Digital Image as a Semiotic Agent

Abstract

In the context of the computational and algorithmic revolution, the digital image more than ever elevates the status of representations to the sphere of processes and operations. In a more general context, images can be seen as cultural agents, progressively developing new habits by promoting mediations between multiple subjects, whether human or nonhuman. From this perspective, we may question what characterizes the dynamics of those images. Can we consider digital images to be semiotic agents? Admitting this premise implies highlighting images not only as results or instruments but as integrated participants in processes. In light of this, we explore the digital image as a semiotic agent, from a Peircean semiotic perspective, from which the digital image can be seen as a sign, a dialogical being inserted in a network of relations.