visuality

Visuality refers to the conditions through which seeing is produced and experienced, including images, signs, media technologies, and environments that organize attention and interpretation. It's not just about what is seen, but how visibility is configured, distributed, and controlled.

In art, cinema, design, and everyday life, visuality encompasses representation, perception, and spectatorship. It covers still photography, motion pictures, digital imagery, virtual and augmented reality, as well as user interfaces and urban space.

Theoretical approaches to visuality include phenomenology, which examines the embodied act of seeing; critical and cultural theories, which explore power, ideology, surveillance, bias, representation, and inclusion; semiotics, which studies signs and codes that give images meaning; and visual culture studies, which analyze images within social contexts and networks.

Technology and practice shape visuality through platforms, algorithms, and media infrastructures that determine what is shown and who can see. This gives rise to concepts such as algorithmic visuality, filter bubbles, and data-driven imagery. Ethical considerations in depiction, representation, and access are central to understanding visuality's political dimensions.

Visuality is a dynamic field that reflects how societies see themselves and others, continually transformed by technological developments, institutions, and cultural change.