User:Ruben/RWRM/First draft of preliminary project proposal

The systems in which emote / Systems of emotion

The more people feel, the more they spend. Research has firmly established that emotional content is the key to successful media and business results. Intangible ‘emotions’ translate into concrete social activity, brand awareness, and profit. (RealEyes)

Emotions drive spending. (Emotient)

In my previous writings I have been outlining the quite new technologies of emotion analysis. As the previous quotes show, the algorithmic analysis of facial expressions -- which are emotions in the Massumian sense -- are brought forward with much bombast, and promises. But, as I have explained before, these claims are over exaggerated. Firstly, to stick with our Massumi vocabulary, emotions are often mixed up with feelings (that which we experience in our minds) and affect (the immediate, which we experience in our bodies). Even the Chief Science Officer of Affectiva, Rana el Kaliouby, states that emotion technologies/affective technologies, should acknowledge the ambiguity and complexity of the human affective system (2009).

Besides, the focus of psychologists and marketeers, seems to be primarily on the human-computer and human-human interactions. They hardly underpin the influence of these quantitative technologies for the human-self relation. Therefore I would like to argue that these affective/emotion technologies are and will be technologies of the self. They will not only influence how we look at others, but also how we look at ourselves. Taking this as my starting point, I want the following months to dive into the implications of this connection, and pose further questions. Is indeed emotion technology a technology of the self, or have emotions already and always -- at least since the invention of the mirror -- been technologies of the self? And when we talk about technologies of the self, we have to interrogate the forms of governmentality that shape the structures and systems of power which control these emotion-technologies.

Following my last projects which derived an interest in cynicism and sincerity, the final question to rise would be how emotion as technology of the self relates to the notion of sincerity. We often assume emotions are more sincere and 'natural' than intelligence, but does the one not influence the other? This means I have to investigate the notion of sincerity in relation to emotions and emotion technologies.

There are people whom are already trained to be hypersensitive to their emotions, and are trained in steering them: actors. Therefore, I propose to start of by interviewing them. Not to see how they employ their emotive skills in their work -- as that is a long discussed topic -- rather, I'm curious how their hyper-self-awareness influences their everyday interactions. How do their roles they play influence their relations with others, with the world (ie. when being in the supermarket) or with themselves? If sincerity is about being yourself, then how do they look at the notion of 'identity'?

After these interviews/mini-documentaries I believe a next, more interactive, step needs to be taken. An application of the findings of the interviews. I don't have it clear yet what this would be, but I believe it is essential to bring the thoughts and experiences of actors into practice. Possibly in some sort of 'social experiment' (whatever that may imply).

As a second threat, I believe it's interesting to eventually complement these interviews with scripted scenes on how we present ourselves. For example the scene I talked about earlier: a meeting at a speed dating session -- a setting which already inhabits the question of sincerity, as it is a controlled environment that is used to find love, something that is (perceived as) more 'natural'.

A somewhat related project is done by Christian Nold. With his project Bio Mapping he tracks both the position of people, and their skin conductivity -- which is said to be related to stress -- he then maps this out. Though to be honest I find this project quite limited in its critique/statement. For now I am open to other references as well.

So what is now concretely left to do? Firstly the interviews. From that I should derive some practical work on based on my first research and on which I can base further research. Secondly I will have to investigate the notion of sincerity further. Possible readings for that are Foucault (The History of Sexuality, 1976-1984, The Birth of Biopolitics, 1978-1979 and Security, Territory, Population, 1977-1978) and Emotional Cartography which is edited by Christian Nold. Finally I will have to write/film some fictional scenes which address my research or pose the problems of some these notions.