Over 25 years since the World Wide Web phenomenon began, computer scientists, social psychologists, writers, and artists are now questioning how digital technologies are impacting our daily lives.

The personal computer, touch screen devices, and always-on wearables now form the very fabric of how we engage and connect globally. Our prolific participation in social media, taking selfies, live streaming and constant sharing of personal information gives rise to big data profiling. Willingly or unwillingly, our output in this global digital community demands a representation of the self. This ‘self’ is often fractured between text, sound, visuals, or data, filtered across different platforms as a multiple of identities.

Linking new studies of the digital self to the critical concerns and creative tools of artists, this diverse public programme explores questions of identity, authenticity, narcissism, disembodiment, and parody. Through photography, video and web artworks, digital interventions, talks, workshops and selected reading, digital_self explores how the self is performed, promoted and exposed by a digital generation now accustomed to mediating their private and public lives online.

From the landmark performances of Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T) in the late 60s to more recent web based projects and performances we trace the integration of art, technology and internet processes over time through a selections of projects by Irish and international artist. Participants include Johann Arens, Julie Martin & Billy Klüver (E.A.T), Jonathan Mayhew, Eilis McDonald, Jayson Musson, Theresa Nanigian, Molly Soda, Amalia Ulman. The informal setting of IMMA Project Spaces offers visitors a moment for pause and reflection on the ways the web is changing us, its potential to transform how we engage with art, and what this means for our sense of self, on and off line.

Concurrent exhibitions at IMMA by Rodney Graham and Lucian Freud whose self-portraitures play with the perceived persona of the artist offers the departure to revisit how portraiture has acquired new meaning in this digital era.

A Public Programme of talks, events and online projects invites all ages to explore the ways new technologies are transforming how the self is voiced, shaped and understood in various digital realms.

All events are free of charge. All past talks are available in the digital_self Playlist on the IMMA Soundcloud Channel.