"The Body and Technology"

The essay is an analysis of the relationship between bodies and technology. Performance becomes a specific medium to explore these connections with technology. The Industrial Revolution forced the body to work as a machine through factories and assembly lines. After the Industrial Revolution, the New Knowledge Economy forced people to think of their bodies in a different way. Through performance art, individuals used their bodies to engage with this idea of the body as a machine. Through advancements in our society, the body interacts with the world on different levels. The invention of photography has changed the way we see the world. The body is placed behind a camera to visualize modernity and change. Humans find it necessary to remember the past through a visual context. Photographs have changed the way bodies interact. Instead of physically engaging with the world around us, we find images of certain aesthetics to relieve such tensions. For example, one may find an image of a painting online, instead of taking a trip to a museum or gallery to physically experience the piece. The Mona Lisa is one of the most reproduced images in the world. Many people know this image, yet do not have the privilege of taking a journey to the Louvre in Paris. Our technologies have compressed time and space to an extent of no return. Will we ever experience the world the same way? Will we ever return to physical experience?