Book Description Reflecting the dynamic creativity of its subject, this definitive guide spans the evolution, aesthetics, and practice of today’s digital art, combining fresh, emerging perspectives with the nuanced insights of leading theorists. Showcases the critical and theoretical approaches in this fast-moving discipline Explores the history and evolution of digital art; its aesthetics and politics; as well as its often turbulent relationships with established institutions Provides a platform for the most influential voices shaping the current discourse surrounding digital art, combining fresh, emerging perspectives with the nuanced insights of leading theorists Tackles digital art’s primary practical challenges – how to present, document, and preserve pieces that could be erased forever by rapidly accelerating technological obsolescence Up-to-date, forward-looking, and critically reflective, this authoritative new collection is informed throughout by a deep appreciation of the technical intricacies of digital art Show and hide more
Table of Contents
Cover Title Page List of Figures Notes on Contributors Acknowledgments Introduction Histories of Digital Art Aesthetics of Digital Art Network Cultures: The Politics of Digital Art Digital Art and the Institution References Part I: Histories of Digital Art 1 The Complex and Multifarious Expressions of Digital Art and Its Impact on Archives and Humanities Introduction Media Art’s Revolution? Media Art’s Multifarious Potential for Complex Expression Media Art and the Humanities Image Science: From the Image Atlas to the Virtual Museum Art History—Visual Studies—Image Science Complex Imagery Collective Strategies: New Tools for the Humanities The Archive of Digital Art (formerly Database of Virtual Art) Bridging the Gap: New Developments in Thesaurus Research Media Art Education The Problem of Media Art Documentation Today—Future Needs A New Structure for Media Art Research References Further Reading 2 International Networks of Early Digital Arts The IT Sector as Capitalist Dream of Growth The Emergence of Digital Arts and Related Networks Bridging Analog and Digital Art in New Tendencies Digital Art Networks of the 1980s Is It Possible to Organize a Meta-Network? Conclusion References Further Reading 3 Art in the Rear-View Mirror Artists and Media Archaeology—Before the Beginnings Art, Technology, and the Past in the 1950s and 1960s Avant-Garde Cinema, New Film Historicism, and Archaeologies of Projection New Media Art, Media Archaeology, and Female Media Artists Alternative Archaeologies of Moving Images and Sounds: Toshio Iwai and Paul DeMarinis Conclusion: The Media-Archaeological Turn References Further Reading 4 Proto-Media Art An Overview of Postwar Avant-garde Art Collectives, Exhibitions, and Organizations East Asian Avant-garde Art after World War II From Experimental Art to Digital Media Art References 5 Generative Art Theory Introduction What Is Generative Art? Complexity, Systems, and Generative Art The Future of Generative Art References 6 Digital Art at the Interface of Technology and Feminism Exclusions and Exceptions Inclusions Cyberfeminist Critique Networking Communities Hacktivist Pedagogy Representation, Change, and Fabriculture References Further Reading 7 The Hauntology of the Digital Image References 8 Participatory Art A First Thesis A Second Thesis A Third Thesis Four Case Studies of Dynamic Displays Conclusion: Toward an Art of Participation References Part II: Aesthetics of Digital Art 9 Small Abstract Aesthetics Aesthetics Aesthetic Condition Aesthetic Carriers Material Aesthetics Aesthetic Repertory The First Definition of an Aesthetic Condition Processes Aesthetic Distribution Aesthetic Information Reality Themes Creative and Communication Pattern Common Signs Signal and Sign Categories of Signs Semioses Numeric and Semiotic Aesthetics Micro- and Macroaesthetics General Numerical Aesthetics Numerical Macroaesthetics Numerical Microaesthetics Semiotic Macroaesthetics Semiotic Microaesthetics Nuclear Aesthetics Numerical Nuclear Aesthetics Semiotic Nuclear Aesthetics The System of Semiotic Aesthetic Crude and Subtle Aesthetics General Conclusion Acknowledgment 10 Aesthetics of the Digital References 11 Computational Aesthetics Medium Specificity Computational Construction Ten Aspects of Computational Aesthetics If – then References 12 Participatory Platforms and the Emergence of Art Archives, Art Platforms, and Web Communities Total Creativity and Social Media References 13 Interactive Art Introduction: Bodies in Process Bodies and Spaces Interaction and Relation Bodies and Signs Processing Interventions Bodies and Communities Strategies of Engagement Interactive Futures References Further Reading 14 The Cultural Work of Public Interactives Defining Public Interactives Importance of History The Cultural Impact of Public Interactives The Art and Design of Public Interactives Genres of Public Interactives Conclusion: Augmented Public Spaces, Experience Design, and the Technological Literacies of the Future References Further Reading Part III: Network Cultures: The Politics of Digital Art 15 Shockwaves in the New World Order of Information and Communication Introduction The Need for a New Political Economy of Communications “The Last Free Media of the West” The New New World Order Tactical Media Neoliberalism and Its Discontents Art of the Digital Commons Conclusion Acknowledgments References 16 Critical Intelligence in Art and Digital Media Digital Communication Interactive Media Intangible Materials Asymmetric Invisibility The Creative Empire Cultural Economies Imagineering Work A New Spirit of Art Smoke and Mirrors Phantoms in the City Operative Interventions From Tactics to Strategy Forgotten Futures Cultural Intelligence Fiction and Agency References 17 The Silver Age of Social Media References 18 Art in the Corporatized Sphere From Open Fields to Walled Gardens The Aesthetic Mechanics of Social Networks Trading Independence for Audience Appropriating the Platform Asserting Authorship What Defines Ownership Online? The Persistence of the Poor Image Building Critical Economies Acknowledgment References Further Reading 19 Artistic Visualization Defining Data Visualization Reduction and Space Visualization without Reduction Media Visualization: Examples Conclusion References 20 Critical Play Thinking “Critical Play” A Concise History of “Critical Play” Proposition 1: Critical Play Exposes and Examines Dominant Values Proposition 2: Critical Play Can Mean Toying with the Notion of Goals, Making Games with Problematic, Impossible, or Unusual Endings Proposition 3: Criticality Can Lead to Extreme New Kinds of Play, and Make Familiar Types of Play Unfamiliar The Future of Critical Play References Further Reading Part IV: Digital Art and the Institution 21 Contemporary Art and New Media Artworlds Bridging the Gap: Implicit vs. Explicit Influence and Medium Injustice The Post-Medium Condition and Its Discontents Further Provocations The $34.2 Million Question Acknowledgments References 22 One of Us! References 23 The Digital Arts In and Out of the Institution—Where to Now? What? Who? When? Where? How? Why? References 24 The Nuts and Bolts of Handling Digital Art Introduction Fundamental Concepts Learning the Work—Initial Conservation Assessment and Interview Collection and Capture When a Disk Image is Overkill Post-Capture Preparation for Long-term Storage Beyond the File System: Digital Repositories Intervention and Exhibition: Fundamental Treatment Concepts Intervention and Exhibition: The Magnavox Odyssey Documentation Practices Conclusion References 25 Trusting Amateurs with Our Future The Oldest Human Record What Are Professional Archivists to Make of This? The Amateurs Arrive The Amateurs Take Control Outperforming the Professionals: Emulation Learning from the Amateurs: Crowdsourcing Challenges of Proliferative Preservation Conclusion References 26 Enabling the Future, or How to Survive FOREVER Conservation Practice Authentic Alliances Identifying Authentic Alliances and the Use of Documentation Acknowledgments References Further Reading 27 Exhibition Histories and Futures New Media Systems—Databases, Taxonomies, and Methods Behaviors—Live, Social, Participative Exhibitions for Behaviors Documenting Exhibitions … and Audiences? Futures—Connected Modes of Documenting, Curating, and Historicizing? References Index End User License Agreement