As I sit here typing, bathed in the light of my laptop computer, I cannot help but feel like I am personifying a term that I didn't even know existed until a few weeks ago. The irony of the situation is enhanced by the fact that at this very moment i am writing for a blog, and the iPod by my side seals the deal - I am a digital negative.
I came across the phrase 'digital negative' at an exhibition held at the CCC Strozzina (Centro di Cultura Contemporanea a Palazo Strozzi) in Florence, entitled Virtual Identities. It is an exhibition that confronts the role of technology in today's society and how it has affected social interaction and self perception/expression. Virtual Identities features the work of several artists who concentrate on the different ways in which technology has influenced communication across different generations.
Advertising for 'Virtual Identities' outside the CCC Strozzina
An artist whose work I found to be the extremely profound was Evan Baden, who presented a series of photographs expressing the concept of the digital negative. The term 'Digital negative' refers to someone that has grown up with the internet at their disposal. We are those who rely on digital devices to keep us connected with the outside world . We depend on technology for information, entertainment, social networking and self expression to the point when our virtual lives begin to overtake our real ones.
"Lila with a Nintendo DS" from the series 'The Illuminati' by Evan Baden.
Titled The Illuminati, Baden's collection of portraits captures teenagers and young adults while using portable electronics. Laptops, mobile phones, iPods, and gaming consoles are the only sources illuminating the blank stares of their operators. With a haunting blue light cast across their faces, the subjects appear ghostlike – representing the detachment from physical awareness people experience while interacting with digital devices. Baden's photos are provocative, and somewhat frightening in the way they perfectly express the mentality of an entire generation. Through his photos, Baden addresses the negative side of modern technology and the extremity to which it has manifested itself in our daily lives.
- Laura M, Jessica and Kelvin
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