Auratic Digitalism

Can digital applications create an aura?

7th Semester, Oktober 2022 – February 2023
Physical Computing, Unity Touchdesigner, Exhibition Design,
API-Implementation
In collaboration with: Juan Cruz Caamaño
With the project Auratic Digitalism we attempted to transport a certain feeling of auratic moments into digital media and to harmonize it with digitality.

What fascinates us humans about original paintings in museums? Why do we travel several hours or even take a flight to see a building in another city?

Probably different aspects, but what is very clear and yet unclear is that all these things are enveloped in a certain attraction, a feeling, an “aura”. This feeling is difficult to grasp and yet everyone has experienced this feeling of seeing something that carries a certain atmosphere.
According to the philosopher Walter Benjamin, these things or places receive their “aura” primarily because they stand for their genuineness or authenticity, their uniqueness and their cultural background, usually associated with an aloofness. However, we are increasingly living in a digital world in which we have almost endless opportunities for development. Benjamin sees this as a problem because, according to him, the aura cannot simply continue to exist through reproduction, it is threatened by the amount of data. He explains this process as follows:

“All the techniques of reproduction, dissemination and memory, which had contributed so much to the disappearance of the aura, have been improved to such an extent that the result exceeds our cognitive abilities. As a result, our powers of distinction are inadequate. All the available content cannot be absorbed by the human mind, not even with the help of powerful machines. In other words, it is becoming increasingly difficult to filter the stream of data that hits us every day and focus on the relevant information.”

– translated from German from Benjamin, Walter: Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit (1935)
This development is increasing: we are constantly surrounded by vast amounts of data or hyper-visual imagery in social media. So we asked ourselves: can the digital space create an auratic moment despite or precisely because of its characteristics? How can we collectively transport these sensations into digital space?
In order to pursue these questions, we tried to illustrate how a “digital aura” can unfold in various experimental confrontations. This resulted in four different approaches that focus on people and create interfaces from this multitude of aspects.
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Hi, nice to meet you! I'm Felicitas but you can call me Feli. Currently I started my master's in Design & Future Making at Hochschule Pforzheim.

I'm always open to learn new things and I'm thriving in a dynamic, interdisciplinary and motivated environment. Gladly, I was able to experience such environments besides university during my work at the Institute Design & Systeme in Würzburg, as well as working with the Fraunhofer IIS.

I'm fascinated by the synergy between the analog and digital worlds. This fascination drives me, as I firmly believe that digital media can support us even more in our everyday lives and in more sustainable decisions.


I'm always open for a nice chat and to connect! :)