Abstract
This essay examines the evolving relationship between photography and virtuality, analyzing how digital technologies have transformed the photographic medium’s ontological and epistemological foundations. Drawing on Jean Baudrillard’s theory of simulation and Roy Ascott’s concept of technoetics, the essay explores how the indexical nature of photography—traditionally linked to realism and truth—has been destabilized in the digital era. With the rise of computational image-making, AI-generated imagery, and immersive media such as virtual and augmented reality, photography has shifted from documenting the real to generating hyperrealities that often precede or replace physical referents. Baudrillard’s notion of the simulacrum frames this shift, suggesting that photography now operates in a regime of signs untethered from material reality. Simultaneously, Ascott’s technoetic perspective reimagines the photograph as a participatory, networked experience, embedded within systems of consciousness, interactivity, and transformation. The essay further considers how social media platforms and virtual environments have redefined the production, circulation, and perception of photographic images, challenging traditional notions of authorship, authenticity, and temporality. Photography becomes not merely a representational tool but a dynamic interface shaped by algorithmic logic, interface design, and participatory culture. By examining the medium through the dual lenses of simulation and cybernetic art theory, this study argues that photography in the virtual age occupies a fluid, post-indexical space—one that demands new critical frameworks for understanding its aesthetic, political, and cultural implications.
Presenters
Bill HillExecutive Director, STEAM Institutue, Jacksonville Univesity, Florida, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Authenticity, Authorship, Hyperreality, Indexicality, Simulation, Virtuality
