Society. Spaces. Screens

Abstract

Screen studies constitute an interdisciplinary field in which various disciplines intertwine. Therefore, examining screens from multiple perspectives is essential when observing and researching them. However, in facing these complex techno-sociocultural phenomena, or the experience of encountering the world and the self, it is necessary to establish a coherent yet flexible perspective. This study proposes examining screens through the lens of “double logic” as one such method. The screen functions as “a mediating object.” It can be perceived not only as existing between non-mediation and hypermediation but also as an interface, borderline, or liminal zone that moves back and forth between various contradictory domains, such as material/immaterial, visual/tactile, surface/depth, and other dualistic properties, thus producing diverse experiences. This characteristic applies equally to analyzing all types of screens, from the traditional painting canvas to media facades and VR screens. I draw the double logic perspective from Walter Benjamin’s auratic experience and Jacques Lacan’s image-screen diagram. This perspective offers a critical viewpoint that considers the screen not as favoring one side, but as a mediating entity, object, and experience, enabling a balanced critical understanding. Through this approach, we can maintain a critical perspective on technocultural phenomena, allowing for a deeper understanding of how screen culture reveals the issues of communication and conflict within individuals and society and how it presents the self, the other, and the external world.