‘VIRTUAL SOUL’: THE AESTHETICS OF THE DISEMBODIED BEING A Conceptual and Visual Analysis of an Artificial Influencer

Palomino-Flores P.; Berckholtz-Benavides K.; Díaz-Hernández C. · VISUAL Review. International Visual Culture Review / Revista Internacional de Cultura (2026) · DOI: 10.62161/revvisual.v18.5976

Resumen

In the post-digital era, categories such as body, identity, and presence undergo a reconfiguration. Focusing on the Instagram profile of Aitana López, an AI-created influencer, this study explores new forms of technologically mediated existence. Three dimensions are examined: existence as visibility, the body as an aesthetic interface without experience, and the image as an ontological presence. The findings reveal a tendency toward hyperreality and the aestheticization of the body, where the artificial takes precedence over the real. The image no longer merely represents; it acts, interacts, and generates value. Accordingly, rethinking the human requires acknowledging its embodied dimension.

Instituciones: Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas