Gestes de surface : Touching Reality de Thomas Hirschhorn et What Shall We Do Next? de Julien Prévieux

Both Touching Reality by Thomas Hirschhorn (2012) and What Shall We Do Next by Julien Prévieux (2006-2014) present gestures determined by digital technology. Touching Reality is a video which shows large-scale images of mutilated bodies that a woman’s hand enlarges on a tactile screen. What Shall We...

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Main Author: Pascale Borrel
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Université de Bourgogne 2018-12-01
Series:Interfaces
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/interfaces/601
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author Pascale Borrel
author_facet Pascale Borrel
author_sort Pascale Borrel
collection DOAJ
description Both Touching Reality by Thomas Hirschhorn (2012) and What Shall We Do Next by Julien Prévieux (2006-2014) present gestures determined by digital technology. Touching Reality is a video which shows large-scale images of mutilated bodies that a woman’s hand enlarges on a tactile screen. What Shall We Do Next consists in an animated short film and a choreographic creation based on movements repeated in empty space. They are gestures that computer and video games programmers have had patented with the American agency USPO, gestures relating to devices that are for the moment still being developed. Our aim is to study how these artists have chosen to represent these new body gestures and the way they impact on the real world around us. The focus is here on the hand. Thomas Hirschhorn presents the gesture of the moving hand on the screen, and Julien Prévieux suggests how it slides on the screen. They show how the movements of the fingers on the smooth surface, whether already familiar or still to come, are singular, because they are both delicately precise, but also systematically cold. By associating these light touches to the photos of destroyed bodies, found on social networks, Thomas Hirschhorn reveals the inherent violence which resides in this “fugitive atopia” (Mondzain). Though Julien Prévieux does not crudely represent it, he seems to refer to the same kind of underlying violence.
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spelling doaj-art-b302791fca4c43448744dd4a8cd3ef5d2025-08-20T02:16:10ZengUniversité de BourgogneInterfaces2647-67542018-12-0140556510.4000/interfaces.601Gestes de surface : Touching Reality de Thomas Hirschhorn et What Shall We Do Next? de Julien PrévieuxPascale BorrelBoth Touching Reality by Thomas Hirschhorn (2012) and What Shall We Do Next by Julien Prévieux (2006-2014) present gestures determined by digital technology. Touching Reality is a video which shows large-scale images of mutilated bodies that a woman’s hand enlarges on a tactile screen. What Shall We Do Next consists in an animated short film and a choreographic creation based on movements repeated in empty space. They are gestures that computer and video games programmers have had patented with the American agency USPO, gestures relating to devices that are for the moment still being developed. Our aim is to study how these artists have chosen to represent these new body gestures and the way they impact on the real world around us. The focus is here on the hand. Thomas Hirschhorn presents the gesture of the moving hand on the screen, and Julien Prévieux suggests how it slides on the screen. They show how the movements of the fingers on the smooth surface, whether already familiar or still to come, are singular, because they are both delicately precise, but also systematically cold. By associating these light touches to the photos of destroyed bodies, found on social networks, Thomas Hirschhorn reveals the inherent violence which resides in this “fugitive atopia” (Mondzain). Though Julien Prévieux does not crudely represent it, he seems to refer to the same kind of underlying violence.https://journals.openedition.org/interfaces/601screendigitaltouchconstraintsviolencebroadcasting
spellingShingle Pascale Borrel
Gestes de surface : Touching Reality de Thomas Hirschhorn et What Shall We Do Next? de Julien Prévieux
Interfaces
screen
digital
touch
constraints
violence
broadcasting
title Gestes de surface : Touching Reality de Thomas Hirschhorn et What Shall We Do Next? de Julien Prévieux
title_full Gestes de surface : Touching Reality de Thomas Hirschhorn et What Shall We Do Next? de Julien Prévieux
title_fullStr Gestes de surface : Touching Reality de Thomas Hirschhorn et What Shall We Do Next? de Julien Prévieux
title_full_unstemmed Gestes de surface : Touching Reality de Thomas Hirschhorn et What Shall We Do Next? de Julien Prévieux
title_short Gestes de surface : Touching Reality de Thomas Hirschhorn et What Shall We Do Next? de Julien Prévieux
title_sort gestes de surface touching reality de thomas hirschhorn et what shall we do next de julien previeux
topic screen
digital
touch
constraints
violence
broadcasting
url https://journals.openedition.org/interfaces/601
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