continual theories on the relevance of interactive electronic art to science humanities and society

8/6/2019 Continual Theories on the Relevance of Interactive Electronic Art to Science Humanities and Society

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(Note: This is slightly edited version of the original multimedia-cd as which the work was originally presented. All pictorial references and examples have been stripped toavoid copyright issues and formatting errors may be present.)

continual

theories on the relevance of interactive electronic art to science, humanities and society

Florian Grassl // BA (hons) Dissertation - Theory+History

Time Based Arts / Fine ArtLevel 4 | 03/04

Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & DesignDundee, Scotland / UK


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Table of Contents

1. Introduction1.1. Abstract1.2. Root/ reason1.3. Action/ reaction1.4. Thesis2. Spiralling continual theory2.1. Terminology2.2. Interaction/ network

2.3. Language / code2.4. Send / receive3. Interaction of components3.1. Input / modulation / output3.2. User / artist / developer 3.3. Information flow4. Modular structures of interaction and socio-generic structures4.1. Culture/ subculture/ micro culture4.2. Computation/ social interaction4.3. Sensory interface setup4.4. Inter- media5. Substance of content5.1. Physiology/ psychology/ philosophy5.2. Electronic art and electric entireness6. Reflection6.1. Interrelation: User/ Technology/ Media/ Art6.2. Recap7. Discourse on evolutionary aspects7.1. Technology, politics and open source7.2. Evolution and technology8. Conclusion


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1. Introduction

1.1. Abstract

Throughout this essay, the interrelation between communicating components and their interactionwith each other is to be discussed.The substance of interaction in science, society and art is to be

considered. The physics of electronic frequency, its use in audiovisual matter and its psychologicalimpact on a potential user/viewer are going to be reviewed. Further, the means of interactivitythrough formal language, interface and user are to be exposed and criticized. A connection is to bemade keeping chapters of electronic interactive art and its relevance to a public cultural context inmind. Overall a web between electronic arts, science, psychology and philosophy is to be wovenexposing the instance of "interaction" which lies within it.

1.2. Root/ reason

If there is a definition of "life" as a concept of communication, it is highly doubtful that there is astarting-point definable beyond human means of physical laws of space and time. Since we are

bound to those laws -in the state we are at present at least- we are bound to certain types ofcommunicating. If a look is put on the one of the most early, essential and existing type ofinteraction between two participants, we find ourselves in the world of particle physics. For instancethe core of an atom consists of so called quarks (up quarks and down quarks) that form the state ofthe core depending on their position to each other. A nucleus forms a unit of a core and a particlewhich interact in a certain motion in a time-space scale depending on exterior influences from otheratoms or their particles. Ernest Rutherford shows in 1911 that the inside of an atom is a positivelycharged nucleus with a number of orbiting electrons. Positively charged particles are deflectedwhen they collide with atoms[1].nucleusThe interaction of several atoms binds them together to a system called a molecule. John Dalton(British chemist and biologist, 1803) introduces the phrase molecule showing that chemicalcompounds always combined in certain proportions could be explained by the grouping together ofatoms to form units called molecules[1]. Many interacting molecules build chains in certain waysto form basic elements such as minerals, gasses, liquids and so on.Elements themselves build up

bigger structures to form complex systems of matter. So if now any object would be taken andneeded to be described in its substance, to be specific one would have to admit that anythingconsists of electronic energy since the smallest known matter is energy. The outer appearance as we

perceive objects is "only" defined by different orders and suborders of molecular structures which

hold nuclear information themselves and output different results depending on the way the overallelectronic states in particle systems interact. This is then to be regarded as the generic content of alife-structure.

propane, DNA helix, helium

1.3. Action/ reaction

Action and reaction results in new-action, causing another reaction -and so on. To trigger all actionswith estimated reaction is impossible for a human being of average consciousness, because

consequences of initial action are always influenced by external and relative factors. Nevertheless,any action provokes reaction of some kind."From the perspective of physics, every physical system contains (alternatively, stores) a quantity


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called energy; exactly how much is determined by taking the sum of a number of special-purposeequations, each designed to quantify energy stored in a particular way. There is no uniform way tovisualize energy; it is best regarded as an abstract quantity useful in making predictions."[5]"Der Energieerhaltungssatz in der klassischen Physik sagt aus, dass die Gesamtenergie einesSystems durch Prozesse, die ausschlielich innerhalb des betrachteten Systems stattfinden,nicht verndert werden kann. D.h. es ist unmglich, innerhalb eines abgeschlossenen Systems

Energie zu erzeugen bzw. zu vernichten." (energy efficiency in classical physics points outthe complete energy of a system can not be changed through processes within the system. Thismeans that it is impossible to create or destroy energy in an isolated system.)[5]"In modern science, this phrase specifies the behaviour of non-linear systems which is as a matterof principle not predictable. Although those systems themselves underlie and are determined

by strict natural scientific forces, they are extremely dependent from the starting specificationsbecause of their multiple feedbacks and complexity. As in the "butterfly effect", microscopicvariations can evolve to maximal differences in a very short time. Chaotic

behaviour exposes -in contrast to random or probable processes- deep structures and orders whichare called attractors."[6] translated from: Andreas Huber, Chaosforschung. Wihelm Heyne Verlag,Munich 1996. isbn 3-453-06544-1

As we know, energy does never disappear, but transform to a different state without loss. Thereaction -or rather the transformation of energy- though can not be entirely calculated and thereforeinhibits a so called"deterministic chaos".Religious movements use this circumstance for the pushingof rules which cannot have a calculated outcome but are considered to influence the believer in acertain way. However, no matter what the reaction is, it will also change the way the actor behavesafter the reaction. When he gets as the result, he will already be in a different state than when theinitial command was triggered. A spiral of interaction, concerning influence and re-influence, isachieved. Moving away from a nuclear scale into more effective understanding, a complex systemof interaction is visible in social environments of humankind. This system is supported primarilythrough interaction in a time-space surrounding. The information package sent as frequency is notonly of a sonar kind (of speech) but also visual frequency (of body language, appearance andgestures). Whilst sonar frequencies are created by our device of vocal cords, visual frequencycreation is more relative. Since every object (in a deeper sense: particle; as described before)transports frequency to our electromagnetic system constantly, interaction is necessarily present

between all electromagnetic systems. If an artificial device of any kind supports us with encryptedfrequency it is always a representation of an actual instance, but can function effectively with thesame impact, depending on the amount of information sent.

1.4. Thesis

The overall thesis that evolves out of those roots is a reflection on the possibilities that are given toenhance an interaction within means of perception of content. Information of an abstract kind,stripped down to its very crystal electromagnetic nature. Research in formal language of sound andimage is to be taken into account as a basis for the choice of media to be discussed. As the user isnot a static component in the interactive environment anymore, the environment changes as well,modifies the behaviour of the user and makes him/her react to the information he perceives as an"answer" of his action. This thesis is evoked out of the necessity of humankind to take part in anevolution of technology and accelerating informational culture. The human brain has to deal with avast input and process selective information. The tools provided by commercial industry have toadjust to the human being and vice versa. This means that interfaces need to be intuitive and

efficient. The "button-press-action" is the common interface interaction and being aware andconscious of the consequences of this action is crucial. To be conscious usually means that aneducational or experiential instance has to be preset. To deal with all possibilities would require the


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ancient creek idea of a genius which is defined to know everything known. Contemporary societycan not function this way because of an overflow of possibilities. The selective mind filters outcertain actions and experiences that do not seem necessary to interact in the social environment the

being is living in. The evolutionary theories discussed in this essay focus on the possibility ofcutting out the action whose consequences have to be learned in order to function. The being is notlonger forced to consciously trigger but the interface is adjusted to his pure state of intuitive being.

As solutions to achieve those circumstances, reactionary systems working on pure human behaviourare to be proposed. These systems either work through the direct fact of the human being inhibitinga space and furthermore the indirect connection of the electromagnetic frequency steering the brainwith external devices and their electromagnetic content.

2. Spiralling continual theory

2.1. Terminology

Explanation on "spiral continuity" i.e.: The artist is influenced by his environment and decides-consciously or subconsciously- to take those influences into his work (input). He modifies theinfluences to his needs and subjective perception (modulation) and manifests the process in hisartwork (output). A user experiences the artwork and puts it back into his subjective way ofthinking and runs through the same process as the artist before. The only division to take note of isthat the resolution of output is different. If he is an executive artist, lets say a architect, he mightsubconsciously, use the abstract form language suggested by the artist in his architecture. Althoughthis happens in a state of processed information, he used the circulative continuum as thearchitecture later re-influences social live. A end user might encode his personal experience intohimself and re-reflect it into his direct living environment.This processing of inducting forms a system of encoding and decoding information (experiencing)running through stations of the spiral continuum. The information is never the same as soon as it is

perceived (input->encoding) and absorbed (output->decoding) although similar factors can beobserved.

2.2. Interaction/ networking

As introduced in the "paper on reflection of practice 2003" all interaction can be perceived in apattern of ongoing motion. Whereas an action influences an instance to be modified by the instancethe reaction is output into the environment to be received by another instance, and so on. The termto describe the interplay of instances formally is called "spiral continuum". To fully understand thenature of a S.C. interplay, one has to go back again to physics and math. In physics, the spiral formsevery structure we know. From the cycle of an electron around its atomic core to the growthstructure of a plant to the mineral chemistry of a mountain to the -apparently very similar to anatom- cycle of the earth around the sun to the spiral motion of galaxies spiral patterns are found. Onthe same systematic formula fractal mathematics are based. First introduced by Benoit Mandelbrotthe basic visual form of a fractal was defined.In a so called "iteration process", a number is inserted into a formula containing two unknown

variables. The result is inserted again into the resulting formula. Every result marks a point on acoordinate system and creates a spiral like pattern in the end that never repeats itself -alike the spiralcontinuum. This means that one influence leads to a result that re-influences the first object of


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influence, and so on. Therefore fractal sciences and iteration processes are often named"mathematics of nature". The strings of interaction build a network of a bigger system. Patterns jointo become crucial for evolutional matter because the impact that each of the particles in the patternhas to each other develops them further. The network found directly in the human body is mostobviously the neural network and the nerves. Synapse strings send and receive information throughelectronic impulses to each other passing them on to nerves in a processed form and make the

responsive devices of the body act in the desired way. Those electronic impulses are a, to thesynapses valid, encoded information language.

2.3. Language/code

A certain language is used. This is not different from the system we use in human spoken language.The difference lies in the media we use. Code is language expressed in a formal state ofrepresentational characters.Whilst binary computing uses a on-off state description of 1-0,representative on the nuclear physics mentioned before, code can be used to describe the structure

of the physical compounds. A basic genetic code would look like: AAA Lys ACA Thr AGA ArgATA Ile AAC Asn ACC Thr AGC Ser ATC IleAAG Lys ACG Thr AGG Arg ATG Met/start AAT Asn ACT Thr AGT Ser ATT IleCAA Gln CCA Pro CGA Arg CTA Leu CAC His CCC Pro CGC Arg CTC LeuCAG Gln CCG Pro CGG Arg CTG Leu CAT His CCT Pro CGT Arg CTT LeuGAA Glu GCA Ala GGA Gly GTA Val GAC Asp GCC Ala GGC Gly GTC ValGAG Glu GCG Ala GGG Gly GTG Val GAT Asp GCT Ala GGT Gly GTT ValTAA stop TCA Ser TGA stop TTA Leu TAC Tyr TCC Ser TGC Cys TTC PheTAG stop TCG Ser TGG Trp TTG Leu TAT Tyr TCT Ser TGT Cys TTT Phe (genetic code extract)The code used to communicate in all day life is -apart from written language- of a nature that is

based on wavelength.Sonar impulses as external language not even differ in their basics. Cut backto what the actual sonic content consists of one can clearly see the again electromagnetic frequencyis the medium of choice. Specific for sonic language is hereby that humankind uses a certainwavelength to communicate through language. Prove for the fact that human communication is thatspecifically sending on this extremely narrow frequency spectrum is simple: A dogs listeningapparatus can receive a much wider range of sonic frequency, for instance. A bat communicates notonly with their species in an ultrasonic wavelength but measures proximity to objects as well. Thisis a very extraordinary example to show how frequency can be used for different purposesdepending on the reading of the appropriate sensory device. Encrypted into waves by our bodilydevices and decrypted by the recipients adequate devices it is able to transport information that-once deciphered- is put back into electromagnetic matter the body can deal with and sent to the

brain where information is to be validated and processed to react on. The medium of exchange is acode of Language. If we keep in mind that physical speech is the medium to create networks andinteract with each other in first place, language itself forms the code in which the speech isencrypted in. In music, one of the important figures of coding musical scores is KarlheinzStockhausen.

2.4. Send/receive

Furthermore the information received by the ear which acts as a device to decrypt the information is

translated and passed on by the same means of its origin to the new neural structure of the recipient.But what if the usual language we would expect to receive takes on an unknown form? The bodilydevices still try to decode information out of the given content. This works just as well as any other


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language as long as the content is packed in a "universal" language. Universal in that sense isabstraction as it material is put to psychological means of association. Obviously even the receptionof abstract content is decrypted in different ways by different systems (here: user-interface).Basically, interpretation of information is sent and received.

3. Interaction of components

3.1. Input/modulation/output

Input/modulation/output forms the advanced continuation of send/receive and explains the changesthroughout a send/receive pattern. This is important to be considered because a command sent willalways result in an answer received which is always modified depending on the relation of thesender and the recipient. Therefore the scheme of the interaction between specific components inan interplay instance is self-explanatory. An interplay instance consists of three basic stations. Firstof all, an input that supplies information of a certain kind is necessary. It is sent to the recipient and

interpreted, forming the second station. The now modified (interpreted) information is sent back toany recipient (not necessarily the first input). This is what shall be called the output which-depending on the point of view- forms another input to another recipient - a spiral continuum ofinformation exchange is achieved. This is a simple example for an instance of interaction. In ahuman relevance, any experience we make conforms of a interaction that undergoes the same

parameters as a abstract version of input/modulation/output. Consciousness and psychologicalformation are the basis on which the reception is built upon.

"Consciousness is the "I" that we all know, from which we view the world and interact with it. JohnSearle describes it as that sense of "subjective qualitative states of awareness, sentience or feeling"which we experience when awake [Searle: presentation to Tucson II]. In the 17th Century ReneDescartes showed that no matter to what extent our senses might be deceived there would stillremain a something which could be called "myself" even if this "self" were utterly deceived as tothe existence of any one or any thing else. I suppose his "cogito ergo sum" might have been better

put if he'd said I am deceived therefore I am. Everything we know is a function of experience, eitherthrough sense perception or reflection upon that experience. The mind or the "I" is born empty ofknowledge of the world. As the 17th Century English philosopher John Locke described it we are

born "tabula rasa" (or as a 'blank slate'). It is only by our experience of the world that we gain ideasof it. There are no ideas that we are born with, no "innate ideas". Now, the human body/brain is acomplex organised system consisting in collections of cells which are organised in such a way as todo various biological/biochemical tasks. Among these tasks are the processes of the brain in co-

ordinating and handling all this stuff. The effect of being in the world in real-time (and strictly inreal-time) is that the entity is consistently exposed to difference and novelty. We know of the worldby the differences that show up between and among all processes extended in time (havingduration). No process can act completely independently and each is affected by the changes (thedifferences) in, ultimately, all other processes. So we are inextricably interlinked with the world.Because we are active creatures the environment is always changing about us as we move about init. So every thing produces difference, even if only the two different views of some object whichallow us to build up a 3-dimensional view of it. "Let us then suppose the Mind to be, as we say,white Paper, void of all characters, without any Ideas; How comes it to be furnished ?....To this Ianswer, in one word, from Experience... Our observation employed either about External sensibleobjects; or about the Internal Operations of our Minds, perceived and reflected by our selves...

These two are the Fountains of Knowledge from whence all the ideas we have, or can naturallyhave, do spring. [Locke. A Treatise of Human Knowledge, 1721, p67]" [11]A conscious computing system, Stephen Jones, 1997"Consciousness is a function of the state of our


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central nervous system, i.e. the physiology is the substrate upon which consciousness runs."William James in his Text Book of Psychology, 1892.

3.2. user/artist/developer

interactive art in a broad sense tries to expose those interplays and makes them explanatory to theuser. A user, in this case, mostly is the viewer of the piece of artwork. The piece can either be placedin a gallery or in an event/happening setup which specific forms are to be described later on in thistext. In contrast to static media alike classical cinematic work, painting or sculpture, the interactiveartwork engages the user to change the artwork itself and influence the result (output). This is partof a greater understanding between the artwork and the user. As a user changes the output, heswitches to be the artist himself because he actually creates content that is brought back to him andforms a new experience of production, social interplay and self awareness. Obviously the artworkhas to have a starting point that one might claim to be the executive artist which did set up theartwork in first place. If three corner points (organs) of creating electronic interactive artwork are to

be defined, the user, the artist and the scientist emerge:The user stands for the average viewer of theartwork, the public or the individual person. The artist is an abstract executive medium supplyingconcepts of any kind depending on his individual state consciousness.The scientist is the publicexecutive organ to translate concepts into "home-use" context and forms a reflective part on theuser same as on the artist. He industrializes the concepts.Concerning the interplay of interdisciplinary art within classically separated institutions RichardWright gives the following theories: " institutional bodies and commercial vendors have reacted tothe situation, playing one social class off against another in order to define and secure a newmarket or to aestheticize new media to reestablish cultural demarcations and art-world values.digital media provides a highly charged area in which the pluralist and multivalent approaches thatwere associated with the rise of poststructuralist theory can find direct (almost trivialized)application. Much of the impetus for art and design application of computing has come froman academic research base at educational institutions -from a mixture of artists, designers,architects, mathematicians, engineers and other scientists. Behind this situation is a uniqueintermingling of the needs and interests of science, commerce and art."[12]Richard Wright: Technology is the people's friend: computers, class and the new cultural politicsCritical issues in electronic media, Simon penny, state university of New York press, 1995 ISBN 0-7914-2317-4 What Wright states here is a socio-institutional spiral continuum which unfolds therelevance of institutional interplay." artists and scientists have found new ways to legitimate their aspirations and at the same time

provide implicit channels of access into each other's disciplines."[12]

Richard Wright: Technology is the people's friend: computers, class and the new cultural politicsCritical issues in electronic media, Simon penny, state university of New York press, 1995 ISBN 0-7914-2317-4

3.4. Information flow

To elucidate the relationship between all those organs, one has to understand that they all stand in adirect state of interaction of any kind -as described before. To pick a random point to join in let's

pick the user: The public sends demands to science (i.e. technical or medical progress).

Those demands are based on political structure, cultural needs and social factors. Because the useris a public organ the demands will be received by the artist and the scientist but interpreted indifferent ways. The artist might expose a certain aspect of the demand and interpret it in his own


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understanding of priority. The scientist acts in a -for him obvious way as well. Assuming an idlecase, the artist and the scientist now influence each other to deliver output that thengets taken in by the user again to create new views, possibilities and demands. The flow ofinformation though cycles round the three organs to create again a spiral continuum.In my opinion, the artist functions therefore as a metaphor that considers all aspects of

philosophical, physical and psychological input as well as social theories, technical innovation and

evolutional theory. Since all organs are influenced by the same circulating content and help to createthe artwork the definition of "who the artist is" merges to an indefinable abstract. "Artist", used inthis text (and usually considered as) only defines the position a person is in to create -hence, theuser is the artist is the scientist is the user.

4. Modular structures of interaction and socio-generic structures

4.1. Culture/subculture/ micro culture

The way one moves and dresses as well movement of facial muscles is to express ourselves andtransport all sorts of emotion, attitude and selective association to cultural groups, etc. It is thenature of audible and visual media holding the primary vehicles to convey and evoke reactionary

patterns. A representational lack, as often claimed, is that smell is not transported throughcinematic work. Since smell is "only" a sense of a third kind and reproduction technology still is inits childhood it shall not be considered at this point. It is clear that there is not only THE ARTIST,THE USER or THE SCIENTIST but more than one subdivision of a cultural kind. (If we considerourselves to live in a culture that is defined by (blurred) traditional activity, history and location asimplified version might count down from: mammal-human-continent -country-region-city-area-social environment-family status-state of mind-etc. The everyday effect that might be most obviousto us might be a spiral continuum of social interplay. Everything we experience influences us andmakes us react in either a conscious or an unconscious way. The logical cultural context we inhibitevery day is defined mostly from a "social environment" status downwards. To start with thesmallest unit of social generation, the interaction between two people is to be bared in mind. Theirinteraction already forms a macro-culture that relies on exchange of information. Whereas largergroups form to social structures, one could talk of a micro-culture. A family would be anappropriate example for an arrangement like this, where interaction manifests itself in hierarchicstatuses that influence each other. Since the institution "family" is a state where the hierarchy israther preset and static, a priority on cultures that build themselves out of needs and interests is to

be the object of discourse. Quite often, zeitgeist and specific philosophies surface subculturestructures. Although they might not be public in a sense of being noticed by press and media theyoften form large networks -especially in the (our) century of global networking and internationalinformational exchange through the internet. A subculture therefore takes influence in thedevelopment of the historical culture, depending on the subcultures "popularity", continuity andorganization. A functioning system, for instance, does the developer's community of the computeroperating system "Linux" which is probably the largest neural network exist.

4.2. Computation/ social interaction

Since the phrase "interactivity" was adapted from a social scientific content into a (computer-)technical meaning it deals with a similar theory of (social) exchange, but with different components.


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A critical point in the discussion about interactivity in this area is that "interaction", as understoodby social terms, can never be reproduced or achieved by the usage of a computational interface anda user. The reason for this assumption is that the computer always refers to its preset guts or -theother way round- never can relate to contextual common knowledge and emotional interpretation.The computer will always only process explicit imperative. Officially, those disabilities have beenconsidered but acknowledged as valid terms of interactivity because the development of interactive

exchange in computational technology is progressing and evolving as well as the unfolding ofdefinitions from a social scientific background. Seen in a bigger picture, the networks occur as soonas two instances collide. i.e.: two people talk to each other. They build a social network throughinformational exchange. To globally enlarge this system, representatively the internet nowadaysconsists.Today we know that the internet provides the possibility only to communicate and performinformational exchange. The content now is the primary object of communication and not thenetwork itself. A development into this way of thinking was quite obvious since the exact same

problems did arise with the introduction of the telephone whose use was criticized in the exactway.Contemporary Network artists use the applications of the internet as the interface of interactivecommunication.

"./logicaland is a multi-user platform, a "social" parlor game, a game ofcooperating or competing social forces in which a networked community can develop visions,

pursue collective strategies and produce or revise worldviews -a game without winners and losersand with no prescribed goals."[9] Michael Aschauer, Josef Deinhofer, Maia Gusberti, Nik Thoenenon their project ./logicaland; http://www.logicaland.net/ quote taken from: Ars Electronica 2002 /unplugged, Hantje Cantz Publishers, 2002. isbn 3-7757-1207-0logicaland interface

4.3. Sensory interface setup

Interactive art itself could be outlined as being an engaging art form. As described above, the vieweractively creates the artwork either directly or indirectly through his presence."Its background in art consists of participational art forms from the late sixties like for exampleHappenings and reactive kinetic environments. Theoretical works like Umberto Ecos Opera aperta(1962) contributed to are interpretation of the part played by the spectator. In German aestheticsthis view was developed further especially by Wolfgang Kemp in the middle of the eighties.His book Der Betrachter ist im Bild (The Viewer is Inside the Picture), in which he describes themethod of receptional aesthetics (Rezeption. sthetik), seems to anticipate the perception principlewe are experiencing today in virtual reality. In a way Interactive Art builds on the traditions of

participational art forms by allowing the viewer to intervene in the action. However, in most works,unlike in Happenings, this interaction is not meant as an attack against the established art audience.Instead, it meets the needs of a media educated public. The implications of Interactive Art, though,go even further: this art also reflects the role played by computer technology [6].This may seem complicated, because Interactive Art uses the same technology it comments upon,meaning, there is a certain lack of distance. The situation of Interactive Art is therefore comparablewith Video Art, which had to gain certain independence from the language of television. Both artforms demonstrate that today the role of the artist is changing significantly.Instead of being a commentator standing outside society, the artist now decides to take part in thesocio-technological change and judge from within."[13] Soeke Dinkla: the history of the interfacein interactive art Technically, if the user is not attached to a virtual space but can move in a spatial

setup of the installation, sensors that function differently from the usual computational input devicesare a possibility to detect interaction. The users' primary inputs can be left aside as sensors liketemperature measuring, proximity or motion tracking open up innovative possibilities of interaction.


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The entire palette of sensory devices given by the user might be considered as valid. Physicalsensors have the advantage as well that a user is not necessarily directly attached to equipment. Thisoffers the freedom to move in the space as the user pleases to do and provides options for useoutside the gallery.As a new aspect, the combination of creational methods enters the field of interactive media art. The

physical sensor of the artwork or the input device that is reactive to the users' actions therefore

functions as the "senses" of the computational system. A video camera or a photosensitive sensorreplaces and imitates the function of the eye whereas a microphone or a sonic sensitive input deviceis the utility considered as an ear. The drawback that is to be achieved within using human interfacedevices is to make exchange between the user and the interface possible and transparent. "Themovement of players' bodies is used by the TGarden's nervous system (hardware and softwarenetwork) to shape visual, aural and tactile media. The gestures - that are not so different fromeveryday gestures such as touching, brushing along other bodies, dancing, stretching and falling arean impetus for the generative processes in TGarden. Ultimately, the virtuosity of the playersshould grow through the interaction with the TGarden system, and allow them to actualize theirimagination."[14] sponge/foam on their project Tgarden.Audio material is consistent of waves (frequencies) that travel through space in the same way as

light waves -the transport vehicle of imagery- do. The difference that is essentially found is thatsonic waves are perceived primarily by different receptors and organs in the ear. In a similar processof modulation as found in the eye, the wave arrives at the ear and is taken further to the brain wherecontent is to be interpreted and used to provoke a reaction in the recipient. Although same in theirusage, obviously the physical construction between the eye and the ear is different."Media Artist Atau Tanaka was the first to compose a concert piece for the BioMuse, and continuesto work intensively with it as a musical instrument. As a doctoral student at Stanford's CCRMA, hedeveloped a platform for his work using Opcode's MAX programming environment, and lateradvanced the work at IRCAM and STEIM. Tanaka's performances use the four EMG channels ofthe BioMuse; he uses a trio of differential gel electrodes for each input channel, anduses an armband to hold the sensors over the inner and outer forearms, biceps, and triceps. Tanakawrote that his software patches mapped "incoming MIDI control data (representing EMGtrajectories) to musical gestures. In this way, a physical gesture of the muscles effects melody,rhythm, timbral changes, and combinations." As with the BodySynth, however, it's not clear fromthe literature how sophisticated the mappings were." [15]MIT Media Lab [15.1] tanaka performanceThe primary senses -see, hear, touch, smell and taste- are all considered in an interactive artworksince they form the primary receptors of content. Obviously, the adequate components have to be

part of the technicalities of the artwork as well. Most often a pure audiovisual interface can befound, because the technical tools for transporting sound and visuals are the ones most developedthrough commercial industry. The output of content therefore would be a display such as a

projection or a television screen for visuals and speaker systems for audio. In a simple setup ofcomputer interaction are similar components as like found in human interaction. Here the universalstructure of input/modulation/output is mainly divided into a user/hardware/software setting.Assuming that the user functions as a primary input object, the hardware is the sensory receptor to

pick up information. Usually nowadays a peripheral device based on hand operation like a mouse,keyboard, graphic tablet or midi controller is used to do that. Further on, simple frequency baseddevices like microphones (speech recognition) or cameras can function as an input. Hardwaredevices so send the already encoded information on to the software that functions as (virtual or text-

based) neural device. Software modulates the input and routes its further on to an output format.Because the users' perceptional devices are of a physical nature, the format of output needs to be ofan adequate physic. Here the primary devices of human sensory come back in sight. The eye and

the ear receive frequencies of output information as visual and/or audio content. Furthermorecontent can be transmitted to other recipients of artificial nature. In its essential terms a moresimple interactive action would be: "pressing (user) a button (hardware)" to send a single signal


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which is to be interpreted (software) and bounced back through a video display and/or a speaker(hardware) to the primary sender (user)."In The Legible City the visitor is able to ride a stationary bicycle through a simulatedrepresentation of a city that is constituted by computer-generated three-dimensional letters that formwords and sentences along the sides of the streets. Using the ground plans of actual cities -Manhattan, Amsterdam and Karlsruhe - the existing architecture of these cities is completely

replaced by textual formations written and compiled by Dirk Groeneveld. Travelling through thesecities of words is consequently a journey of reading; choosing the path one takes is a choice of textsas well as their spontaneous juxtapositions and conjunctions of meaning." [16]Jeffrey Shaw onlegible city.

Extended Concepts of virtual reality allow a user to send more complex information. Threedimensional equipment and installation such as head-on displays or multiple-wall projection can

provide this. The user is introduced in a virtual reality space. The interaction can manifest itself inmoving in this space, triggering content that would be impossible to create in a real space.

4.4. Inter-media

The research considered in this part touches the combinational options of interacting between theuser and the interface -or to be more specific- the results that are output by an application. We havelearned that the content if an interactive installation is not static but based on a generic system interms of on-the-fly creation by the user. So to achieve an understanding of the concept of the work,a user needs to be made aware of the content he is triggering. Basically, the interaction provided isnot bound to a certain outcome of i.e. audiovisual output and can be adjusted to suit the

philosophical concept of the work. Content is mostly based on frequency of a formal or audiblelanguage (referring to the primary senses of seeing and listening) and is therefore supplied as soundand visual. If the actual visual output of a sound input would be created, one would end up with the(oscilloscope) wave of the frequency that the voice creates.Interchangeability here means that thevalues of the wave could trigger anything visual, since the wave is an instance of numeric valueswhich is universal as a translation language. The importance of computation clarifies within thistheory as values in general a computed throughout numbers with the most basic relation known as0/1 (off/on). Using a translator like this, all information on the interaction of different media types

becomes inter-influential.Related to this concern, a number of experiments were undertaken by Ladan Shams, YukiasuKamitani, Samuel Thompson and Shinsuke Shimojo to investigate visual and sonic reaction in the

brain "We employed a flash VEP paradigm and introduced a sound stimulus to examine

whether sound would modulate the VEPs. Illusory flash effect was used as the basic framework,i.e. a single flash was paired with two brief beeps leading to the percept of two flashes (or illusorydouble-flash). Our psychophysical observation showed that the illusion is significantly stronger inthe periphery than in the fovea. In order to search for any physiological correlation with this

perceptual effect, we recorded VEPs for flashes presented in the fovea and the periphery separately.On average, observers reported seeing two flashes in 81% of the AVp trials, and in only 21% of theAVf trials. These results confirm our previous observation that the illusory flash effect is strongerin the periphery than in the fovea. Observers correctly reported seeing two flashes in the Vp2condition in 92% of the trials." [17]Sound alters visual evoked potentials in humans Ladan Shams, Yukiasu Kamitani, SamuelThompson, Shinsuke Shimojo California institute of technology, division of biology

neuroReport: cognitive Neuroscience and psychology, vol. 12 nr 17 4 dec 2001Broken down to a minimum of content, an on-off action in sound is a sine wave. In a visual sensethis would be a strobe or a change between a white and a black screen.


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This universalism of content creates the basis of all substance of content which is a reformation andmodulation of this on-off action, a multilayer structure of the same and a disturbing of such.complex application systems on the basis of numeric values are often used by artists because oftheir great flexibility and ability to be customized. A certain type of writing those patches has been

particularly successful. In contrast to actual code-writing, visual modular programs like "max/msp"(cycling'74), "jmax" (IRCAM) or "pure-data" are easier to learn for a user without a programmer's

background.patch for rendering 3d text

5. Substance of content

5.1. physiology/psychology/philosophy

As mentioned before, interactive art deals not only with technical abilities of communication. Themedia and setup used for an interaction in the artwork contains psychological concepts in terms ofhow the formal language of the content influences the user.A visual language in its essentials is to be imagined as pure form and representative interpretation ofmeaning. Such as the appearance of a line and its triggered association differs crucially from theone of a circle or disc, the cube represents a different emotion than a sphere. Obviously one has totake into account that associational issues are based on cultural background, education and

previous experience, but in general psychological terms, forms create certain means with them. Thefunctionality behind the objects is manifested in their appearance of shape. Association is created

by the interpretation of the shape through experience often found in combination with objectsfound in a common environment. So the interpretation of a random object in a stripped-down formcould trigger the same psychological emotion as the actual object. A clear example of this effect isoften used in classical visual imagery like painting or photography as well.

The two media types of audio and visual substance are not to be considered as separate, butinterconnected. This means that audio content can be generated by means of visual footage andvice versa. But, as an approach to the explanation and understanding of how this happens, bothmedia types need to be unfolded separately in their contextual substance.-> A gap between two lines could be interpreted by the eye as a ongoing line -depending on visual

psychology (the direction of the second line here plays a important part; if the directional change ofthe second line is too abrupt, the eye might not be able to continue the shape: the lines are seen as

separate shapes rather than one). It seems quite clear that room for interpretation opens up thepossibilities of using formal language. This is why an abstract painting in its basics still can triggerassociative thought.Referring to Duchamps theory of the image (here: painting) being a mirror from which theinterpretation of the individual viewer is reflected back, one grounds the fact that abstraction is aformal language to consider if generative content is used. Earlier examples can be found in thework of constructivist painters like Lyonel Feininger.

Lyonel Feininger, "Hugellandschaft," watercolor/pen/ink, 14 x 62 cm, 1939. Preparatory study forWorld Fair murals.He used the same manners of form and function to delay objectivity and merge

the imagination of the viewer into the interpretation of form. Although the painter Hans Hartungdoes not use real life objects or scenery as content he fits in this scheme well. He captures anunderstanding of movement through the shape and ductus in his paintings. (Since not object based,


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a viewer might now understand why his paintings are named "composition (nr.)"rather than inhibiting a plot based, narrative title).

Hans Hartung, "T-1962-E40", mixed on canvas 1963, 180 x 111 cmNot only formal matters are to be kept in mind, but also colours as they go along and gain the

interpretation perceived by the user. An interesting addition to briefly look on in this subject is a

sensual disorder called "synaesthesia". It manifests itself in a kind of "wrong routing of informationto the brain" which makes people suffering from it interpret information with the "wrong" sensorydevice. The most common one is "seeing sound". The person hereby experiences visual content ifsound is perceived."Synaesthesia: The most common musical synaesthetic experience is seeing colours or patternswhen music is heard or composed. `Colour hearing' has been reported as far back as the time ofPtolemy. The British composer, Arthur Bliss, experienced a constant play of colour sensations whilehe was composing; Rimsky- Korsakov and Scriabin associated different musical keys with differentcolours. Timbre especially has close colour affinities, see the descriptive use of tone-colour' -`Klangfarbe`. An analogy (even a homoeomorphism) has been seen between the seven colours ofthe spectrum, with their steadily increasing electromagnetic frequency from red at one end of the

spectrum to blue or violet at the other, and the seven notes of the diatonic scale, with theirincreasing audio-frequency. Newton pointed out the resemblance between the colour scale and themusical scale. Colour-sound synaesthesia can be seen as a demonstration of sympathy between thevarious sense modes (which we take for granted in the form of metaphor and symbol). Many othertypes of synaesthesia associated with music have been recorded. Body schema, tactile andkinaesthetic synaesthesias and hallucinations linked to music seem fairly common. (Critchley) Inreaction to Newton`s optics, including ideas on the relation of colours and musical notes, with adesire to move beyond the limited technology of perspective which had for long ignored any more

profound questions about the nature of visual representation, Runge and Goethe saw the objectiveas the forging of a union between scientific analysis and poetic insight. Runge`s ultimate aim wasthe Gesammkunstwerk, consisting of a great fusion of musical, visual and literary aesthetics into aspiritual whole. As he wrote to Goethe in 1809, `I am thinking more and more how I could bringabout the union of various arts, and that can only happen if they aid each other in their scientificknowledge, when scientific knowledge could really blossom". (Kemp 1990: 287) There have long

been speculations, both in philosophy and psychology, about the origin of mathematical knowledgeand numerical concepts. The evolutionary view is that mathematics began with the study of realthings, and was a product of the evolution of the brain, along with language and other aspects ofculture. Mathematics is a form of perception which draws its unique power from the narrowness ofthe range of phenomena with which it is concerned, number, shape, pattern. At first sight, one mightask, with Davis and Hersh: How can man impose his mathematical will on the great cosmic

processes? This is parallel to the problem considered by Lorenz how Kant`s categories could relate

to the real world, to which he answered that our cognitive apparatus evolved over time precisely insuch a way as to make its operations valid, effective in relation to the real world. Mathematics hasevolved as a symbolic counterpart of the universe. Certain mathematical concepts and procedureshave survived and others have been abandoned, survival of the fittest symbols, models, processes,constructs one can understand The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the NaturalSciences (title of an article by Wigner) if one accepts that there must be a structure in the universeand this structure is what is studied by every science, including mathematics, and determines theshape of mathematics. (Ormell) And one can add that mathematics as a specialised form of

perception can legitimately be considered alongside music, the visual arts and poetry which areforms of representation of the contents of perception of rather more complicated, many-factored,aspects of the world and of the individual human being`s existence. Mathematics is another form,

besides these other arts, which exploration of human presence in the universe can take. Like otherarts, the prerequisites for mathematical exploration are to be found in the structure of the brain.Human culture can be seen as an aspect of human behaviour - and changes in behaviour in relation


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to changes in the environment are a central part of the Darwinian process of evolution for allcreatures. What is there then about human cultural development which is not explicable inDarwinian terms? The main problem, which leads to the conclusion that cultural development is notDarwinian, is that the behaviour manifested as culture, the production of music, literature, visualartefacts, mathematical thought, seems to have no special relation to the evolutionary fitness of theindividual producers. Many of them, perhaps most of them, like Leonardo, Van Gogh, Newton,

Beethoven, had in the now traditional Hamiltonian analysis zero fitness, left no progeny. Even inthe case of those who had descendants, it seems impossible to believe that their cultural productionsaltered in any way, except perhaps negatively, the survival and multiplication of their genes. The

beneficiaries of their lives were not their descendants but other members of their human groups, orindeed members of the human race generally. The process of cultural production could thus be seen,in the standard terms, as a universal, undirected manifestation of altruism." [19] THEPYTHAGOREAN PERSPECTIVE The Arts and Sociobiology [Robin Allott. 1994. Journal ofSocial and Evolutionary Systems., 1 71-90.]

Because the material texture of visual content is already an electromagnetic wave, the brain usuallyis able to directly send the wave (a light wave) directly to the appropriate part of the brain and use

this to process information very quickly and send specific parts (again encoded in electromagneticpackages) to the nerve strings, organs and executive parts (motoric/non-motoric muscles) of thebody.Thus, colour perception is a neurological state that is processed by a subjective consciousnessand therefore understood as a "chromatic subjectivism". As one understands the process of howformal content and visual insight works on the brain, the sonic side is half taken in as well. Sonicfrequencies are to be seen as psychoacoustics as they have a psychological effect on both theconscious and subconscious part of the brain as well as visual content. The interpretation of sonicwaves undergoes the same schemata as visuals as it is subjective to the user. In contrast to visualcontent, sonic wavelength is settled in a hertz (Hz) spectrum that is perceived by the direct sensualends of nerves of the cells, the skin is covered with. An important receptor to take in sonarwavelength is the hair on those cells which function as an input device. The philosophicalappearance of sound has undergone the same historical evolution as imagery. Because of beingsubjective, the ability to decode content needs a certain implemented factor which can be formationthrough experience or developed associative to the content. Those experience modules form aconscious reading of the content whereas perception through, for instance, nerves on the skinapplies to a subconscious reading (although an awareness of perception is happening)."C. L. Hardin (1988) has argued that, when properly understood, opponency leads us to anontological position he calls chromatic subjectivism. On this view colours are not in the world.They are in the mind-as chromatic sensory states-but each of these mental states reduces to aneurophysiological state. Much of the force of Hardin's argument derives from an initial critique ofchromatic objectivism. On this ontological position, colours are in the world and chromatic sensory

states are held to be reducible to some or other external property: surface spectral reflectance is theusual candidate." [20] Can Colour Be Reduced To Anything?, DON DEDRICKColour as an abstract of perception therefore is only described by the ratio of light, emitted throughtexture and surface spectral reflectance. Single objects therefore contain a specific physical

property which is relevant to human colour AND formal perception. The spectacle of such, LevManovich describes the labor of perception: "For Benjamin (note: refers to Walter Benjamin, "OnSome Motives in Baudelaire," in Illuminations, ed. Hannah Arendt (New York: Schochen Books,1969), 175.) the modern regime of perceptual labor, where the eye is constantly asked to processstimuli, equally manifests itself in work and leisure. The eye is trained to keep pace with therhythm of industrial production at the factory and to navigate through the complex visualsemiosphere beyond the factory gates. A computer game and a flight simulator (or an actual

cockpit) are only the most obvious examples of how contemporary visual culture is increasinglypermeated b,y interactive computer graphic information displays. Their presence points to anessential feature of the post-industrial society in which the human, both at work and at play,


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functions as a part of human-machine systems where vision acts is a main interface between thehuman and the machine." [21] Lev Manovich, THE LABOR OF PERCEPTION

5.2. Electronic art and electric entireness

If a look is put upon all the different factors of receptors, signal processing, and code and content, itappears that the overall context, in which electronic art is settled, contains a link throughelectromagnetic transport. The impulses that are passed around the physical modules of anyinteraction are of an electromagnetic nature no matter if inside the complex system of the brain orthe singular interaction of a 1/0 instance. The matters of physiology of electronic art consist ofwaves and impulses sorted in patterns and passed on through networks of interconnectedcomponents that deal with electromagnetic behaviour Basically this applies to every object that is

placed into our physical world of time and space as they have to stick to certain laws which defineour consciousness of time and space. Everything that lies outside those laws is hypothetical andtheoretical as there is no consciousness possible in it. One instance to clarify the existence of such

instances is the physical structure of a black hole where time and space are bent and "swallowed".The laws of electromagnetic waves traveling in space do not exist there or are rather relative andnot comparable to the ones in which human consciousness exists. Consciousness and subconsciousness (bound to time-space laws) are the circumstances in which we can develop belief. Nomatter if the belief is focused on spiritual illusion, religious faith or interpretation of metaphors, themind processes within electromagnetic information. Considerable are facts of the planet earth beingsurrounded by an electromagnetic field, peaked by two poles (South and North Pole) as all planetsand stars are. Hence the possibility unfolds that certain locations on the earth contain certain typesof electromagnetic radiation that are as well influenced by the constellation of other planets andtheir planetary magnetic fields from locations elsewhere in the galaxy and so on. If one takes allthose factors in and puts them into direct relations, an electric entireness evolves.

6 Reflection

6.1. Interrelation: User/ Technology/ Media/ Art

In the context of electronic arts, the principles of putting matter of the artwork in direct contact withphysio-psychological theories has led to intense breakdowns and rebuilds of content to experiment

with. Distinctions and connections can be drawn between all chapters of art content delivery such asminimalism, multilayer content, formalism, constructivism, object-based realism or naturalism.Every chapter has its own appearance in the classical arts. The exploration of content in theelectronic arts -specifically interactive electronic arts- is still in a state of development and adoptionof classical functionalities. Virtual reality was often used in a combination with "real" objects in avirtual space to draw a connection to a naturalistic appearance and to imitate and create an illusionof real space. A sub-level of interactive art concerning a commercial outcome can be seen incomputer games as they mostly represent worlds that are based on associative characteristics of theindividual and his/her movement in a (non-) fantastic world. On a more spiritual and direct level offormal induction the abstraction is based. As mentioned before, representative models ofaudiovisual frequency are a content that delivers surreal, unusual environments to alter experiences

to a new level of neolinguistic understanding. The user familiarizes with a new interface and itsabstract language intuitively because abstract content opens up the possibilities of interaction anddoes not try to keep the interaction in a pattern of boundary laws as they would be found in a real-


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life environment. Apart from that, the simple fact that realistic object computation is still hard to berendered (especially in a real-time situation) and digital technology nowadays is still in itschildhood. So the rather metaphoric representation of content is held up against the try to imitateabsolute reality. The attempt to democratize art with new commercial media and social aspectsresults in installation art to reform to a multi-medial, multi-purpose and multi-experiential instance."The concept of 'installation art' is of relatively recent origin as a widespread, self-conscious term.

While it is tempting to redefine ancient constructions such as Stonehenge as primitive modes ofenvironmental or astronomical installation, such hypotheses at best add a somewhat specialisedaesthetic gloss to more rigorous accounts of their subject As I shall suggest in the following pages,it seems more helpful to consider the origins of different kinds of contemporary installation art interms of the early twentieth century avant-garde movements, such as Futurism, the Bauhausexperiments, Dadaism, Surrealism and Constructivism. Despite the widespread assumption thatmodernist and postmodernist culture are characterized by an oppositional dynamics, it seemsevident that postmodern installation art derives from modernist experimentation in terms of anevolutionary dynamics, elaborating, extending and making explicit the implicit potential of theseartists' differing aspirations towards an art of installation. As the French Surrealist poet Aragon(remarks referring in this instance to Robert Wilson's theatre), the most positive forms of

postmodern art realise and revolutionise what the most positive modernists 'dreamed' that art mightbecome, 'after us, beyond us'. Briefly, many forms of contemporary installation art make historicalsense as the systematic and technological realization of modernist 'dreams'. As becomes apparent,another less satisfactory form of contemporary installation occurs when an initial installation withina public, domestic or commercial gallery space is inadequately transported or inadequatelydocumented within institutional gallery or museum space. This problem occurs most frequentlywhere what one might think of as installation-performances, or installation-actions, in public,domestic or commercial spaces are transformed from dynamic process into fragmentary, static

product as a kind of inert, documentary installation relic." [22] Installation Art-Essence andExistence, Nicholas Zurbrugg ( Australian Perspecta, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1991, pp16-21)

6.2. Recap

To draw back into an overall net of electronic interactive art aspects, one has to take in thefollowing corner points. in a global sense there are three modules to be considered. The user, theinterface and the content form those modules. They stand in direct interaction and are crucial to theexistence of an interactive piece of art.The user can be manifested in several different forms. The artist performing consciously with the

artwork could be one approach, the inexperienced average visitor of the gallery another one. Asdiverse as those characters of these modules are, they all have in common that they create throughtheir interaction and are an essential part of the artwork. In an idle case, the artwork should be blankof all content without the interacting input. This does not mean that the interface has to be a blankwhite room, but informational, associative content should clearly be exposed as such. Furthermore,the interface is most effectively used if it is intuitive which means that the user either has to performsimple, common and clearly pointed out operations or that the interface directly interacts with theusers' behaviour in the space. For instance, this could be movement-, position- or temperature-values of the user."interactions that are not registered consciously can often more powerfully

shade the experience than those that are explicit, understood and so no longer 'experienced'. The

work asks us to imagine the space in the images in an unconventional way (relative to TVviewing)." [23] David Rockeby: the desert dreams a mirage silicon meets carbon (participation ArsElectronica 1994) Those values create the input soaked in by the interface. The values are


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processed in a specific way -obviously according to the deeper meaning of the individual artists'concept. Particularly this point is the only real bug in any piece of interactive generative art. " thesubjective is made objective as self-discovery in the form of images and sounds. The installationmakes spatial-temporal patterns of the impact of raindrops falling on various sound-makingsurfaces, creating a complex multitude of auto-generated light and sound structures. Various

psycho-physiological signals of the subject (EEG, EMG) are measured using sensors and

correlated. Changes in the individual's psycho-physical state are thereby fed back into theaudiovisual event itself. a model for regulating impression and expression, an aesthetic possibilityto project and communicate visible and audible metaphors of one's own consciousness" [24]Werner Cee / Horst Prehn: Braindrops (1994)Since the setup has to be made including specific usage of soft and hardware, the results will differdepending on the setup. The artist can hereby function as a supervisor for the content that isdelivered to the user and try to make the content as independently generative as possible but alwayshas to give "hints" on what the outcome might be. Also, the artist is the one to restrict and draw

boundaries in first place. Most often, those restrictions do not rely on the artists lack of imaginationbut on technical matters, spatial restrictions and financial disabilities.

7. Discourse on evolutionary aspects

7.1. Technological politics /open source

If one takes a look on the curve of technology development throughout the last century, one can tellthat industrial and technological science same as physical sciences have undergone a phase ofacceleration of evolution. Since electronic devices first became valid not only as status symbols butas well as helpful devices in public households, the demand on innovative technology has risenabove realistic means. On the demands and the development, a lot of money is made as well as

politics bound into. As mechanical industry did provide a vast variety of employment possibilitiesto the people at the beginning of the 20th century, one could say that digital industry and ITdevelopment does now and considers the 21st century one of a digital future. With the developmentof new technology though, the political situation changes as well. The most revolutionary approachof alternative development in my opinion is the operating system "Linux"."In September 1999, the GNU/Linux operating system was awarded a prize by the jury of the artand technology festival Ars Electronica. This award-for the ".net" category-converted a computeroperating system, developed through open collaboration, into an artwork. the comparison between

avant-garde art and free software does more than point out the collective nature of culturalproduction; it also points to the revolutionary effects this realization may have when the consumerand the producer become indistinguishable. This same dream of indistinctness also underpins theavant-garde wish to dissolve art into life or, better, to realize art as a practice of life. The division of(artistic) labor-the enemy of such indistinctness-is a crucial starting point for avant-gardeengagement when conceptualizing a revolution in culture or beyond. To transpose a Marxistanalysis of the means and relations of production onto culture: The individual artist has sometimes

been compared to the capitalist who harnesses and thus alienates proletarian labor power intosurplus value that can, as accumulated product or "oeuvre", be used to perpetuate theexploitation of the many by the few. The genius-artist, true to the "winner takes all" model ofcapitalism, is able to obscure the heteronomy of culture's production behind the singular expression

or possession of a sovereign intellect and imagination. A radical realization of art, then, would bethe deposition of the sovereign producer and a return of the shared wealth of creativity to its trueowners: the multitude. For this reason, a re-appropriation and transformation of the artistic means


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of production comes to the fore-an opening up of cultural source codes to an undeterminedend." [25] Josephine Berry, Bare Code: Net Art and the Free Software MovementFor the first time in human history, technology is being developed by private people without anyconsent of commercial profit. The system is distributed as "open source" which means that all the

parts can be downloaded, modified and customized for free. Constant development by people allover the world, make this a kind of huge neural network in itself with the internet used as an

interface of informational exchange. What here began as the leisure time project of Linus Torvalds-the inventor of "Linux"- finds its way into public acknowledgment. For instance: the Germangovernmental IT department has converted to the use of Linux only in the "Bundestag" which is thecentral unit of political organization in Germany. Needless to say that the Microsoft corporation wasnot amused with the fact that the German government would not use (and pay for) their operatingsystem as it has been. Current issues on the patent laws of software are discussed whether softwarecomponents, format and code are to be legally protected. This would mean that a backward stepwould be taken in the socio-technological development of computer technology and a kind ofdictatorship of commercial industry would follow.

7.2. Evolution and technology

The artist "stelarc" constructs robotic systems that function in interaction with the human body.Some examples of his revolutionary work include a mechanical walking machine, a roboticextension to his or a robotic implant in his stomach arm (both controlled by a remote user). Apartfrom that, the usual output is, as mentioned before, audiovisual content that is generated from aninterface of interactive structure. In an interview, Stelarc refers to the physical obsolete (not thesynaptic). He points not on the complete cut out of the physical but on the extension withoutsplitting between synapse and physical. His machines are interfaces in this sense."I don't mean that we can somehow shed our bodies in a Cartesian way. I simply mean that this

body, with its form and these functions, can no longer cope with the informational andtechnological terrain which it now inhabits " [26] Stelarc interview inBook for the electronic arts, arjen mulder & maaike post, publ.: de baile, Amsterdam, 2000, ISBN90-6617-255-X[26.1]In a simple sense, we mainly always used tools to equalize bodily minor functionality. Still, the

bodily evolution does not stop, but parallels along with the evolution of the tool. The tool-age like itis present nowadays is defined by digital (on a silicate base) and mechanical devices. Since researchis already done in further taking technology such as quantum computation, squid technology [27] or

biomechanics it is only a matter of time until current banalities of computation speed, complicated

interfaces or non-automatic processes disappear. Still, all those developments will depend on aninteraction between specific parts, no matter if globally networked, mechanically functional or onelectromagnetic impulses. The other side of possible evolution that binds in aspects to the art worldand the public would be a development towards a greater understanding of technology as well ashome use related artwork. Referring to interface design and interactivity, certain interactive artworkcan be considered as a hint for relative home use. If an interactive art piece is kept in mind as a

possibility of creating certain spirituality in a room -a room with a specific feeling to it- we find usin interactive art, entertainment and entireness as discussed throughout this text. Neither the artisthimself, the user nor the scientist create a process of evolution in society and its cultural terms

because they are existent as singular modules. The interaction between them is the effective spiralcontinuum that makes evolution possible.


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8. Conclusion

To conclude, one could assume that the merging of the user/artist/scientist compound takes in thenecessity of understanding the environment we live in and evolve ourselves in a deeper meaning

towards a state of entireness with the physical matters that surround us and use them in a awarenessof processing with the medium that everything consists of and interacts. The awareness of evolutionand its paths is withheld by humankind and is crucial to be discussed and consciously directed. "Aslong as our machines are faster at mathematics than ourselves (a state of affairs set to continue)they will have the ability to play the role of mediator between us and the vast computational spacesoutside our direct experience. Perhaps one day these same machines will be able to take us

beyond spaces which look more and more familiar as we travel through them, into spaces whichincrease in complexity and continue to surprise us." [28] In Kybernetes Journal, Adamatzky (ed.),MCB Press/Emerald, United Kingdom, 2003 (to appear) Alan Dorin, On Wonder and Betrayal:Creating Artificial Life software to meet aesthetic goals. This medium is the universal transporter ofall instances, no matter if globally or on a subatomic level. It forms the basis for any kind of

actuality our brain is able to process. Its impulses work in complex systems directly in synapses andmolecules and are therefore the most basic but most essential unit of interactivity found. Theinteraction, however, needs to be the one of a conscious kind to be able to gain experience andevolution in a valid way.To finish this essay, I would like to quote Alan Mathison Turing and place a specific remark on thefact that this quote was given in 1950, since it is more relevant today than ever before. "We mayhope that machines will eventually compete with men in all purely intellectual fields. But whichare the best ones to start with? Even this is a difficult decision. Many people think that a veryabstract activity, like the playing of chess, would be best. It can also be maintained that it is best to

provide the machine with the best sense organs that money can buy, and then teach it tounderstand and speak English. This process could follow the normal teaching of a child. Thingswould be pointed out and named, etc. Again I do not know what the right answer is, but I think

both approaches should be tried. We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty therethat needs to be done." [29] A. M. Turing (1950) Computing Machinery and Intelligence. Mind 49:433-460.


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Bibliography & Sources

[1] source: Stephen Hawking, a brief history of time. Bantam Press, 1988. isbn 0-553-17521-1[2] src: http://hepwww.rl.ac.uk/Pub/Phil/ppintro/nucleus.html[3] src: http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~acarpi/NSC/3-atoms.htm[4] src: http://www.ch.cam.ac.uk/SGTL/Structures/

[5] translated from: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energieerhaltungssatz[6] translated from: Andreas Huber, Chaosforschung. Wihelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1996. isbn 3-453-06544-1[7] http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Mandelbrot.html[8] Simon Penny: Consumer culture and the technological imperative: the artist in dataspace.Critical issues in electronic media, Simon penny, state university of New York press, 1995 ISBN 0-7914-2317-4[9] Michael Aschauer, Josef Deinhofer, Maia Gusberti, Nik Thoenen on their project ./logicaland;http://www.logicaland.net/ quote taken from: Ars Electronica 2002 / unplugged, Hantje CantzPublishers, 2002. isbn 3-7757-1207-0[10] http://www.stockhausen.org/

[11] A conscious computing system, Stephen Jones, 1997http://murlin.va.com.au/metabody/text/conscious.htm[12] Richard Wright: Technology is the people's friend: computers, class and the new cultural

politics Critical issues in electronic media, Simon penny, state university of New York press, 1995ISBN 0-7914-2317-4[13] Soeke Dinkla: the history of the interface in interactive art[14] sponge/foam on their project TGarden http://f0.am/tgarden/[15] MIT Media Lab http://web.media.mit.edu/%7Emarrin/HTMLThesis/2.6.htm[16] Jeffrey Shaw on legible city http://www.jeffrey-shaw.net/html_main/show_work.php3?record_id=83#[17] Sound alters visual evoked potentials in humans Ladan Shams, Yukiasu Kamitani, SamuelThompson, Shinsuke Shimojo California institute of technology, division of biologyneuroReport: cognitive Neuroscience and psychology, vol. 12 nr 17 4 dec 2001ShamsKamitaniNeuroRep01vep.pdf[18] Physical Processes for Virtual Kinetic Art, in Proceedings of First Iteration, Dorin &McCormack (eds), CEMA, Melbourne, Dec 1999, pp68-79 IterationClassificForWWW.pdf[19] THE PYTHAGOREAN PERSPECTIVE The Arts and Sociobiology [Robin Allott. 1994.Journal of Social and Evolutionary Systems., 1 71-90.]http://cogprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/archive/00003264/01/pythagor.htm[20] Can Colour Be Reduced To Anything?, DON DEDRICKhttp://cogprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/archive/00000374/00/PSA.html

[21] Lev Manovich, THE LABOR OF PERCEPTION Manovich_laborofperception.html[22] Installation Art-Essence and Existence, Nicholas Zurbrugg ( Australian Perspecta, Art Galleryof New South Wales, 1991, pp 16-21)[23] David Rockeby: the desert dreams a mirage silicon meets carbon (participation Ars Electronica1994)[24] Werner Cee / Horst Prehn: Braindrops (1994)[25] Josephine Berry, Bare Code: Net Art and the Free Software Movementhttp://www.uoc.edu/artnodes/eng/art/jberry0503/jberry0503.html[26] Stelarc interview in Book for the electronic arts, arjen mulder & maaike post, publ.: de baile,Amsterdam, 2000, ISBN 90-6617-255-X[26.1] Stelarc http://www.stelarc.va.com.au/index2.html

[27] http://www.wtec.org/loyola/scel96/06_01.html[28] In Kybernetes Journal, Adamatzky (ed.), MCB Press/Emerald, United Kingdom, 2003 (toappear) Alan Dorin, On Wonder and Betrayal: Creating Artificial Life software to meet aesthetic


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goals. sublime_Kybernetes.pdf[29] A. M. Turing (1950) Computing Machinery and Intelligence. Mind 49: 433-460. http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Turing.htmlturing_ComputingMachieneryandIntelligence.html

recommended reading:

Pioniere Interaktiver Kunst, Soeke Dinkla, Edition ZKM Cantz Verlag, Ostfieldern 1997The Art of the accident, various, NAI Publishers, Rotterdam 1998ARS ELECTRONICA :: -Cyberarts / International Compendium Prix Arts Electronica, various/ DrH. Leopoldseder, Dr. Ch. Schroepf, Springer Verlag Wien 2002 :: -Ars Electronica 2001, Dr.Christine Schoepf Springer Verlag, Wien 2001:: -Ars Electronica 93, Hannes Leopoldseder, veritas-verlag Linz, 1993, ISBN 3-7058-0086-8 ::-Ars Electronica 2002, Christine Schoepf & Gerdfried Stocker, Cantz Verlag Ostfieldern Germany,ISBN 3-7757-1207-0 :: -Ars Electronica 92 extra catalogue Eigenwelt der Apparate-welt, Pioneers

of electronic art, David Dunn, published: (?), Linz, 1992The Engine of reason, Paul M. Churchland SA Verlag, Berlin 1995Spektrum d. Wissenschaft (Scientific American) computer Kurzweil 1&2, Dr. Reinhard BreuerS.d.W. Verlagsgesellschaft HeidelbergUeber die zeit, Norbert Elias, shrukamp taschen, 1984, isbn 3-518-28356-1

online resources:

www.v2.nlhttp://www.c8.comhttp://www.media.mit.edu/http://pure-data.orghttp://crca.ucsd.eduhttp://www.wissenschaft-online.de/spektrum/index.php?action=archivhttp://www.aec.athttp://cogprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/http://www.manovich.net/http://www.linux.org/http://www.steim.org/steim/resources.phtmlhttp://www.logicaland.net/

http://www.krcf.org/krcfhome/

continual theories on the relevance of interactive electronic art to science humanities and society

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