The New Self-Portrait

Being authentic and creative started as a romantic culture countering the technocratic oder, but nowadays this has become the social norm. As we all take part in using Social Media, we want to show how true we are to ourselves, and just as important, share this with others. It has become an on- and offline competition to become more true to yourself than others. Everybody is an artist. Tools, techniques and an individual feel for aesthetic have become more readily available and easier to use. We copy, buy, consume and create more creative and authentic output than ever. What role is there left for the artist now creativity, the self and authenticity have taken a central role inside every individual of modern society, now that everyone is an artist?

From a fascination in the self-portrait and Digital Humanities I started with capturing my own life. Known as Lifelogging. Lifeloggers wear computers to capture big parts of, or their whole lives. I am using lifelogging software to research how I can create self-portraits with these computers. This is mainly about the “raw data”. By using my computer, I (or actually my computer) converts this information into images; without making exceptions or compromises. From these experiments emerged my research question:

How can I create a new form of self-portrait with my computer?