Plastic borders: on the photographic frame and its virtual experience

Abstract

During the last decade, a number of media theorists have defended the idea that photography, through its new computational and networked existence, is progressively losing its representational identity. While it is evident that the computational materiality of networked photographs has turned most distributed images into data generating assets, the way most photographs continue to operate in our society suggests that the specificity of the medium remains practically unaltered since modernist times. In an age where immersive virtual worlds will soon dominate our online interactions, this paper discusses the current forms and uses of photography within the emerging virtual spaces. Through practice-led, experimental research on the use of virtual cameras to record immersive, lived experiences, and the analysis of recent works produced by the so-called virtual photographers documenting their gaming interactions, this study investigates the value of the photographic frame as a still, two-dimensional representation, while questioning its function within extended reality environments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. The potential of the Metaverse was discussed on a livestreamed promotional video by Meta’s founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, (As of 28 December, 2021. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKPNJ8sOU_M).

2. See Zylinska, Nonhuman Photography; and Dewdney, Forget Photography.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the University of Westminster [Pilot Grant].

Notes on contributors

Paula Gortázar

Paula Gortázar is a photography researcher, artist and lecturer based in London. She was awarded her PhD from the University of Westminster in 2018. Paula’s research has been published in various academic journals, including Photography and Culture, Third Text, and Fotocinema. She currently lectures in photography at the University of Westminster in London.