Avatar, Cyborg, Icevorg: Simulacra’S Scion
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Virginia Commonwealth University VCU Scholars Compass Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2015 AVATAR, CYBORG, ICEVORG: SIMULACRA’S SCION Guido E. Alvarez Virginia Commonwealth University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd Part of the Digital Humanities Commons, Fine Arts Commons, Interdisciplinary Arts and Media Commons, Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons, and the Sculpture Commons © The Author Downloaded from https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/4026 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at VCU Scholars Compass. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of VCU Scholars Compass. For more information, please contact [email protected]. © Guido Esteban Alvarez 2015 All Rights Reserved AVATAR, CYBORG, ICEVORG: SIMULACRA’S SCION A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University by Guido Esteban Alvarez Bachelor of Fine Arts in Design, Universidad del Azuay, Ecuador, 1994 Master of Fine Arts in Design, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2004 Director: Dr. Richard Fine Professor, Department of English Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, Virginia December 2015 ii For You iii Ave, Scientia, morituri te salutant iv Table of Contents Page Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. ii List of Figures ......................................................................................................................v Abstract .....................................................................................................................7 PROEM .....................................................................................................................9 CHAPTER 01 .........................................................................................................29 CHAPTER 02 .........................................................................................................51 CHAPTER 03 .......................................................................................................101 CHAPTER 04 .......................................................................................................135 CHAPTER 05 .......................................................................................................174 CHATPER 06 .......................................................................................................212 CHAPTER 07 ........................................................................................................281 References ........................................................................................................................323 Appendices .......................................................................................................................349 A [Regrets] flash fiction by Guido Alvarez .......................................................349 B Collection of evidence during trip to Europe .................................................352 C VITA ..............................................................................................................353 v List of Figures Page Figure 1: Evidence .............................................................................................................12 Figure 2: Contrails .............................................................................................................32 Figure 3: Bible Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ...........................................................34 Figure 4: How to Identify Warplanes ................................................................................37 Figure 5: Feininger, Lyonel. Woodcut. ..............................................................................55 Figure 6: The Cathedral of Simulacra ................................................................................65 Figure 7: Cary Street Gym details .....................................................................................68 Figure 8: Baptismal Fountain................................ .............................................................71 Figure 9: Shadowing Self...................................................................................................89 Figure 10: Touching .........................................................................................................109 Figure 11: God’s finger on print. .....................................................................................128 Figure 12: Void Between Gods ........................................................................................142 Figure 13: Touchable Virgin ............................................................................................152 Figure 14: So Near Yet So Far .........................................................................................153 Figure 15: Visual Approach to The Pietà ........................................................................159 Figure 16: The Attacker ...................................................................................................169 Figure 17: ICEVORG medium ........................................................................................173 Figure 18: James Cameron’s Avatar ................................................................................202 vi Figure 19: Intel Inside ......................................................................................................242 Figure 20: Le Maitre du Plaisir ........................................................................................276 Figure 21: Pistorius Cyborg .............................................................................................286 Figure 22: Pistorius ICEVORG .......................................................................................289 Figure 23: BRIDE ............................................................................................................290 AVATAR, CYBORG, ICEVORG: SIMULACRA’S SCION Guido Alvarez, Ph.D. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University, 2015 Major Director: Dr. Richard Fine Professor, Department of English Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, Virginia December 2015 8 Abstract Reality is nevermore. Reality, or our state of being, has always been a site of contestation. Avatars are representations of us; they are digital beings emerging from our minds to populate and add a new layer of simulation to our conception of reality. Avatars now penetrate our consciousness and demand our attention. They need us, but not as much as we need them. Avatars are digital containers of identity operated by us, their initial puppeteers. They are the key cultural constituents of what French theorist Jean Baudrillard (1994) conceptualized as the hyperreal. I propose a theoretical framework that describes how avatars incorporate media as an inherent part of their nature and find a hosting body in cyborgs to navigate and spawn in media. I propose the birth of a new scion that combines avatar, medium and cyborg into a conceptual being that I call “ICEVORG.” The ICEVORG expands beyond representation into the actual physical world by means of media transgression—more specifically, by the use of the Strange Loop (Hosftadter, 1980, p. 10), as an effective soil to thrive and interrogate our ideas of reality by means of iteration, expansion, fragmentation and naturalization. The development of the framework explains how the conceptual creature spawns in the interstices between fiction and reality. The ICEVORG transgresses boundaries to reach and transcend the concepts of the avatar and cyborg in order to generate meaning and pursue relevance in contemporary society. Through qualitative analysis of two selected case studies I will introduce evidence of ICEVORGS and how they nurture the discourse 9 on the development of identity in cyberspace by becoming agents of change. Finally, in order to construct my argument, I employ autoethnography, a research methodology that allows for a more personal voice to be included as part of the research process. Autoethnography helps me explore and develop the notion of the ICEVORG in the more appropriate context of hybrid media. 10 Proem It was the end of the spring term in 2001. Emilio, my first born, was five months old. He and his mom were arriving from a trip to Los Angeles, and I picked them up at the Richmond International Airport. After not having slept for three consecutive days driving to the airport was an unforgettable adventure. I was attempting to write my first thesis project to present to my academic adviser. I intended to write a “new” theory of design in the interval of a few days, and I discovered, out of exhaustion and frustration, that failure was imminent. Nonetheless, I kept trying. One book just led to another book, which pushed me into the dark and cold abyss of failure. My family members were expected to arrive at midnight, and Red Bull was not an option in 2001, just dark, heavy coffee. So, I drank enough of it to wake up half of the East Coast. I drove in a surreal state. I think that moment must have been close to what descriptions of a drug-induced altered state of mind must feel like. I drove smoothly