The Digital Hand

Technocapitalism and the post-haptic age.

Social media acts as a microcosm of neoliberal society. We are encouraged to ‘make it’ in the digital world, to be content creators and compete in the digital marketplace for more likes, followers, and exposure. Our personal life becomes a business. Without questioning or even realizing it, we allow ourselves to be datafied and commodified.

I have been interested in the ways that the ‘invisible hand’ functions in the virtual world. The ‘invisible hand’ is Adam Smith's concept, popularized in the 1980s by Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. The theory describes a trickle-down system, where an unregulated market would bring wealth and prosperity to all. In the 1980s this idea was extended to the digital world, promising opportunity and connection to all.

In this series, I employ Foucault's ‘entrepreneur of the self’; which describes the way in which neoliberal economies invade our private spheres, making us see ourselves as a business. I was drawn to the way that social media influencers seem to have unconsciously embodied the 1980s Yuppie culture in today’s ‘open market’ (the internet). This inspired a collaboration with my model, to create a character that is blasé in her relationship with the digital hand.