Finding humanity in algorithmic bodies for non-linear narratives
Abstract
This paper will discuss non-linear narratives and storytelling that are modelled through algorithmic bodies in Database Aesthetics. It will be viewed through the lens of DiNa (2004), an interactive network-based multimedia installation by Lynn Hershman Leeson. Throughout this case study we look more into the creation of meaning on the internet, with an overview of how the arrangement of algorithmic elements and datasets create many narratives that go with the paradigm shift of new aesthetics. It questions the way these databases model their shape through anthropomorphism, creating many forms of humanoids that are in constant fluidity. Hence, meaning becomes constructed through the configuration of elements whose source is based upon an overflow of information. However, their visual representation still relies on an anthropocentric viewpoint. With this opposition we ask how these databases can create human meanings through an overflow of information.
Keywords: Storytelling, Database Aesthetics, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Anthropomorphism, Anthropocene, humanoids, fluid
