Book Launch: Self-Representation in an Expanded Field
Channel: MDPI Books
Date: 2021-06-01

MDPI Books is presenting the release of a new Open Access book. In the first virtual book launch, we host and introduce the edited volume Self-Representation in an Expanded Field: From Self-Portraiture to Selfie, Contemporary Art in the Social Media Age of the book series State of the Arts–Reflecting Contemporary Cultural Expression.

Freely available at: https://www.mdpi.com/books/pdfview/edition/2034

Message from the Chair:
Defined as a self-image made with a hand-held mobile device and shared via social media platforms, the selfie has facilitated self-imaging, becoming a ubiquitous part of globally networked contemporary life. Beyond this, selfies have facilitated a diversity of image-making practices and enabled otherwise representationally marginalized constituencies to insert self-representations into visual culture. Art historically self-portraiture has been somewhat rigidly albeit obliquely defined, and selfies have facilitated a shift regarding who literally holds the power to self-image. Like self-portraits, not all selfies are inherently aesthetically or conceptually rigorous. But, –as this project addresses via a variety of interdisciplinary approaches– selfies have irreversibly impacted visual culture, contemporary art, and portraiture in particular. As the authors of this volume demonstrate selfies propose new modes of self-imaging, forward emerging aesthetics, and challenge established methods, they prove that as scholars and image-makers, it is necessary to adapt and innovate in order to contend with the most current form of self-representation to date. The dynamic, interdisciplinary scholarship gathered herein reveals that in our current moment, it is necessary and advantageous to consider the merits and interventions of selfies and self-portraiture in an expanded field of self-representation. The contributing authors take interdisciplinary global perspectives, to investigate various sub-genres, aesthetic practices, and lineages in which various forms of self-imaging intervene and enrich the discourse on self-representation in the expanded field today.

Thank you for your interest in this project and welcome to our book launch,
Ace Lehner, PhD
Editor

Chapters:
Introduction
► From Self-Portrait to Selfie: Contemporary Art and Self-Representation in the Social Media Age
     ACE LEHNER (ED.)

Issues in Self-Representation
Between Our Selves: Conversations on Race and Representation
SITA KURATOMI BHAUMIK

► Feeling Myself: Loving Gestures and Representation in Mickalene Thomas: Muse
     NATALIE ZELT

From Self to #Selfie: An Introduction
RUDY LEMCKE

Selfie Shifts
► Race for the Prize: The Proto-Selfie as Endurance Performance Art
     MARC A. TASMAN

► Reflecting on Life on the Internet: Artistic Webcam Performances from 1997 to 2017
     TINA SAUERLAENDER

Selfie-Wars on Social Media
RAMÓN REICHERT

New Selfie Precedents 
► “First Ever Selfie Cover!”: Cosmopolitan Magazine, Influencers, and the Mainstreaming of Selfie Style
     MEHITA IQANI

► Self-Image as Intervention: Travis Alabanza and the New Ontology of Portrait Photography
     ACE LEHNER (ED.)

---------- Contents of this video ------------------------------------

00:00 - MDPI Intro
03:35 - Book Intro by Chair
08:31 - Intro of Authors
15:50 - Chapter by Zelt
21:15 - Chapter by Sauerlaender
27:20 - Chapter by Tasman
34:28 - Chapter by Iqani
43:10 - Chapter by Lehner
50:53 - Q&A and Discussion
01:24:25 - Ending & Selfie