representation should not be understood without the embodied relations inherent to the use of devices. For this to be feasible, it is essential to formulate a new conception of the materiality of digital interfaces. Instead of being conceived according to traditional epistemological models—entirely detached from the agent’s performance—such materiality will be thought of in close connection with the nature of embodied relations and the interfaces’ technological structures and functions.