NOW (IN)EXHALE

publication graphic design Digital Art Quantified Self Health workout applewatch NFC Chip

NOW (IN)EXHALE

MA Graduation Project

Every day, countless individuals around the world are consistently using wearable healthcare devices to document their activity levels, calorie consumption, sleep habits, and numerous other physical and emotional factors. These technologies offer users a physical and intelligent companionship, recording body-related information across various spaces and times they access. However, Deborah Lupton (2016) highlights that digital technology tools are not mere neutral objects; they are socio-cultural products located within pre-established circuits of discourse and meaning, actively shaping human bodies and selves. As non-intrusive tracking and intimacy seamlessly integrate into daily life, surveilling and overtly interfering with human behavior, the boundaries between individuals and machines become increasingly blurred. For those deeply engaged with wearable devices, the growing trust and reliance on these gadgets are guiding them to use data output as a standard for self-judgment.

NOW (IN)EXHALE is a graphic research archive that compiles persuasive self-tracking discourses from digital health technologies. From the perspective of machine linguistics, the project aims to expose the dominant role of digital health technologies and their constraints and dependencies subtly imposed on the human psyche and body, as well as the implications for individual autonomy and agency. Through the meticulous process of microscopic images of the human body and the strategic presentation of contextual pop-up information, I intend to visualize the constantly quantified human body in the digital realm, along with the inconspicuous biopedagogy of technology. This project encourages a thoughtful and introspective examination of the way we shape ourselves and our lives in the Digitized Information Age.

The final outcome is a printed publication integrated with an NFC chip. When the audience flips through the pages, the embedded instructional video can be projected onto their mobile phones.