We are under going a crisis of civilization. If that is true, then in today's global context identity is also subject to question: we would be undergoing an identity crisis. Kobena Mercer states that "identity only becomes a subject when it is in crisis, when something that is thought to be fixed, coherent and stable, is suddenly moved by the experience of doubt and of uncertainty." * And, "moved by the experience of doubt and of uncertainty", is what I am. In times of cloning, in which man claims, through genetic engineering, to create other beings, this is a question that makes sense.
What is the impact of globalization over cultural identity? Giddens states that "while different areas of the globe are connected to each other, waves of social transformation virtually reach the whole surface of the Earth." *
Surprisingly, however, this trend of homogenization produces a pulse for the return to the roots that, sometimes, produces an exacerbated ethnic nationalism, followed by religious orthodoxy. This phenomenon makes it all a more complex subject. It is not so much substitution of the local by the global, as a matter of rearticulating the global as the local, in other clothing.
In the end, the concept of identity becomes rather problematic, raising the question: whose identity do we have in modern/postmodern times? *
"Ectype" is a Media art project fostering cultural understanding between the Islamic World and the United States, through a reflection on human identity and parentage in today's self-aware, and unfortunately divided, society.
This project uses Internet and Open Source technologies, which seem to be the best tools to address cross-cultural boundaries and the development of new democracies. The hallmark characteristic of this artistic medium is that it has the advantages of both the interpersonal as well as mass media, but without either of their disadvantages. It is now possible to simultaneously deliver customized messages to a great number of individuals while providing equal access to an artwork, and in the case of "flash mobs" the Net gives individuals opportunities to lead.
These tools for openness (specifically telecommunications and graphics software developed by large gathering of kindred spirits) can be used to successfully elude the conditioning of mass culture, which in its attempts to homogenize creates new divisions. By appealing to the sensitivities of the individual, we believe this work will successfully promote human empathy and a spirit of togetherness.
This project will occupy public spaces and force individuals to ponder their status and the use of ID pictures by the mass media and bureaucracy of modern societies. We will visually show how ethnocentric stereotypes have no currency in a world that needs rebuilding:
A special Photo ID booth connected to internet, will be installed in the town halls of one or two representative cities in each cultural sphere (Islamic World & US).
Identification photographs were selected for one reason because they are needed for passport and other official administrative procedures, and are in use at these government bureaus.
Customers will be able to take ID pictures through the "Ectype" booth for half of the normal money, and every picture will be recorded on a database server.
The purchaser will then receive their photo prints, plus several random portraits coming from the database of the other cultural sphere. While mass data surveillance provides an efficient means of monitoring large numbers of people in order to generate suspicion about specific individuals and select them for closer attention, Ectype project gives an unforeseen anonymous vision of otherness in order to generate a sense of possible fraternity.
From multiple selves to a plural one: in addition, an equal number of pictures coming from each database will be morphed in realtime on the internet, and displayed on a screen at the top of the booth, creating an allegorical anatomy that transcends each participant and creates a concrete collective oneness.
Hopefully, ID snapshots which are normally used to ensure that only those with the required credentials can participate in economic, social and political dimensions of society, will through this work help strengthen and widen the scope of our debate.
Human identity as a result of cultural heritage derives from a profoundly conscious self-image, which orients much of Man's behavior as both individuals and nations.
According to Octavio Paz, a society without poetry or poetry without society does not exist. Poetry, in its broader sense, is understood as the settling of the world through Art. For Paz, both terms seek a mutual conversion: to bring poetry to social life and, at the same time, to socialize the poetic word. Ectype project aims to transform society into a creative community, into a live poem; and to transform the poem into social life, in an embodied image. Confluence between symbolic and spiritual goods, the project tends to inspire relationships among people and groups, renewing experiences and ties of solidarity, creating imaginary and poetic dimensions, indispensable for understanding others and oneself. *
Tentative graphical sketch of an "Ectype" ID photo booth
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