FAUT–IL ENVISAGER LA FIN DES VISAGES ? REFLEXIONS SEMIOTIQUES SUR CYBERPUNK 2077

This essay proposes a reflection on the semiotic consequences of replacing the biological aspects of our face with technological devices. We begin by examining the discursive regime of the face up to the th century, articulated by the opposition between the face and the mask that led to the participatory term of the ‘visage’. We then show how the contemporary socio–technical and epistemic context already challenges this model, which seems to be giving way to an ideal and an aesthetic of the face–image in which the face is a support with no more constraints and which must be able to signify anything. An ideal that challenges all cultural models of semiotic interpretation of the face and turns the face into a semiotic paradox. We then take as a case study the  video game “Cyberpunk ”, a particularly interesting text because it fully realises this ideal through an imagery in which all biological bodies are strongly integrated with machines and devices. We analyse the creation of the player's avatar, the faces of the characters that inhabit this virtual world and the key points of its story. An analysis that shows the disappearance of the face in this future context, but also that, even in this situation, the face resists and maintains its full semiotic status. Finally, in our conclusions, we stress the importance for the human sciences of studying contemporary face– imaging practices and rethinking the notion of device.