Exploring the Selfie

396 Pages·2018·10.194 MB·English

by  Julia Eckel, Jens Ruchatz, Sabine Wirth

Exploring the Selfi e
Historical, Theoretical,
and Analytical Approaches
to Digital Self-Photography
Edited by
Julia Eckel, Jens Ruchatz, Sabine Wirth
Exploring the Selfie
Julia Eckel • Jens Ruchatz • Sabine Wirth
Editors
Exploring the Selfie
Historical, Theoretical, and
Analytical Approaches to Digital
Self- Photography
Editors
Julia Eckel Jens Ruchatz
Philipps-University Marburg Philipps-University Marburg
Marburg, Germany Marburg, Germany
Ruhr-University Bochum
Bochum, Germany
Sabine Wirth
Philipps-University Marburg
Marburg, Germany
ISBN 978-3-319-57948-1 ISBN 978-3-319-57949-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57949-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017960844
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of
illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and trans-
mission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or
dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or
the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any
errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional
claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Cover illustration: bortonia
Printed on acid-free paper
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer International
Publishing AG part of Springer Nature
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Acknowledgments
This book is the outcome of a conference titled #SEFLIE—Imag(in)ing
the Self in Digital Media, which took place at Philipps-University,
Marburg, Germany, in April 2015 and was made possible through fund-
ing from the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
(DFG), and the Ursula-Kuhlmann-Fonds/Ursula Kuhlmann Fund. We
would like to thank all the participants of the conference for their inspir-
ing input, ideas, and thoughts that directly or indirectly found their way
into this book. Furthermore, we would like to thank Kevin Pauliks for his
help with manuscript preparation. Finally, special thanks go out to
Palgrave Macmillan, especially Martina O’Sullivan, Felicity Plester, and
Heloise Harding, for their kind support and inexhaustible patience with
our project, and to our three anonymous peer reviewers for their produc-
tive comments and encouraging feedback.
v
Contents
1 The Selfie as Image (and) Practice: Approaching Digital
Self-Photography 1
Julia Eckel, Jens Ruchatz, and Sabine Wirth
Part I The Selfie in Media Theory and History 25
2 The Consecration of the Selfie: A Cultural History 27
André Gunthert
3 Selfie Reflexivity: Pictures of People Taking Photographs 49
Jens Ruchatz
4 Locating the Selfie within Photography’s History—and
Beyond 83
Kris Belden-Adams
5 The Selfie as Feedback: Video, Narcissism, and the Closed-
Circuit Video Installation 95
Angela Krewani
vii
viii Contents
Part II The Displayed Self: The Selfie as Aesthetic Object
and Networked Image 111
6 The Selfie and the Face 113
Hagi Kenaan
7 Selfies and Authorship: On the Displayed Authorship
and the Author Function of the Selfie 131
Julia Eckel
8 Competitive Photography and the Presentation of
the Self 167
Alise Tifentale and Lev Manovich
9 Of Duck Faces and Cat Beards: Why Do Selfies Need
Genres? 189
Bernd Leiendecker
Part III The Self on Display: Technology and Dispositif
of the Selfie 211
10 Interfacing the Self: Smartphone Snaps
and the Temporality of the Selfie 213
Sabine Wirth
11 The Video Selfie as Act and Artifact of Recording 239
Florian Krautkrämer and Matthias Thiele
12 Be a Hero: Self-Shoots at the Edge of the Abyss 261
Winfried Gerling
Conten ts ix
13 Strike a Pose: Robot Selfies 285
Lisa Gotto
Part IV Displaying the Self: Social, Political, and Creative
Interventions 303
14 Selfies and Purikura as Affective, Aesthetic Labor 305
Mette Sandbye
15 The Kid Selfie as Self-Inscription: Reinventing
an Emerging Media Practice 327
Alexandra Schneider and Wanda Strauven
16 “Machos” and “Top Girls”: Photographic Self-Images
of Berlin Hauptschüler 351
Stefan Wellgraf
Index 379
Notes on Contributors
Kris Belden-Adams is an Assistant Professor of Art History at the
University of Mississippi (USA) and specializes in the history and theory
of photography. Her work has been published in the journals Lexia:
Journal of Semiotics (2017), Southern Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal
of the South (2017), Photographies (2015), and Afterimage (2012). Essays
and book chapters by Belden-Adams also have been published by
Bloomsbury Academic Press (2017), Peter Lang Publishing (2017), and
the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2012).
Julia Eckel is Research and Teaching Associate at the Institute of Media
Studies at Philipps-University Marburg, and scientific coordinator of the
DFG research training group Das Dokumentarische (“Documentary prac-
tices”) at Ruhr- University Bochum. Her research interests include anthro-
pomorphic motifs in audiovisual media, technologies of the self,
animation, and the temporality of film. Recent publications include:
Zeitenwende(n) des Films (2013); Im Wandel … Metamorphosen der
Animation (ed. with E. Feyersinger, M. Uhrig; 2017); and (Dis)Orienting
Media and Narrative Mazes (ed. with B.  Leiendecker, D.  Olek,
C. Piepiorka; 2013).
xi
xii Notes on Contributors
Winfried Gerling is Professor for Concepts and Aesthetics of New
Media in European Media Studies at the University of Applied Sciences
Potsdam. His research focuses on the theory and practice of photography,
digitality, and media environments. Recent publications include: “Moved
Images—Velocity, Immediacy and Spatiality of Photographic
Communication” in M. Elo, M. Salo, and M. Goodwin, eds., Photographic
Powers (2015); “knipsen” in H.  Christians, M.  Bickenbach, and
N. Wegmann eds., Historisches Wörterbuch des Mediengebrauchs (2014);
and Was der Fall ist (with F. Goppelsröder; 2017).
Lisa Gotto is Professor at Internationale Filmschule Köln and at Cologne
Game Lab, TH Köln/University of Applied Sciences. Her research inter-
ests include media history and media theory, visual aesthetics and digital
media culture. Recent publications include: “Fantastic Views. Superheroes,
Visual Perception and Digital Perspective” in J. Gilmore and M. Storck,
eds., Superhero Synergies. Comic Book Characters Go Digital (2014); and
New Game Plus. Perspektiven der Game Studies. Genres—Künste—Diskurse
(ed. with B. Beil and G. S. Freyermuth; 2015).
André Gunthert is Chair of Visual Studies at the Ecole des Hautes
Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, and a Researcher in cultural history
and visual studies. In 1996 he founded the scientific journal Études pho-
tographiques. He is the author of numerous books and articles on the
history of image practices. Publications include: L’Image Partagée. La pho-
tographie numérique (2015); L’instant rêvé. Albert Londe (1993); and L’Art
de la photographie (ed. with M. Poivert; 2007).
Hagi Kenaan is a Professor of Philosophy at Tel Aviv University, special-
izing in phenomenology, aesthetics, and the philosophy of art. He is the
author of The Ethics of Visuality: Levinas and the Contemporary Gaze
(2013) and The Present Personal: Philosophy and the Hidden Face of
Language (2005) and is currently completing a book on the philosophy
of photography.
Florian Krautkrämer is Visiting Professor at the Johannes Gutenberg
University, Mainz, and wrote his dissertation on the topic of writing in
film (Schrift im Film, 2013) at Braunschweig University of Fine Arts. His
research interests include mobile and portable media, media industries,
and amateur media. Recent publications include “GoPro-Vision und