What Can and Cannot Be Felt: The Paradox of Affectivity in Post-Internet Art

Rita Xavier Monteiro, Helena Barranha

 
   

Abstract


Focusing on the paradox of embodiment/ disembodiment in virtual space, and on the recent history of Net Art, this article proposes to go back to Roy Ascott’s metaphor of the ‘telematic embrace’ in order to examine different artistic and theoretical approaches to online affectivity. While the first generation of artists who founded the net.art movement was openly fascinated by the novelty of cyberspace as a medium, currently artists are adopting online tools to produce also offline works, revealing the presence of Internet culture in contemporary society instead of focusing on the nature of the medium in itself. In this scenario, marked by the current Post-Internet discourse, real and virtual worlds overlap, and hybrid artistic forms emerge. But are Net artists still reinterpreting the idea of virtual embrace? Or have they moved away from a romantic stance, highlighting the perils of the digital revolution in the so-called Post-Digital age? Adopting a phenomenological perspective, this essay aims to address these questions, exploring the paradox of affectivity in contemporary networked cultures through the analysis of emblematic artworks.


Keywords


Net Art, Virtual Space; Disembodiment; Affectivity; Post-Humanism; Post-Internet Culture

Full Text:

PDF

References


Aranda, J., Wood, B. K. & Vidokle, A. (eds.). (2015). E-Flux Journal - The Internet Does Not Exist. Berlin: Sternberg Press. Introduction available online - retrieved from http://www.e-flux.com/books/66665/the-internet-does-not-exist/

Arcangel, C. (2012-2014) Cory Arcangel's Official Portfolio Website and Portal - Working On My Novel. Retrieved from http://www.coryarcangel.com/things-i-made/2012-066-working-on-my-novel

Arcangel, C. (2014) Working On My Novel. Retrieved from http://novel.coryarcangel.com/

Ascott, R. (1990). Is There Love in the Telematic Embrace? Art Journal, 49(3), Computers and Art: Issues of Content (Autumn, 1990), pp. 241-247. DOI: 10.2307/777114

https://doi.org/10.2307/777114

Baker, C. (2009). Murmur Study. Retrieved from http://christopherbaker.net/projects/murmur-study/

Beasley, M. (2013). Peer to Peer Sunset. Retrieved from http://mark-beasley.com/peer-peer-sunset/

Berry, J., (2000). Human, all too Posthuman? Net Art and its Critics. Tate- Intermedia Art – New Media, Sound and Performance. Retrieved from http://www2.tate.org.uk/intermediaart/entry15616.shtm

Boukhechem, K. (1998) Vito Acconci - Theme Song, 1973. New Media Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://www.newmedia-art.org/cgi-bin/show-oeu.asp?ID=150000000034667&lg=GBR

Bounia, A. & Myrivili, E. (2015). Beyond the 'Virtual': Intangible Museographies and Collaborative Museum Experiences: In Barranha, H. & Martins, S. S. (eds), Uncertain Spaces: Virtual Configurations in Contemporary Art and Museums (pp. 15-32). Lisboa: Instituto de História da Arte, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa. Retrieved from http://unplace.org/sites/default/files/uncertain_spaces.pdf

Brøgger, A. (2000). Net art, web art, online art, net.art?, AfsnitP. Retrieved from http://www.afsnitp.dk/onoff/Texts/broggernetart,we.html

Broskoski, C. (2011). Directions to last visitor. Retrieved from http://directionstolastvisitor.com/ [accessed on 30 April 2015 – currently not available]

Comstock, G. (2014, June 13). Jennifer in paradise: the story of the first Photoshopped image. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/photography-blog/2014/jun/13/photoshop-first-image-jennifer-in-paradise-photography-artefact-knoll-dullaart

Connor, M. (2013). What's Postinternet got to do with Net Art? Rhizome. Retrieved from http://rhizome.org/editorial/2013/nov/1/postinternet/

Domingues, D. (2004). Cyberart and interfaces: the coupled body. Digital Creativity, 15(3), pp. 159-174, DOI: 10.1080/14626260408520177

https://doi.org/10.1080/14626260408520177

Dullart, C. (2013). Jennifer in Paradise. Retrieved from http://www.constantdullaart.com/

Echeverría, J. (2003). Cuerpo electrónico e identidad. In: Hernández Sánchez, D. (Ed.), Arte, cuerpo, tecnología. Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca, pp. 13-29 [the quote was translated into English by the authors].

Hayles, N. K. (1999). How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226321394.001.0001

Heidegger, M. (1977). The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays. Translated by William Lovitt. New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc. [original edition in German, 1954].

Manovich, L. (2001). Post-media Aesthetics. Retrieved from http://manovich.net/content/04-projects/032-post-media-aesthetics/29_article_2001.pdf

Mattes, E. & Mattes, F. (2012). Emily's Video. Retrieved from http://0100101110101101.org/emilys-video/

Mattes, E. & Mattes, F. (2014). Befnoed. Retrieved from http://0100101110101101.org/befnoed/

McLuhan, M. (2003). Understanding media: the extensions of man - Critical Edition by Terrence Gordon. Berkeley, California: Ginko Press [original edition 1964].

McNeil, J. (2014). Connected by Camera" In: Lambert, N., McNeil, J., & Quaranta, D., Art and the Internet (pp. 18-23). London: Black Dog Publishing.

Prada, J. M. (2012). Prácticas artísticas e Internet en la época de las redes sociales. Madrid: Ediciones Akal [the quote was translated into English by the authors].

Paul, C. (2015). Interview. In: Barranha, H. & Pereira, R. (orgs.), unplace Interviews/Entrevistas. Retrieved from http://unplace.org/sites/default/files/entrevistas_-_interviews_booklet.pdf

Olson, M. (2011). Postinternet: Art after the Internet. In: Lambert, N., McNeil, J. & Quaranta, D. (2014), Art and the Internet (pp. 212-215). London: Black Dog Publishing.

Rhizome (2016). Net Art Anthology – Definition. Retrieved from https://anthology.rhizome.org/

Rilke, R. M. (2000). Letters to a Young Poet. Translated by J. M. Burnham. Novato, California: New World Library [original edition in German, 1929].

Rozendaal, R. (n.d.) Post internet art. Retrieved from http://www.newrafael.com/post-internet-art/

Steyerl, H. (2013). Too Much World: Is the Internet Dead?, E-Flux 49. Retrieved from http://www.e-flux.com/journal/too-much-world-is-the-internet-dead/

Tavares, G. M. (2013). Atlas do Corpo e da Imaginação. Lisboa: Caminho [the quote was translated into English by the authors].

Tribe, M., Janna, R. & Grosenick, U. (Eds.) (2006). New Media Art. Köln: Taschen.

Valverde, I. (2010). Interfaces Dança Tecnologia: Um Quadro Teórico para a Performance no Domínio Digital. Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.

Vierkant, A. (2010). The Image Object Post-Internet. Retrieved from http://jstchillin.org/artie/pdf/The_Image_Object_Post-Internet_a4.pdf

Virilio, P. (1999) "The Kosovo War Did Take Place" – Interview with John Armitage. In: Armitage, J. (Ed.) (2001) Virilio Live. London: Sage Publications.

Zylinska, J. & Hall, G. (2002). Probings: an Interview with Stelarc. In: Zylinska, J. The Cyborg Experiments: the Extensions of the Body in the Media Age (pp: 114-130). London and New York: Continuum.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7559/citarj.v10i1.380

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Bookmark and Share


Journal of Science and Technology of the Arts
Revista de Ciência e Tecnologia das Artes
ISSN: 1646-9798
e-ISSN: 2183-0088
Portuguese Catholic University | Porto

    

Esta revista científica é financiada por Fundos Nacionais através da FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia


 Governo da República Portuguesa