Kwastek, Katja (Professor of Modern and Contemporary art , VU Amsterdam)

Aesthetics of Interaction in Digital Art - The MIT Press Kwastek, Katja (Professor of Modern and Contemporary art , VU Amsterdam)

Commendation Quotes: In "Aesthetics of Interaction in Digital Art," Kwastek moves with impressive ease and careful scholarship across decades of aesthetic theory and artistic practice. Kwastek's book is the definitive study of this important body of art that lies tantalizingly on the border between the traditional art world and contemporary media culture. Commendation Quotes: Combine the meticulousness of German academia with groundbreaking work theorizing one of my favorite subjects and you have Katja Kwastek's masterpiece, "Aesthetics of Interaction in Digital Art." The clarity of her reasoning process throughout affords numerous opportunities to engage in dialogue with her ideas. That is why this book has the capacity to inspire many more. Commendation Quotes: Katja Kwastek's outstanding book invites the reader into the fascinating world of digital art by exploring the complex relations among the technical construction, the implemented programs, the interface, and the contingent use of individual actors. "Aesthetics of Interaction in Digital Art" delivers a compelling, comprehensive overview of both the theoretical background of today's discourse along with rich case studies and concrete work analysis. It will be essential for practitioners and for those who are looking for precise investigations in current developments in art and aesthetics. Table of Contents: Foreword / Dieter Daniels -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Interactive Art-Definitions and Origins -- (New) Media Art, Computer Art, Digital Art, and Interactive Art -- Aesthetic Strategies in Processual Art -- Art, Technology, and Society -- 2. Interaction as an Aesthetic Experience -- The Artwork as the Object of Aesthetics -- Aesthetic Experience -- Aesthetics of Response -- Aesthetics of Process -- Methodology -- 3. The Aesthetics of Play -- Art and Play from Schiller to Scheueri -- Characteristics of Play -- Performance and Performativity -- 4. The Aesthetics of Interaction in Digital Art -- Actors -- Space -- Time -- Interactivity and Interaction -- Materiality and Interpretability -- The Ontological Status of Interactive Art -- 5. Case Studies -- Case Study 1. Olia Lialina, Agatha Appears -- Case Study 2. Susanne Berkenheger, Bubble Bath -- Case Study 3. Stefan Schemat, Wasser -- Case Study 4. Teri Rueb, Drift -- Case Study 5. Lynn Hershman, Room of One's Own -- Case Study 6. Agnes HegedUs, Fruit Machine -- Case Study 7. Tmema, The Manual Input Workstation -- Case Study 8. David Rokeby, Very Nervous System -- Case Study 9. Sonia Cillari, Se Mi Sei Vicino -- Case Study 10. Blast Theory, Rider Spoke -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index. Publisher Marketing: Since the 1960s, artworks that involve the participation of the spectator have received extensive scholarly attention. Yet interactive artworks using digital media still present a challenge for academic art history. In this book, Katja Kwastek argues that the particular aesthetic experience enabled by these new media works can open up new perspectives for our understanding of art and media alike. Kwastek, herself an art historian, offers a set of theoretical and methodological tools that are suitable for understanding and analyzing not only new media art but also other contemporary art forms. Addressing both the theoretician and the practitioner, Kwastek provides an introduction to the history and the terminology of interactive art, a theory of the aesthetics of interaction, and exemplary case studies of interactive media art. Kwastek lays the historical and theoretical groundwork and then develops an aesthetics of interaction, discussing such aspects as real space and data space, temporal structures, instrumental and phenomenal perspectives, and the relationship between materiality and interpretability. Finally, she applies her theory to specific works of interactive media art, including narratives in virtual and real space, interactive installations, and performance -- with case studies of works by Olia Lialina, Susanne Berkenheger, Stefan Schemat, Teri Rueb, Lynn Hershman, Agnes Hegedus, Tmema, David Rokeby, Sonia Cillari, and Blast Theory. " Review Citations:

Choice 05/01/2014 (EAN 9780262019323, Hardcover)

Contributor Bio:  Kwastek, Katja Katja Kwastek is Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art at VU Amsterdam.