William R. Macauley versión en español

"From Rubber Catsuits to Silicon Wetware: Transforming the Human Body and Polymorphic Desire(s) in Synthetic Media"

This paper will examine ways in which the corporeal body can be transformed in material practices and discourses associated with specialized clothing/technologies which envelop the body. In particular, the paper will focus on recent research and images/discourses which emphasize 'dressing up' in peripheral interface devices (e.g., DataGlove, head-mounted display) designed to facilitate perception and action in immersive virtual environments (i.e., cyberspace). It will be argued that ambiguous forms of embodiment and human-computer interaction (HCI) afforded by virtual reality (VR) technologies, are often rendered as 'natural' and/or legible through dominant (scientific and populist) discourses. However, these complex socio-technical practices can also facilitate alternative readings and transgressive (re)configurations of the human bodyscape --functionally, aesthetically and perceptually-- to produce synthetic (id)entities with fetishistic properties. Furthermore, it will be argued that there is a considerable amount of interplay or 'boundary crossing' between scientific, populist and erotic discourses regarding synthetic interfaces or bodily transformation which result from modifications to phenomenal (e.g., visuo-tactile) properties of the body surface. For example, eroticization of the 'female' body can be found in a variety of discourses which attempt to describe/explain body augmentation prior to/during/after sensorial immersion in synthetic media (e.g., rubber catsuit, lycra DataSuit, silicon-based neural prostheses). A selection of academic/scientific material will be presented to illustrate the design, development and application of effective interfaces (sensorimotor prostheses) for VR systems and direct brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). Similarly material from mass media (e.g., film, fashion journals, TV adverts) and specialist erotica (e.g., rubber/plastic/lycra fetish magazines, pages from 3W sites) will be utilized in order to illustrate some of the ways in which discourses surrounding cyberspace and immersive VR technologies, involve sublimation of 'polymorphously perverse' (non-genital) sexual desires and practices into more socially acceptable forms ((techno)fetishism).

Biography:

Ray Macauley is a staff member and research student in the Department of Psychology, University of Manchester, UK. His research interests include: the psychophysics of body-image, perception of tactile space, cyborg discourse, polymorphic desire and (techno)fetishism in post-industrial cultures. His doctoral research is on (tele)presence and proprioception in immersive virtual environments. Last year he presented a paper at the "Virtual Futures 1995" conference (University of Warwick, UK). He has recently coauthored two papers on cyborgs; one paper has been published in "The Cyborg Handbook" (New York/London: Routledge) and the second will appear in "Psicología, Discurso y Poder" (Madrid: Visor). Search the Web