Representation of stress on the contemporary body

What emerges through the interaction between the individual and the socio-technologically enhanced society can be seen as the “contemporary body”. This body is perpetually being shaped by its transaction with society, triggered by various stimuli determined by a culture of technology and consumption. Computers and other digital devices used in making new media arts are in the very center of this stress-culture while other media are at its periphery. This indeed gives computer based new media arts vast possibilities in the artistic expression of the contemporary body and stress. While initiating our primary discussions on this topic we have set off by arguing that art forms framed within “new media arts” have the potential of representing the confrontation of our bodies with the socio-technical changes that have been apparent after the turn of the century and reached its zenith during the peak of consumer culture in the 80’s. During the course of research and composition of the dissertation however, fi eld studies were made in various centers of new media culture and extensive research carried out in New York. As a result of these lived experiences and close examination of the international art world we have gradually came to agree that new media arts is still remotely interested in the social concerns eff ecting our bodies. But the crucial aspect of this survey has been to examine the resistance of the individual to being leveled down and worn out by social-technological mechanisms. In this aspect media like video and performance which we refer to as “elder new media arts” stand out as more elaborate ways to represent stress on the contemporary body, which is a social phenomenon. The artists who work with these media are more articulate about the positioning of their own body inside the stressful world. Computer based new media artists on the other hand tend to focus on the possibilities of extending human being’s technological and digital abilities, and elaborate on the utopia of cyber reality, fi nally promoting virtual bodies. In other words they choose to ignore rather than deal with to the socio-technological changes in human life, and transcend into the dream world of cyber culture. We shall see in due course that computer based new media arts does not use to full capacity the potentials off ered by new media. Therefore, to support our argument we have aimed to investigate how technology is used in all of the above-mentioned media: either as a tool or as a purpose. It will be seen that video and performance art use technology as a tool while computer based new media arts use it as a purpose. However, the world we live in is technologically enhanced but still social; it uses digital technology as a tool for development and well being, but it does not let cyber culture prevail over the current social and physical culture. Likewise we cannot yet expect the dominance of digital solutions over social ones. Therefore, a social phenomenon like stress is best examined by artists who are socially aware and use those mediums, which can position a critical approach to stress.