The Stream of Life

Author

Yitao YuanFollow

Date of Award

Spring 5-31-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Department

Digital Media

First Advisor

Mariela Yeregui

Second Advisor

Reina Mun

Third Advisor

Joan Copjec

Abstract

The repetitive engagement with technological objects erases the depth of emotion by creating habits that bypass embodied and erotic pleasures and lead to a de-sexualized form of technology fetishism. The stimuli produced by machines that humans engage with are not able to convey the strength of intimacy between humans. Such virtual stimuli as the words and images produced and mediated through modern machines continuously shape conscious perception. This thesis book is split into two sections: a theoretical text and a series of images and explanations about my installation practice and process. They both seek to investigate the intersection of human subjectivity, de-sexualized desire, and technological fetishism. By utilizing both my writing and artwork in the form of mechanical installation, fluid projection, and moving images, it seeks to provoke a critical dialogue about the affective human- machine relationship in the digital age after the pandemic. The theory behind the practice will redefine what a de-sexualized machine fetishism is and how it, in the technological society, is transformed from desire to a de-sexualized form. This fetishism as a metaphorical symbol indicates the fascination toward technological objects, focusing on the dynamics of the notion of the refrain invented by Deleuze and Guattari. The refrain refers to the process that generates differences in repetition and marks the territory, which is pointed out in their co-authored book, A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia (1987). Georges Canguilhem’s philosophical theory of biology, including A Vital Rationalist (1994) and Knowledge of Life (2008), will also be put to use to buttress my arguments. Although Canguilhem disagrees with the other two on the nature of the subject, their common interest, the impact of technology on the human subject, will provide the backdrop for my research. 10 Under such a background, there is a gap emerging between the sex instinct and its expression. The desire of the human subject faces a crisis of de-sexualization. The repetitive interactions with technology become a source of rhythmic repetition and generate the refrain. The refrain of humans operates within this premise of continual attachment with machines, as the de-sexualized machine fetishism. Through a poetic and metaphorical way, my installation attempts to respond to a new phenomenon, a de-sexualization of human desire caused by the super-frequent interaction between human and machine. There are three parts of the installation: the machine, the tank and the projection. The aluminum profiles give the installation itself a metallic texture, constructing the machine part of the installation. The tank part with the mixture of mineral oil and titanium dioxide constitutes the projected medium and cooperates with the projection part to construct the artificial-organic part of the installation. The machine part interacts with the organic part through a rhythmic, repetitive motion, like the refrain of living beings in nature.

Recommended Citation

Yuan, Yitao, "The Stream of Life" (2025). Masters Theses. 1357.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1357

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