Digital Faces examines the face as a central site in the production, interpretation, and transformation of visual meaning. Bringing together international perspectives in semiotics, visual studies, philosophy of communication, art history, and digital media, the volume investigates how faces are perceived, represented, classified, manipulated, and technologically generated.

The chapters explore the relations between visual cognition and representation across artistic, cultural, scientific, and computational contexts. Particular attention is devoted to the ways in which established traditions of facial depiction interact with photography, digital imaging, algorithmic processing, and artificial intelligence. The volume thus addresses both the persistence of inherited visual conventions and the emergence of new forms of facial visibility, recognition, and signification.

Combining theoretical reflection with the analysis of a wide range of images and media, Digital Faces offers an interdisciplinary account of the changing semiotics of the face. It will be of interest to scholars and students of semiotics, visual communication, digital media, philosophy of communication, art history, digital humanities, and visual culture.

Massimo Leone is Professor of Philosophy of Communication and Semiotics at the University of Turin, Italy, and Director of the Center for Religious Studies at the Bruno Kessler Foundation, Trento. He is also Part-Time Professor of Semiotics at Shanghai University, an Associate Member of Cambridge Digital Humanities, and Adjunct Professor at Andrés Bello Catholic University, Caracas. He was the Principal Investigator of the ERC Consolidator Grant project FACETS and the ERC Proof of Concept project EUFACETS. His research focuses on semiotics, visual culture, religion, digital communication, and artificial intelligence.