Prof. Ryszard W. Kluszczyński, PhD, media art scholar, writer and curator. Full Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Lodz, Poland, Chair of Department of New Media and Digital Culture. Full Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz. Investigates the issues of new media arts and cyberculture, contemporary art theory, experimental cinema and video art, and recent art practices developing at the crossroads of art, science, technology and politics. Artistic Director of the Art and Science Meeting Program in the Center for Contemporary Art in Gdansk.
Meat, Metal & Code: Contestable Chimeras. STELARC / Mięso, metal i kod: rozchwiane chimery. STELARC, edited by Ryszard W. Kluszczynski, Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej / Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdansk 2014
The book of papers on the work of Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr, artists forming the Tissue Culture &... more The book of papers on the work of Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr, artists forming the Tissue Culture & Art Project. Particular chapters analyses different issues, like artistic, ethical, philosophical of their art as well as problems related to posthumanistic contexts of bio- and biotech art and the relationships between art and science.
Meat, Metal & Code: Contestable Chimeras. STELARC / Mięso, metal i kod: rozchwiane chimery. STELARC, edited by Ryszard W. Kluszczynski, Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej / Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdansk 2014
The book of papers on the work of Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr, artists forming the Tissue Culture &... more The book of papers on the work of Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr, artists forming the Tissue Culture & Art Project. Particular chapters analyses different issues, like artistic, ethical, philosophical of their art as well as problems related to posthumanistic contexts of bio- and biotech art and the relationships between art and science.
Christa Sommerer & Laurent Mignonneau: the Artwork as a Living System 1992-2022, 2023
Christa Sommerer’s and Laurent Mignonneau’s oeuvre represents one of the most important chapters ... more Christa Sommerer’s and Laurent Mignonneau’s oeuvre represents one of the most important chapters in the recent history of progressive art and one of the most relevant examples of today’s artistic avant-garde. In this paper, I will examine up close a number of these works, selected from among the broad spectrum of pieces the pair has produced during thirty years of shared artistic activity to identify the sources of their exceptional artistic value and show how these two artists address in their work issues of particular relevance to the world of today. I will tie together my reflections on individual pieces to provide a holistic view of Mignonneau and Sommerer’s art. However, to analyze and interpret these works with due regard for their overall complexity, I will identify and describe several critical artistic, theoretical and philosophical contexts expressed in them. I will also attempt to identify, indicate, and characterize the properties and tendencies that produce these contexts and play a key role in Sommerer’s and Mignonneau’s art. It is only by combining these two perspectives — one focused on individual works of art and their properties, the other directing attention to the relations linking the works with broader processes—that we can grasp the specificity of this oeuvre as a whole. The overarching framework for all contexts reflected in this oeuvre is new media art. Mignonneau’s and Sommerer’s work essentially falls entirely within this #eld. My definition of new media art — a vast and internally diverse current in contemporary art that has been developing since the early 1950s — situates it at the intersection of three defining aspects: new-mediality, transmediality, and transdisciplinary. These aspects will provide the primary contexts guiding my considerations here, both in themselves and as sources of other essential frames of reference.
In this article, I discuss the art of Luz María Sánchez, proposing to approach it through the con... more In this article, I discuss the art of Luz María Sánchez, proposing to approach it through the conceptual category of what I term a collection or multiform artwork. I characterize the central themes of her work – violence, death and loss – and highlight the most important characteristics of her artworks, which include multiformity, fluidity, transgressiveness, transdisciplinarity, participativeness and interactivity. I likewise focus on her art’s status as artistic research and its structural and material grounding in databases and collections, as well as on its use in the context of the visual arts of sound, ethnographic research, cybercartography, subversivity and found objects. I explain how Sánchez’s art is research-interventionist in nature: she analyses social events, processes and various forms of power, focusing in particular on different forms of violence. Her works emerge from research-analytical activities based on the materials she collects and the databases she builds, which serve as the foundation for the resulting artworks. Sánchez’s political interests are an expression of indignation and concern at the same time; they express both an activist stance and ethical commitment. In her art, she addresses the fate of Mexican society which has been abandoned by state authorities and left to the mercy of drug cartels and gangs. At the same time, she develops her own personal discourse in the works she creates, discreetly telling her own story which is intertwined with the history of contemporary Mexico. Her works/collections depict a landscape after a catastrophe, expressing a sense of hopelessness and loss. At the same time, however, they paradoxically initiate or promote actions and tactics of resistance
Contemporary art more and more frequently takes the form of a visual or audiovisual event rather ... more Contemporary art more and more frequently takes the form of a visual or audiovisual event rather than a permanent, stable object – an artefact. Today we increasingly encounter alongside film, the first artistic medium based on moving images, and its continuation – video, various forms of interactive media. As a result of the coexistence of these media, the temporal dimension of the work-event assumes one of two forms. In the first form, the work is linear in structure. Its time span poses a challenge to the traditional relationship between the addressee and the work of art. The addressee should in this case be aware of and accept the fact that it is not he or she who determines the time frame needed to experience a work of art, but rather the work itself. That failure in respect to this principle robs him or her of the possibility of truly experiencing the work. This challenge is one of acceptance and adaptation. In the second form, the work is nonlinear in structure. Here the temporal relationship between viewers and the work is determined by their mutual relations – that is, through a process of interaction. It is this interaction – with the event replacing the objective artefact – that in fact constitutes the experience of the work. In this case, the addressee's attitude cannot be reduced to a simple reaction to the temporal form of the work. But it is also not solely dependent on his or her decisions. It is the result of mutual cooperation between the two sides – the addressee and the work. This challenge is one of participation and cooperation. While the first type of work has found a home in the museum world thanks to the process of videofication the art world has been undergoing since the mid-1990s, pioneers of which include Nam June Paik, Bill Viola and Matthew Barney. The second type has only just begun to make its way into museums. In this chapter, I intend to propose a typology of interactive film and consider how the fates of these different varieties are tied to the institution of the museum, as well as what other environments could serve as a space for presenting it.
I analyse five forms of images: electronic, digital, interactive, networked and living, all of wh... more I analyse five forms of images: electronic, digital, interactive, networked and living, all of which challenge traditional descriptions and expectations. I analyse them from the technical-ontological, phenomenological and cultural perspective to demonstrate different ways in which they discuss and deconstruct the notion of an image. Finally, I try to propose a new context for understanding the discussed forms of new imagery, i.e. the context of post-imagery.
Interactive art does not have just one clearly specifi ed beginning. Problems encountered
by res... more Interactive art does not have just one clearly specifi ed beginning. Problems encountered
by researchers who attempt to collect its basic features and define the concept
are caused by the number and variety of events and tendencies that underlie interactive
art. These phenomena affected the conditions of its birth, they influenced the
selection of basic attributes, and they determined the dynamics and directions of
its development. It could be assumed that as a result of this complex genesis, the
history of interactive art does not lie in linear order but follows several individual
paths, usually parallel and entangled in some areas. As a result, it takes on the form
of a complex, multidimensional system. The multitude of beginnings implies a multiplicity of histories. Consequently, we have a number of histories of interactive
art, complementary and sometimes conflicting. Their shared map takes on the form
of a continent with ragged contours, blurred borders, perhaps even with the shape
of an archipelago or a form of a rhizome — because of its mobility, changeability,
and vagueness of contours — which may only be described temporarily and in movement, never definitely. I would like to call it a rhizomatic archipelago. The history of
interactive art mirrors its characteristic features in a very intriguing way: nonlinear
construction, fluidity, transformation in many planes and directions, open architecture,
and the multitude of perspectives, occurring in configurations that are always
individualized.
I shall take on the job of archeologist and cartographer to describe this complex
phenomenon in order to distinguish several areas: the most important sources of
interactive art in my opinion and the outline of their mutual map. Then I will identify
and describe the most significant artistic achievements that began shaping the different
tendencies in interactive art and the various sources they developed from, describe
the factors and properties of each of these courses, provide the key to the matrices for
artworks that were created in their influence, and bring together the interactive situations
characteristic of all of them, thus determining the areas of interactive artistic
activities.
Modern world has a complex and multidimensional character. This is largely due to such factors as... more Modern world has a complex and multidimensional character. This is largely due to such factors as globalization processes that lead to cultural hybridization. The artists who work in this context, in response to its challenges, provide their audience with equally hybrid transmedia forms. They cross the borders of art disciplines as well as the borders between art and existence. Taking the art of Douglas Davis, Sanja Iveković, Antoni Mikołajczyk, Józef Robakowski, Zygmunt Rytka, Anna Konik, and Yumi Machiguchi as examples, the paper presents the artistic tendencies which develop in between various environments, the tendencies within which art takes on nomadic character, resigning from permanent location so as to seemingly become aesthetically homeless. It is in this that art finds its power of character, its clarity of artistic gesture, its energy, values and sense, and-paradoxically-its own place: always in between.
In this article I am considering the situation of interactivity and interactive film in the insti... more In this article I am considering the situation of interactivity and interactive film in the institutional context of the cinema that is outlined by the rules of cinematographic industry. I draw attention to the fact that despite the ongoing digitalization in all cinematographic areas: production, distribution, presentation, and reception, interactivity is seen as a non-film feature and, as a consequence, it is marginalized. Cinematography opens up to any digital technological innovations that do not violate a standard model of film experience. Interactivity is seen here as a feature of games and not of films. An interactive film that is thrown to the periphery of institutionalized cinema, becomes a phenomenon of audiovisual avant-garde that is a common part of both cinema and art.
In this paper, new media art, which is fundamentally associated with technology and science, will... more In this paper, new media art, which is fundamentally associated with technology and science, will be discussed as a contemporary form of artistic avant-garde. In my argument, I will focus on its connections to earlier manifestations of avant-garde mindsets and attitudes, that is, to historical avant-garde and neo-avant-garde. I will also address the role of the art world and its institutions in establishing their mutual relationships.
Anna Konik
Ziarno piasku w źrenicy oka. Wideoinstalacje 2000-2015
A Grain of Sand in the Pupil of... more Anna Konik Ziarno piasku w źrenicy oka. Wideoinstalacje 2000-2015 A Grain of Sand in the Pupil of the Eye. Video works 2000-2015
Concept and edition of the catalogue: Ewa Gorządek and Anna Konik. Essays: Waldemar Baraniewski, Holk Cruse, Judy Fudge, Marcin Giżycki, Ewa Gorządek, Patrick Harries, Anna Konik, Ryszard W. Kluszczyński, Bernhard Waldenfels.
At the centre of Konik’s attention is the human being – virtually all of her works are a process of ‘approaching’ the Other, resulting from encounters with other people and their realities. Taking the perspective of subjective experiences as her point of departure, the artist highlights their social aspect, and the viewer is confronted not only with an individual story but with broader contemporary issues. However, the work of Anna Konik refuses to be easily inscribed in the paradigm of critical art. It offers much more than just a critical description of reality or comments on the contemporary condition. Konik uses the language of video to convey her protagonists’ experiences and mental states, seeking formal solutions to translate complex mechanisms of memory work, retrospection, emotions, elusive intuitions or impressions into the syntax of video installation and the structure of exhibition space. In her works form and content always complement each other and are equally important. From the perspective of the fifteen years (2000-2015) it is clear how consistently the artist sought formal solutions for every topic that became the intellectual material of her successive works. (Ewa Gorządek)
I am presenting the project Art & Science
Meeting, carried out by the Laznia Centre for Contempo... more I am presenting the project Art & Science
Meeting, carried out by the Laznia Centre for Contemporary
Art in Gdansk since the beginning of 2011
(I developed the concept in autumn 2010 and run until now), by first discussing
its framework and the context which shaped
it, then describing its essential characteristics and,
finally, up-to-date history and completed projects.
Meat, Metal & Code: Contestable Chimeras. STELARC / Mięso, metal i kod: rozchwiane chimery. STELARC, edited by Ryszard W. Kluszczynski, Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej / Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdansk 2014, s. 224-245
Podejmuję w tekście analizę sztuki protestu, ujmując ją w dwojakiej perspektywie. W pierwszej, tr... more Podejmuję w tekście analizę sztuki protestu, ujmując ją w dwojakiej perspektywie. W pierwszej, transhistorycznej, przyglądając się jej różnym manifestacjom, uznaję, że nie posiada ona żadnych określników gatunkowych bądź medialnych, które pozwoliłyby opisać ją jako odrębny gatunek sztuki. Mamy tu raczej do czynienia z protestem wyrażanym środkami sztuki. W drugiej kieruję uwagę ku współczesnym, najnowszym jej przejawom, stwierdzając, że sztuka protestu przyjmuje postać sztuki transdyscyplinarnej a jej najbardziej wyrazistym wcieleniem jest nurt bądź odmiana sztuki nowych mediów.
I analyse protest art in the paper, taking it from a twofold perspective. First, looking at its various manifestations in the first transhistorical one, it does not have any genre or media designations that would allow us to describe it as a separate art genre. Instead, we are dealing with protest expressed through the means of art. In the second, I turn my attention to its contemporary, latest manifestations, concluding that protest art takes the form of transdisciplinary art and its most prominent form is a current or variety of new media art.
The author describes the processes that are taking place in
the world of contemporary artistic cr... more The author describes the processes that are taking place in the world of contemporary artistic creation thanks to the emergence and spread of the internet as an environment for artistic practices, in particular, for the presentation of art. He looks at the changes concerning the status of a work of art as well as the ways of making it available to the public. He reflects on the consequences of the contemporary networking of art – in the context of the transformations of art that are unfolding as a result of ever changing and developing technologies and media, and in relation to the concepts of Walter Benjamin and Bill Nichols. Three concepts of the artwork emerging from the processes indicated here are presented: the mediated, the replaced, and the multiplied artwork. The COVID-19 pandemic provides an additional context for considerations.
Podejmuję tu rozważania nad sztuką nowych mediów, rozwijającą się dynamicznie w ciągu ostatniego ... more Podejmuję tu rozważania nad sztuką nowych mediów, rozwijającą się dynamicznie w ciągu ostatniego półwiecza. Analizuję jej koncepcję, a następnie przeobrażenia, od formy początkowej, wyłaniającej się w rezultacie wprowadzenia nowych mediów jako narzędzi pracy twórczej w pole sztuki, przez fazę postmedialną, w ramach której sztuki starych i nowych mediów technicznych integrują się z tradycyjnymi dziedzinami sztuki, aż po współczesną fazę transdyscyplinarną, w której zintegrowane na poprzednim etapie intermedia artystyczne wchodzą w twórcze interakcje z innymi, pozaartystycznymi dziedzinami praktyk społecznych: nauką, humanistyką, polityką, aktywizmem społecznym, tworząc artystyczne formy transmedialne. Prezentuję aktualną sztukę nowych mediów jako pole rozpostarte w szczególności między SciArt a sztuką krytyczną.
Sztuka wideo-od rozproszonej autonomii do rozproszonej wszechobecności. Wprowadzenie do historii ... more Sztuka wideo-od rozproszonej autonomii do rozproszonej wszechobecności. Wprowadzenie do historii i estetyki sztuki wideo. Modele wideo Zasadniczym celem podjętych tu rozważań jest ogólne, wstępne określenie ram i kontekstów, w których kształtowała się sztuka wideo, wskazanie związanych z nimi podstawowych jej właściwości oraz pokazanie, w jaki sposób wyłaniały się one w trakcie uzyskiwania przez medium wideo statusu dyscypliny artystycznej, a następnie przekształcały, zmierzając w stronę jej dzisiejszej postaci transmedialnej. Przedmiotem refleksji jest więc tu sztuka wideo w procesie transformacji prowadzących od telewizji jako medium twórczego (model 1), poprzez video art (model 2), do wideo jako narzędzia transmedialnej wypowie-dzi artystycznej (model 3). Piszę tu o modelach, a nie fazach czy etapach, jak można by to ująć w tradycyjnej linearnej wersji historii sztuki wideo nie dlatego jedynie, że zasadniczo kwestionuję wartość poznawczą koncepcji historii jako linearnego porządkowania opisywanych zjawisk, lecz przede wszystkim ze względu na to, że wskazane formacje sztuki wideo oraz ich segmenty w różnych okresach dziejów tej sztuki rozwijały się obok siebie, równolegle, a nie w następstwie czasowym. Porządek, w jakim ustawiam w swych rozważaniach te modele ma więc charakter logiczny, a nie chronologiczny, i odwzorowuje porządek kształtowania się oraz samopoznania sztuki wideo: w pierwszym skupia się ona na własnej charakterystyce medialnej i wyprowadza swój status z analizy właściwości telewizji jako medium, pozostając zarazem w przestrzeni między sztuką a komunikowaniem społecznym; w drugim rozwija się w polu sztuki, w którym ustanawia siebie jako specyficznie autonomiczne, odrębne medium artystyczne, kształtując przy tym różne swoje odmiany; w trzecim rozwija i pogłębia relacje między sobą a różnymi innymi rodzajami sztuki, porzucając ostatecznie granice medium dla porządku transmedialnego i status odrębnej dziedziny dyscypliny dla porządku transdyscyplinarnego.
Platforma AVIE wymyślona i stworzona w Center for Interactive Cinema Research na Uniwersytecie No... more Platforma AVIE wymyślona i stworzona w Center for Interactive Cinema Research na Uniwersytecie Nowej Południowej Walii (UNSW) w Sydney ma swoje korzenie nie tylko we współczesnych procesach ekspansji technologii cyfrowych na obszary sztuki. Wyłoniła się ona bowiem także w efekcie wieloletnich eksperymentów Jeffrey’a Shawa eksplorujących artystyczne możliwości interaktywnych form panoramicznych. Odległym źródłem tych ostatnich były z kolei wczesne prace tego artysty należące do kręgu expanded cinema. Można by więc sądzić, biorąc pod uwagę źródła i finalny kontekst AVIE, że wszystkie zjawiska artystyczne powiązane z AVIE mieszczą się w rozszerzonej formule kina a samo AVIE jest jedynie najnowszą formą filmowego dyspozytywu. Tymczasem platforma AVIE okazała się nie mniej atrakcyjna dla twórców teatralnych. David Pledger oraz Wooster Group zrealizowali przy jej użyciu spektakle, które tworzą nowy format wirtualnego teatru, czy też post-teatru. Oba te dzieła: Eavesdrop (2004) i There Is Still Time … Brother (2007), spotykając się we wspólnym kontekście technologicznym wyrastają jednak z różnych źródeł estetycznych charakteryzujących postawy ich twórców. The Wooster Groop wyłania się z tradycji kinofikacji teatru, mającej swe początki w drugiej i trzeciej dekadzie dwudziestego wieku, podczas gdy spektakl Pledgera ma swoje źródła w intermedialnej i multimedialnej sztuce drugiej połowy tego samego stulecia. W podjętych tu rozważaniach przyjrzę się obu tym źródłowym kontekstom, poddam refleksji specyficzne i wspólne aspekty obu tych dzieł, zinterpretuję znaczenie technicznej, wirtualnej ramy dla ich estetycznej charakterystyki oraz dla dziedzin sztuki, które w szczególności reprezentują. Nakreślę również zarys scenariusza przyszłych wspólnych dziejów kina i teatru rozwijających się i łączących w środowisku cyfrowym. Interakcja, partycypacja i sprawczość odbiorcza grają w tym scenariuszu nadrzędną rolę.
Trajektorie obrazów. Strategie wizualne w sztuce współczesnej, red. Ryszard W. Kluszczyński i Dagmara Rode, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, Łódź 2015
Autor charakteryzuje w swoim artykule kolejno pojęcie nowych mediów, sztuki nowych mediów, oraz s... more Autor charakteryzuje w swoim artykule kolejno pojęcie nowych mediów, sztuki nowych mediów, oraz sztuki cybernetycznej, która jest tu postrzegana jako historycznie pierwsza postać sztuki nowych mediów, posiadająca zarazem liczne kontynuacje we współczesności. Pojęcie nowych mediów autor ujmuje nie poprzez ulokowane go na linii czasu lecz jako paradygmatyczny zespół właściwości, z których nowe media korzystają. Najważniejsze z nich, to techniczny charakter, reprezentacja numeryczna, wirtualność, modularność, automatyzacja, wariacyjność, telekomunikacyjność, telematyczność, autonomiczność, cyfrowość, interaktywność, hipertekstualność, wirtualność, informacyjność, sieciowość, nielinearność i orientacja przestrzenna, nawigacyjność, strukturalne otwarcie, hybrydyczność, interfejs, konwergencja. W analogiczny sposób charakteryzowane jest tu pojęcie sztuki nowych mediów. W tym wypadku, z kolei, najważniejszymi paradygmatycznymi właściwościami okazują się techniczny i elektroniczny charakter, cyfrowość, interaktywność i sieciowość. Liczne wyodrębnione przez autora sztuki nowych mediów w zróżnicowany sposób konfigurują wskazane właściwości, łącząc je innymi, niespecyficznymi dla nowych mediów, budując w ten sposób złożony krajobraz sztuk nowomedialnych.
Sztuka tworząca sztukę. Z rozważań nad estetyką posthumanistyczną, [w:] Człowiek w relacji do zwierząt, roślin i maszyn w kulturze. Tom 1: Aspekt posthumanistyczny i transhumanistyczny, red. J. Tymieniecka-Suchanek, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego, Katowice 2014, s. 349-361.
Towards a Non-Anthropocentric Ecology: Victoria Vesna and Art in the World of the Anthropocene, 2020
Sánchez Cardona, L.M. (2020). “Sounds [That] Are Not. Is there any time left?” Ryszard W. Kluszcz... more Sánchez Cardona, L.M. (2020). “Sounds [That] Are Not. Is there any time left?” Ryszard W. Kluszczynski (editor.) Towards a Non-Anthropocentric Ecology: Victoria Vesna and Art in the World of the Anthropocene. (English/Polish.) Gdańsk,: LAZNIA Centre for Contemporary Art.
This is a speculative text, a creative essay in which I present ideas about our time and the surroundings in which we find ourselves. As an artist-researcher I crave for a dialogue among scientists, humanists, and artists to address pivotal issues. Art might address the past, the present, or even the future, but it is always close to the ways in which things evolve.
Dens l’article on essaie d'analyser la construction de l’espace dans les oeuvres littéraires ... more Dens l’article on essaie d'analyser la construction de l’espace dans les oeuvres littéraires et celles de film de Tadeusz Konwicki, en démontrant la dif^rentiation y surgissant, aussi bien que de construire des modèles d'espace de la création artistique de l'auteur du Salto. Ensuite on examine les relations entre les modèles particuliers, les relations entre ceux-ci et les modèles du temps, distingués à une autre occasion et ainsi on arrive à la description des composants fondamentaux du monde présenté __ des systèmes constants d'espace, temporel.Zadanie pt. „Digitalizacja i udostępnienie w Cyfrowym Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego kolekcji czasopism naukowych wydawanych przez Uniwersytet Łódzki” nr 885/P-DUN/2014 zostało dofinansowane ze środków MNiSW w ramach działalności upowszechniającej nauk
Aleksandra Kaminska w monografii Polish Media Art in an Expanded Field (2016) skupia uwagę na kró... more Aleksandra Kaminska w monografii Polish Media Art in an Expanded Field (2016) skupia uwagę na krótkim fragmencie historii sztuki mediów w Polsce, jej pierwszym pięcioleciu po dołączeniu do Unii Europejskiej (2004-2009). Wybór ten wynika z przekonania, że analiza tego przełomowego, zdaniem Kaminskiej, okresu w polskiej sztuce pozwala odpowiedzieć na pytania dotyczące zjawisk i procesów, które autorce wydają się nadzwyczaj ważne. Pytania te koncentrują się w szczególności na negocjacji tożsamości, demokracji, relacji między lokalnością i europejskością. W przekonaniu Kaminskiej twórcy podjęli wówczas trud przedefiniowania koncepcji polskości i jej relacji z różnie definiowanym otoczeniem (zarówno UE, jak i światem). Zasadnicza część książki składa się z pięciu rozdziałów. Autorka omawia w nich historyczne i polityczne konteksty sztuki dyskutowanego okresu, problematykę eksperymentu i historycznych tendencji awangardowych w Polsce, analizuje koncepcje sztuki mediów, obecność i znaczeni...
The term “new media art” covers numerous, diverse phenomena with their own specific properties. I... more The term “new media art” covers numerous, diverse phenomena with their own specific properties. I will present these properties in the following discourse. The diversity within this field sometimes leads to attempts at defining new media art by juxtaposing its numerous types. However, such a definition renders the term meaningless, yielding in essence merely a collective term encompassing a variety of individually defined types. Moreover, it fails to provide criteria that would indicate the reasons for considering these particular types to be forms of new media art. This term should, therefore, not be defined in reference to individual media or a juxtapositioning of a number of them, but by indicating what unites them and makes them types of new media art. This requires identifying the properties that make new media “new”, that is, different from previous dominant media. The field of new media art remains unstable, constantly in a process of transformation. This is so not merely because of the emergence of new and different types of media, but also because of the transformations constantly taking place in the multidirectional relations between them, including those resulting from processes such as technological convergence, divergence, and remediation, which shape different media configurations and produce hybrid forms. At the same time, however, this fact does not mean we are dealing with a process of substitution, that newer media merely supplant those that preceded them in time and assume their position and status, thereby becoming “newer” new media. On the contrary, within certain limits defined by their properties, newer media join older forms, thus expanding the overall field of new media and deepening its internal differentiation. This is precisely what has occurred in new media art, whose individual types, although seemingly rooted in the characteristics of the new media that gave birth to them, in fact, have acquired their own character and status in relation to the overall new media environment. The category of new media art came into general use in the mid-1990s (Tribe, Jana, 2006, 7). The forms of artistic activity associated with it, whose beginnings I trace back to the 1950s in the development of cybernetic and oscilloscope art, and in the academic and critical studies that followed these transformations in art, have their own, even longer history. The theoretical approaches to new media art developed by scholars and critics feature a relevant concepts and terminology (Burnham, 1968; Reichardt, 1971; Nake, 1974; Popper, 1975; Druckrey, 1996; Sommerer, Mignonneau, 1998; Manovich, 2001; Wilson, 2002; Tribe, Jana, 2006; Shanken, 2009), proposals for a historical ordering (Youngblood, 1970; Rush, 1999; Grau, 2003; Frieling, Daniels, 2004; Wands, 2006; Grau, 2007; Cubitt, Thomas, 2013), and monographic studies dedicated to numerous trends in and types of new media art (Franke, 1971; Kahn, 1999; Goldberg, 2000; Weibel, 2001; Ascott, 2003; Paul, 2003; Green, 2004; Kac, 2005; Dixon, Smith, 2007; Raley, 2009; Menkman, 2011). Many books on the work of selected artists and analyses of individual works have also been published. In conjunction with the development of new media art and scholarly reflection on it, a number of university courses and programmes in art colleges were established. An institutional and exhibition system also developed, supporting the production and presentation of works and the realisation of artistic and research projects (such as Ars Electronica Center, Linz; ZKM ‒ Media Art Center, Karlsruhe; InterCommunication Center, Tokyo). The first new media art exhibitions were held (Cybernetic Serendipity, 1968; Software, 1970), and new media art magazines (such as Leonardo, Neural, Artnodes), internet sites (such as Rhizome; Netzspannung.org; ADA: Archive of Digital Art) and festivals (such as Ars Electronica, Linz; European Media Art Festival, Osnabrück; Multimediale, Karlsruhe or Transmediale, Berlin) emerged. New media art thereby acquired a full-fledged institutional framework. In the following paragraphs, I will analyse the concept and multiform phenomenon of new media art on four levels. I will first consider it in terms of the interaction between art theory and the related conceptual understanding of this medium as an artistic discipline and a material; and media theory, and its approach to the medium as a technical means of communication. In doing so, I will make an effort to avoid privileging either of these two contexts, and explain why a definitional balance and consensus should be sought instead. Secondly, I will point out and analyse the properties that characterise new media and new media art, and the consequences of trying to define them by assigning them a set of defining characteristics. In doing so, I will draw attention in particular to the possibilities that emerge from defining new media and new media art without placing them on a historical timeline. Thirdly, I will provide both an overview of the history of new media art and examine the complexity and multiplicity of its types, revealing their diverse status. Fourthly, I will highlight three basic factors of new media art: newmediality ‒ referring to the “technical-new media” properties of new media art that emerged as a result of the introduction of new technical means of communication into the field of art as tools for creative work; transmediality ‒ referring to the interaction between new and traditional media, whereby art utilising old and new technical means enter into a meaningful relationship or are even integrated into traditional fields of art, creating transmedial forms; and transdisciplinarity ‒ referring to the relations between artistic new-media and transmedia disciplines and other, non-artistic disciplines of social practice, such as science, the humanities, politics and social activism. These relationships result in the construction of transdisciplinary artistic forms. I will also explain how changes in the hierarchy among these three factors have over time shaped new media art history. I will construct my position both through the use of and in discussion with a number of concepts found in new media art theory.
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Books and Catalogues by Ryszard W . Kluszczyński
broad spectrum of pieces the pair has produced during thirty years of shared artistic activity to identify the sources of their exceptional artistic value and show how these two artists address in their work issues of particular
relevance to the world of today. I will tie together my reflections on individual pieces to provide a holistic view of Mignonneau and Sommerer’s art. However, to analyze and interpret these works with due regard for their overall complexity, I will identify and describe several critical artistic, theoretical and philosophical contexts expressed in them. I will also attempt to identify, indicate, and characterize the properties and tendencies that produce these contexts and play a key role in Sommerer’s and Mignonneau’s art.
It is only by combining these two perspectives — one focused on individual works of art and their properties, the other directing attention to the relations linking the works with broader processes—that we can grasp the specificity of this oeuvre as a whole.
The overarching framework for all contexts reflected in this oeuvre is new media art. Mignonneau’s and Sommerer’s work essentially falls entirely within this #eld. My definition of new media art — a vast and internally diverse current in contemporary art that has been developing since the early 1950s — situates it at the intersection of three defining aspects: new-mediality, transmediality, and transdisciplinary. These aspects will provide the primary contexts guiding my considerations here, both in themselves and as sources of other essential frames of reference.
by researchers who attempt to collect its basic features and define the concept
are caused by the number and variety of events and tendencies that underlie interactive
art. These phenomena affected the conditions of its birth, they influenced the
selection of basic attributes, and they determined the dynamics and directions of
its development. It could be assumed that as a result of this complex genesis, the
history of interactive art does not lie in linear order but follows several individual
paths, usually parallel and entangled in some areas. As a result, it takes on the form
of a complex, multidimensional system. The multitude of beginnings implies a multiplicity of histories. Consequently, we have a number of histories of interactive
art, complementary and sometimes conflicting. Their shared map takes on the form
of a continent with ragged contours, blurred borders, perhaps even with the shape
of an archipelago or a form of a rhizome — because of its mobility, changeability,
and vagueness of contours — which may only be described temporarily and in movement, never definitely. I would like to call it a rhizomatic archipelago. The history of
interactive art mirrors its characteristic features in a very intriguing way: nonlinear
construction, fluidity, transformation in many planes and directions, open architecture,
and the multitude of perspectives, occurring in configurations that are always
individualized.
I shall take on the job of archeologist and cartographer to describe this complex
phenomenon in order to distinguish several areas: the most important sources of
interactive art in my opinion and the outline of their mutual map. Then I will identify
and describe the most significant artistic achievements that began shaping the different
tendencies in interactive art and the various sources they developed from, describe
the factors and properties of each of these courses, provide the key to the matrices for
artworks that were created in their influence, and bring together the interactive situations
characteristic of all of them, thus determining the areas of interactive artistic
activities.
historical avant-garde and neo-avant-garde. I will also address the role of the art world and its institutions in establishing their mutual relationships.
Ziarno piasku w źrenicy oka. Wideoinstalacje 2000-2015
A Grain of Sand in the Pupil of the Eye. Video works 2000-2015
Concept and edition of the catalogue: Ewa Gorządek and Anna Konik.
Essays: Waldemar Baraniewski, Holk Cruse, Judy Fudge, Marcin Giżycki, Ewa Gorządek, Patrick Harries, Anna Konik, Ryszard W. Kluszczyński, Bernhard Waldenfels.
At the centre of Konik’s attention is the human being – virtually all of her works are a process of ‘approaching’ the Other, resulting from encounters with other people and their realities. Taking the perspective of subjective experiences as her point of departure, the artist highlights their social aspect, and the viewer is confronted not only with an individual story but with broader contemporary issues.
However, the work of Anna Konik refuses to be easily inscribed in the paradigm of critical art. It offers much more than just a critical description of reality or comments on the contemporary condition. Konik uses the language of video to convey her protagonists’ experiences and mental states, seeking formal solutions to translate complex mechanisms of memory work, retrospection, emotions, elusive intuitions or impressions into the syntax of video installation and the structure of exhibition space. In her works form and content always complement each other and are equally important.
From the perspective of the fifteen years (2000-2015) it is clear how consistently the artist sought formal solutions for every topic that became the intellectual material of her successive works.
(Ewa Gorządek)
Graphic Design: Grzegorz Laszuk
304 pages, soft cover, texts in English and Polish
ISBN 978-83-65240-07-1
Warsaw 2016
http://csw.art.pl/index.php?action=publikacje&id=185&lang=eng
Meeting, carried out by the Laznia Centre for Contemporary
Art in Gdansk since the beginning of 2011
(I developed the concept in autumn 2010 and run until now), by first discussing
its framework and the context which shaped
it, then describing its essential characteristics and,
finally, up-to-date history and completed projects.
I analyse protest art in the paper, taking it from a twofold perspective. First, looking at its various manifestations in the first transhistorical one, it does not have any genre or media designations that would allow us to describe it as a separate art genre. Instead, we are dealing with protest expressed through the means of art. In the second, I turn my attention to its contemporary, latest manifestations, concluding that protest art takes the form of transdisciplinary art and its most prominent form is a current or variety of new media art.
the world of contemporary artistic creation thanks to the
emergence and spread of the internet as an environment for
artistic practices, in particular, for the presentation of art.
He looks at the changes concerning the status of a work of
art as well as the ways of making it available to the public.
He reflects on the consequences of the contemporary
networking of art – in the context of the transformations
of art that are unfolding as a result of ever changing and
developing technologies and media, and in relation to
the concepts of Walter Benjamin and Bill Nichols. Three
concepts of the artwork emerging from the processes
indicated here are presented: the mediated, the replaced,
and the multiplied artwork. The COVID-19 pandemic
provides an additional context for considerations.
This is a speculative text, a creative essay in which I present ideas about our time
and the surroundings in which we find ourselves. As an artist-researcher I crave for a dialogue among scientists, humanists, and artists to address pivotal issues. Art
might address the past, the present, or even the future, but it is always close to
the ways in which things evolve.
The category of new media art came into general use in the mid-1990s (Tribe, Jana, 2006, 7). The forms of artistic activity associated with it, whose beginnings I trace back to the 1950s in the development of cybernetic and oscilloscope art, and in the academic and critical studies that followed these transformations in art, have their own, even longer history. The theoretical approaches to new media art developed by scholars and critics feature a relevant concepts and terminology (Burnham, 1968; Reichardt, 1971; Nake, 1974; Popper, 1975; Druckrey, 1996; Sommerer, Mignonneau, 1998; Manovich, 2001; Wilson, 2002; Tribe, Jana, 2006; Shanken, 2009), proposals for a historical ordering (Youngblood, 1970; Rush, 1999; Grau, 2003; Frieling, Daniels, 2004; Wands, 2006; Grau, 2007; Cubitt, Thomas, 2013), and monographic studies dedicated to numerous trends in and types of new media art (Franke, 1971; Kahn, 1999; Goldberg, 2000; Weibel, 2001; Ascott, 2003; Paul, 2003; Green, 2004; Kac, 2005; Dixon, Smith, 2007; Raley, 2009; Menkman, 2011). Many books on the work of selected artists and analyses of individual works have also been published. In conjunction with the development of new media art and scholarly reflection on it, a number of university courses and programmes in art colleges were established. An institutional and exhibition system also developed, supporting the production and presentation of works and the realisation of artistic and research projects (such as Ars Electronica Center, Linz; ZKM ‒ Media Art Center, Karlsruhe; InterCommunication Center, Tokyo). The first new media art exhibitions were held (Cybernetic Serendipity, 1968; Software, 1970), and new media art magazines (such as Leonardo, Neural, Artnodes), internet sites (such as Rhizome; Netzspannung.org; ADA: Archive of Digital Art) and festivals (such as Ars Electronica, Linz; European Media Art Festival, Osnabrück; Multimediale, Karlsruhe or Transmediale, Berlin) emerged. New media art thereby acquired a full-fledged institutional framework.
In the following paragraphs, I will analyse the concept and multiform phenomenon of new media art on four levels.
I will first consider it in terms of the interaction between art theory and the related conceptual understanding of this medium as an artistic discipline and a material; and media theory, and its approach to the medium as a technical means of communication. In doing so, I will make an effort to avoid privileging either of these two contexts, and explain why a definitional balance and consensus should be sought instead.
Secondly, I will point out and analyse the properties that characterise new media and new media art, and the consequences of trying to define them by assigning them a set of defining characteristics. In doing so, I will draw attention in particular to the possibilities that emerge from defining new media and new media art without placing them on a historical timeline.
Thirdly, I will provide both an overview of the history of new media art and examine the complexity and multiplicity of its types, revealing their diverse status.
Fourthly, I will highlight three basic factors of new media art: newmediality ‒ referring to the “technical-new media” properties of new media art that emerged as a result of the introduction of new technical means of communication into the field of art as tools for creative work; transmediality ‒ referring to the interaction between new and traditional media, whereby art utilising old and new technical means enter into a meaningful relationship or are even integrated into traditional fields of art, creating transmedial forms; and transdisciplinarity ‒ referring to the relations between artistic new-media and transmedia disciplines and other, non-artistic disciplines of social practice, such as science, the humanities, politics and social activism. These relationships result in the construction of transdisciplinary artistic forms.
I will also explain how changes in the hierarchy among these three factors have over time shaped new media art history. I will construct my position both through the use of and in discussion with a number of concepts found in new media art theory.