Online Art Therapy: Reimagining Body, Place, Object and Relations in the Digital Era
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Hsu, Tsun-Wei Lily. 2024. Online Art Therapy: Reimagining Body, Place, Object and Relations in the Digital Era. Doctoral thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London [Thesis]
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Text (Online Art Therapy: Reimagining Body, Place, Object and Relations in the Digital Era)
STACS_thesis_HsuTWL_2024.pdf - Accepted Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (11MB) | Preview |
Abstract or Description
Online art therapy, accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, has challenged the existing art therapy paradigm, reshaping all aspects of how art therapists work, including the ways to connect with clients, work with art, and make space for therapy session. This thesis provides a theoretical framework for navigating these challenges, examining the reciprocal process in which technology shapes us as much as we shape it. In the era of rapid digitalisation and AI advancement, I explore the reconceptualisation of the body, place, object, and relationships in art therapy to better understand this emerging way of working. This research adopts a post-humanist lens, viewing the human-technology interaction as a dynamic network, which made this study multidisciplinary in nature. I draw from art therapy and psychodynamics theory, as well as phenomenology, humanistic geography, anthropology, psychology, and visual art theory. Bricoleur approach and digital ethnographic methods were employed for data collection.
The 'cyborg' metaphor is used to understand the intra-twining (Barad, 2007) between the coupling of art therapist and technologies at conscious, pre-conscious, and unconscious levels. My fieldwork first investigates how art therapists develop ability to ‘think with’ the technology, then explore how this 'cyborg body' moves, such as viewing an artwork online, which subsequently unveils a new mode of bodily-based verbal and non-verbal communication specific to a digitally mediated environment. I name this process 'digital muscles'. Moreover, findings from this study led to an expansion of the triangular relationship between the client, the art therapist, and the artwork (Schaverien, 2000), I have incorporated four new elements into the formulation, including: 1) digital object; 2) phenomenological existence; 3) corporeal existence; and 4) spatial element. This has created a three-dimensional, octahedron-shaped diagram representing the 'digital skeleton'—a theoretical scaffold for art therapists navigating the complex layers of working online.
The 'digital musculoskeletal system' proposed in this thesis serves as a framework to aid art therapists in exploring the nuances of how digital technology impacts the therapeutic relationship. This study concludes with future implications of the theory, and suggestions for developing art therapists’ digital literacy. As the line between human and digital objects is increasingly blurred, what are we becoming? And where are we going? This research is an exploration to make sense of, and find grounding in, this rapidly evolving digital era.
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Item Type: |
Thesis (Doctoral) |
| Identification Number (DOI): |
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| Keywords: |
online art therapy, digital ethnography, digital placemaking, post-humanism, cyborg, digital literacy |
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| Date: |
30 April 2024 |
| Item ID: |
36312 |
| Date Deposited: |
16 May 2024 16:24 |
| Last Modified: |
16 May 2024 16:36 |
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URI: |
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