Thirteenth International Conference on The Image

Abstract

The period of confinement due to the pandemic greatly increased the use of digital platforms and programs and, consequently, the time spent in front of the screens and monitors of computers and cell phones. Technical geolocation devices such as Google Street View, despite being known since 2007 under this new context, have expanded their application in didactic activities, artistic experiments and language research, beyond the uses dedicated to the recognition of the territory. Considering this tool and its different aesthetic applications and experiments, the paper discusses the ways in which the perception of urban space is affected when mediated by new technologies such as Street View. The approach is based on experiments within the field of art and photography that tension the applied uses of this platform; Jonathan Crary’s reflections on the transformations of perception due to new urban configurations and the massive use of optical devices; and the concept of ‘apparatus’ in Vilém Flusser.