(Self-)staging of the body in media has shaped our image of what is beautiful and desirable: youthful models, athletic actors, supernatural superheroes. At the same time, casting calls for models, makeup tutorials, video instructions, and apps for optimizing the body now more than ever offer the opportunity to condition and present our selves and our bodies according to our own wishes and ideal images.

Using selected videos from the Archive of the IMAI Foundation as examples, artistic engagement with beauty and the ideal of the body will be discussed as well as the role of technical media and their aesthetics.