Closed circuit faces. Archeologie del volto in telepresenza

The paper focuses on faces as they are broadcasted in videocalling applications. After analysing the specificity of close-ups in Zoom, Meet or Teams, it addresses the mirror image, in its fundamental connection with the processes of recognition of the self and selfmediation, by examining the first experiences of live mediation of the corporeal self, through faces and bodies, in the videoinstallation works of the ‘70. Then, it examines faces in videocalling as they bear a specific form of gaze, one that does not allow the reciprocity of staring back at the image of the other and the self, but rather results in a permanent deviation and delay of the function of looking. Relying upon an analysis of the apparatus of close-circuit television (CCTV), pictorial tropes, videoart and current digital mediality, the paper aims at outlining possible archeological trajectories of telepresence in videoconference platforms.