net.art

In this essay [Digital Art: Pixel, Algorithm, Code, Programming, Data], we reached a theoretical framework that could withstand a hyperdisciplinary analysis and encompass one of the characteristics that both electronic literature and digital art share: the transfer and transformation processes. In order to recognize these processes we used the concept of transduction to perform a theoretical migration capable of supporting these aspects: the transducer function.
Swapping between a critique of textuality and a critique of visuality we analyze two of the most important genres of digital art: net.art and digital installation. Firstly, we investigate the concept of infoduct as a channel of information dissemination in the virtual environment and the characteristics of periphery and discontinuity in digital image, composed by pixels, in opposition to punctum, studium and continuity, key characteristics in analog photographic image, composed by dots, whose concepts were identified and coined by Roland Barthes in La Chambre Claire (1980). Secondly – by focusing on the nomination of the artwork and the relevance of the title in its intelligibility, from the abstract movement until nowadays – we reflect on the use of code as an emerging language, which reveals a new aesthetic sensibility, e.g. the k. series by André Sier. Finally, the third and fourth points develop the analysis of the transducer processes in the works by Pavel Braila, R. Luke DuBois and Sier, considering the aesthetics of data transfer and recreation in mutant works as a common phenomenon to art that uses programmable and networking media. In digital art, the transducer function originates a pictorial, visual and aesthetic transformation, which we observe in SSB, Hard Data, or 32-bit Wind Machine , and erects the artist as a data filter and data miner.
In this investigation, we highlight mechanisms, patterns, languages ​​and common motifs: authorship, user, cybertext, surface, infoduct, interactivity, pixel, algorithm, code, programming, network, software and data.

(Source: Author's Abstract)

Digital technology has revolutionized the way we produce and experience art. Not only have printing, painting, photography and sculpture been transformed by digital techniques, but entirely new forms such as net art, software art, digital installations and virtual reality have emerged as recognized artistic practices, collected by major museums, institutions and private collectors the world over. Christiane Paul surveys digital art from its appearance in the 1980s to the present day, and looks ahead to what the future may hold. She dicusses the key artists and works, drawing a distinction between work that uses digital technology as a tool to produce traditional forms and work that uses it as a medium to create new types of art. The book explores themes raised by digital art, such as viewer interaction, artificial life and artificial intelligence, social activism, networks and telepresence, as well as curatorial issues such as the collection, presentation and preservation of digital art. (Source: Thames & Hudson website)

My aim is to show how the frontiers between the various disciplinary spheres are disappearing in the digital world. Therefore, to start with, the basic aspects of what is known as digital art are set out and are compared with the concepts of Roland Barthes on the post-modern text. In this way a relationship is established between the discourses on Net.art and digital creation on the Net and theoretical postulates on hypertext and Net.literature. Next the results of this comparative reflection are applied to a visual experience: letting a series of online works speak, grouped together in a particular classification, in order to see whether or not the theoretical model constructed is valid. Finally, I pose questions about this experience by highlighting the implications of the construction of new contexts in real time in the sphere of literary and artistic creation.

(Source: Author's abstract)

In this essay I introduce the notion of transducer function in the fields of electronic literature and digital art. Firstly, I survey the transduction concept throughout its history in such domains as physics, genetics, microbiology, biochemistry, physiology, psychology, philosophy, logic and computer science. Secondly, I discuss the relevance of a transduction theory versus the advantage of a transducer function. I migrate the transduction concept into the fields of electronic literature and digital art, showcasing the contexts of application, and several transfer processes and functions. Finally, I apply the transducer function as a theoretical typology and a recognizable system, highlighting some artworks by R. Luke DuBois, André Sier and Scott Rettberg that can be read within this framework. Thus, it means taking into account a set of transfer and conversion processes: information, patterns and data among mechanisms, technologies, themes, creative and theoretical guidelines. In this sense, I develop a critical framework that operates as a method for analyzing and comprehend further digital artworks.

(Source: Author's Abstract)

Electronic Literature and Digital Art share many processes, themes, creative and theoretical guidelines. In this sense, I developed a critical framework that could resist to a hyperdisciplinary analysis and include one of the characteristics of this sharing pattern: the transfer and transformation processes. In order to recognize these processes I have done an approach of the transduction concept that could perform a theoretical migration on these aspects: the transducer function. Thus, the transducer function appears in the critical analysis of the works by Mark Z. Danielewski, Stuart Moulthrop, R. Luke DuBois and André Sier. The selected works are representative of the following genres: novel, hyperfiction, net.art and digital installation, drawing on phenomena and concerns resulting from the creative production within the digital culture. In this research I have enhanced mechanisms, patterns, languages and common grounds: authorship, user, cybertext, surface, hypertext, infoduct, interactivity, pixel, algorithm, code, programming, network, software and data. (Source: Author's abstract)