“Alone together, at last. We know we are being watched, but we don’t mind. If this is what it takes to prove we exist, to feel we belong, bring it on. We’re scared and confused, but that’s ok, because we know you are too: after all, you’re not that different anyway. Our cams are always there, almost always on. We can feel the eagerness of your gaze, but still we remain the same – “for real” – locked in our bittersweet solitude, with our bodies sealed in signs. Rather than continue to be victims of the image, we decide to become image. Because we want to be seen. Because we are visual.”

Stoffel Debuysere / Diagonal Thoughts

“With their compendium of Internet videos, Rochette and Claes point to the birth of a new eye, the webcam-eye or the laptop-eye, a ready tool to expose the last inch of yourself, from your soul to your body. Some of these individuals tell us about their break-ups or about their restrictive parents; others show us beautiful rainbows or skate adventures; a pregnant woman shows us her belly, another woman is totally naked in front of the camera, pleasuring herself. This era gave way to an obsession with the self, but not yet to self-obsession; the new technology led to a genuine—if sometimes careless—impulse to record yourself and your daily life, all long before the dawn of content monetisation.”

Dora Leu / kortfilm.be

“Because We Are Visual has become an artifact of media archaeology, observing those strange stages when we were learning how to use video platforms and the awkwardness, innocence, and vulnerability that came with it. What the film captured was the birth of a digital visual psyche, an advent of a new way of interacting with the camera and of representing the self not only on the screen but also on the Internet.”

Dora Leu / kortfilm.be