Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
Co-Director
Prof. Cees de Bont
School of Design
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Proceedings of the 22nd International Symposium on Electronic Art ISEA2016 Hong Kong. xv
Contents
xvi Proceedings of the 22nd International Symposium on Electronic Art ISEA2016 Hong Kong.
Contents
67 Cultivating More-than-Human Lifeworlds: Laudatio on Indigenous Fermentation, Smell and Metabolic Power
Grids. Markus Wernli . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
68 An Interactive Mnemonic Space For Jodi.org: The Process of Re-exhibiting. Karin de Wild . . . . . . . . . 365
69 Augmented Reality as Experimental Art Practice: from Information Overlay to Software Assemblage. Rewa
Wright . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
70 Digital Confucianism: a Confucian Take on Computation and Algorithm. Mi You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
IV Posters 433
85 Collaborative Expression Program by Creating Digital Storybooks.Taeko Ariga, Koichi Mori, and Takehisa
Mashimo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
86 In Search for DomoNovus: Speculations on the New Home. Stavros Didakis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
87 Stories of Solidarity. Glenda Drew, Jesse Drew, and Jack Leng . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
88 MVP: An Automatic Music Video Producer. Jianyu Fan, William Li, and Philippe Pasquier . . . . . . . . 437
89 Natural Material in Interactive Art. Byeongwon Ha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
90 Nagakute Yuimaaru Website. Haruo Ishii . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
91 AS IF You Are Suffering in Silence: An Interactive Installation as Empathy Tool for Chronic Pain. Weina
Jin, Servet Ula , Xin Tong, Diane Gromala, and Chris Shaw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
92 Q- quanta of sound. Paola Lopreiato and Alfonso Belfiore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
93 Faux Pas Lee Nutbean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
94 Touchology: Exploration of Empathetic Touch Interaction with Plants for Well-being. Jinsil Hwaryoung Seo,
Annie Sungkajun, Tiffany Sanchez, and Jinkyo Suh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443
95 Structural Montage for Immersive Cinema an Experiment in Transposing Fulldome to VR. Clea T. Waite 444
Proceedings of the 22nd International Symposium on Electronic Art ISEA2016 Hong Kong. xvii
Part I
1
The Algorithmic as Agonistic Agency:
Approaches on Experimental Design, the Politics of Codes, and Post-
Anthropocentric Paradoxes in (Media) Cultures.
Diego Gomez Venegas
Department of Design, Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, University of Chile
diegogomez@uchilefaul.cl
Proceedings of the 22nd International Symposium on Electronic Art ISEA2016 Hong Kong. 59
Part I. Full Papers (peer-reviewed)
However, in spite of this hybrid meaning, the reader and philosopher, Bruno Latour, affirms that what has
may agree with me on the following: in modern cultures been called the social does not exist in the terms through
and I am referring the Latourian approach to modern which it has been described so far, but alternatively, that
here [5], every meaning was still processed by the what does exist, are networks of constant associations
symbolic code of languages of telling, that is to say; between actors and the collectives they configure. More
letters, words, sentences, punctation, grammar, etc. precisely, Latour says that those networks and collectives
Therefore, a collision, either important or negligible, are formed by a very diverse nature of actors, which in
between the logics of telling and counting still remained. no case are only human, but rather, human and non-
A confrontation between the agencies of telling and human. This has been particularly interesting for us
counting, or zhlen versus erzhlen [6] as Ernst has put because invites to reconsider what society is, by
it. But, just as we all are aware of, that processing understanding that it is not anymore an anthropocentric
balance started to change when electronic machines first, complex, or more accurately, that it never was; just as
and algorithmic machines later, became part of the code Latour argued in an earlier book titled We Have Never
for processing the meaning of peoples ideas and actions. Been Modern [12], where he sets up the cornerstone of
Then, cities and their infrastructure were one of the first his critique on the epistemic asymmetries that has
evidences of this shift, where human expression and the governed modern cultures. In sum, Latours thought
narration of stories moved to a new code materialized by points out that the networks of associations shaping
telegraph networks, radio waves and antennas, telephone society and culture are formed besides humans by
lines, relays, and receivers, and of course, television the natural and artificial spheres, and that inside the
broadcasting and the sound-image reproductor. Thus, by latter, objects too must be consider as bearers of agency
abandoning the book, so to speak, human knowledge and and because of that, also mediators in the ways we
culture put an end to the monopoly of writing, while at humans know the world.
the same time they gave the city a (new) media quality. Consequently, it is possible to sustain a media
In the same way, Friedrich Kittler tells us (ironically) in archeological analysis supported by this Latourian view
his essay titled The City is a Medium [7], how cities can on science and technology studies too, where objects
be understood as media, explaining how technological gain a new quality, becoming a key actor of
infrastructure and networks grant cities the power to contemporary cultures. Actually, it is based on Latours
store, transmit, and process diverse kinds of information: concept of object-oriented democracies, that I have
allowed myself to propose the idea of an object-oriented
What to passers-by seems like growth run amok or culture, as a way to initiate a dialogue with the aspects
entropy is technology that is to say, information. discussed in the previous section, where Ernsts and
Ever since it has become impossible to survey cities Kittlers thoughts have been determinant. Thus, when I
from a cathedral tower or a castle, and ever since say hardware societies, I am of course referring to this
walls and fortifications have ceased to contain them, attention to objects as the bearers of agencies like the
cities have been traversed and connected by a language of counting. However, the word bearer should
network of innumerable networks, also (and not constitute here a way to confuse the role of objects
specially) at their margins, points of tangency, and with that of intermediaries, because under our gaze, and
frayed edges. [8] as it was said before, objects must be seen only through
the symmetrical lens of post-anthropocentric cultures, for
What is also interesting at this point, is that a soft thus being able to recognize their condition as actors
processing system as the language of telling that is to which mediate in a direct way on the public affairs [13].
say, writing led to a hard technical complex to mediate This is so, because when objects become active and
information, and through that, knowledge. Accordingly, permanent actors of societies and cultures, they of course
it is possible to argue now that culture passed from being participate too of the political issues that concern to us
a soft system, to be mainly a material one. That is why, I all.
believe, scholars as Kittler have affirmed that there is no In an essay titled From Real Politik to Dingpolitik - An
software anymore, by considering that at the bottom, Introduction to Making Things Public [14], Latour
contemporary cultures rest over hardware [9]. And at the argues in favor of reconsidering political and social
end, this is also part of the agonistic or rather structures by including objects and things in the center of
confrontational condition I mentioned at the beginning of any contemporary debate. According to his perspective,
this essay, because the textual intelligences that gave we must overcome the modern view which considered
birth to the old modern cultures, are now constantly that every epistemic event was based on matters of fact,
confronted by the mathematical processing that is to structuring thus human knowledge through an
say, the language of counting of hardware societies. In asymmetrical and anthropocentric judgement of
other words, [h]uman beings, having created logical phenomena. On the contrary, says Latour, contemporary
machines, have created a discontinuity with their own times show that the events that are relevant to us all, are
cultural regime [10]. configure by a symmetrical participation of actors where
the non-human kind plays an irrefutable role in the way
our presence in this planet develops. In that sense, the
An Object-Oriented Culture French scholar points out that Things are the central
element around which societies and cultures assemble,
In his book Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to
arguing upon the etymological root of the concept,
Actor-Network-Theory [11], the French anthropologist related to the German word Ding whose meaning refers
60 Proceedings of the 22nd International Symposium on Electronic Art ISEA2016 Hong Kong.
The Algorithmic as Agonistic Agency: Approaches on Experimental Design, the Politics of Codes, and
Post-Anthropocentric Paradoxes in (Media) Cultures. Diego Gomez Venegas
to the matters of concern that shape our interests and the the modes these things are designed. Consequently, I
modes in which we gather around what is at issue. This think design must be re-situated now as a highly
discussion is important, because this matters of concern technical cultural practice with strong epistemic impact,
that is to say, things are configured in material whose value resides in its quality as mediator within the
presence as objects; or in more Kittlerian words, as issues I have discussed so far in this essay. In that sense,
hardware; sustaining what matters and thus gathering Bruno Latours article, A Cautious Prometheus: A few
people publicly around them. Hence, the polis of this steps toward a philosophy of design (with special
hardware society regains its status as the center of the attention to Peter Sloterdijk) [18] offers a very
political and ontological debates, specially if one interesting perspective on how every kind of designer
considers that now the artificial sphere these objects should now reconsider her or his activity, as a constant
has its own agenda, so to speak; that agency based on the and critical re-design of the matters of concern that affect
techno-mathematical intelligence I have called so far the to us all. In a similar path, the German historian of
language for counting but from now on, I shall call the science and media technologies, Wolfgang Schffner, has
algorithmic. also argued that designs scope should be reevaluated in
Following the aforementioned reasoning, another attention to the contemporary scientific revolution whose
crucial component of this discussion emerges in front of main catalyzer either on the technical or media-
us; while Latour assures that humans and their interests epistemic aspects is design [19]. All this is crucial;
gather around matters of concern, he also says that these particularly after taking into account everything that has
reunions do not happen thanks to common and shared been discussed in these pages; because it pushes us, in
interests, but all the contrary, because of the concerns the end, to understand now design as mode to re-
that confront and divide us. This is of course a socio- configure science and then culture or in other words,
political argument but also an epistemic one, since it as a cautious and Promethean form of cultural critique.
relates to the modes we know things, whose
materialization, as I have mentioned already, are objets;
and these objects this hardware are at the same time Approaches from an Experimental Design
the media through which we humans know the culture Perspective
that shapes our world. Thus, I wonder what if this
societies of hardware have installed a dual agonistic Although the discussion about designs creative-
condition in culture; first, the one suggested by Latour epistemic possibilities has been around for at least eleven
where things and objects gather us around them because years now, there are not many initiatives explicitly
of the divergent interests we have for them, while they dedicated to develop a systematic research around this
still behave governed by agencies that are naturally matter. A few cases I am aware of, are the Royal College
human that is to say, ruled by languages for telling, as of Artss Design Interactions program, which founded by
it would be the case of a Republics Constitution; and Anthony Dunne, has taken since 2005 a creative and
secondly, the one belonging to post-anthropocentric artistic exploration approach to the modes matters of
times and somehow suggested by Wolfgang Ernst when concern are shaping contemporary cultures [20][21].
he says that logical machines oppose humans own Similarly but more recently, the Institute of Experimental
cultural regime [15]. In other words, the one where Design and Media Cultures at the Academy of Art and
things and objects behave governed by their own agency Design in Viena, led by Claudia Mareis, describes itself
that is to say, by the algorithmic and human as a practice-led research group inquiring on the
differences are not processed naturally anymore, but by intersections of design, media arts, and the humanities,
the new conglomerate of non-human actors that now aiming to develop an informed creative analysis on the
process what is at issue under their own terms. Hence, things that configure media cultures [22]. Lastly, in a
two urban and contemporary events can help illustrating more epistemic approach, the Image, Knowledge,
this last scenario. On the one hand, Kittler describing Gestaltung - Interdisciplinary Laboratory at Humboldt
traffic light conditioned junctions, saying that through University in Berlin where Wolfgang Schffner serves
the endless changes between green, yellow, and red as principal investigator and spokesman, develops an
or 1, 3-state, and 0 all streams of urban traffic (from academic research on the design processes of scientific
pedestrian to public transportation) arrive in a digital knowledge [23]. However, and despite the apparent lack
format that, moreover, a computer somewhere in the of formal and widespread attention to this issue, I think
citys CPU clocks [16]. And on the other hand, my own that the media arts communities around the world must
reference to the many traffic lights around the world that be seen here as the critical assembly which for decades
in the middle of some demonstration, have ended has developed research-creation on the ways matters of
furiously damaged by human actors. concern and its hardware, define what culture is in these
Paradoxically, just as we all are aware of, most of post-anthropocentric times. Accordingly, media
these objects this hardware, as well as the archeology scholars have explicitly looked to this field to
algorithms that make them to act, have been designed by find their creative research counterparts [24], while
humans. This has constituted enough evidence for many science and technology academics as Bruno Latour did
to insist on arguing in favor of the humanistic and s i m i l a r l y b y f o u n d i n g t h e P ro g r a m m e o f
anthropocentric gaze regarding these issues, but at the Experimentation in Arts and Politics [25], and
same time, and following an Ernstian thought about the collaborating with Peter Weibel and ZKM.
discontinuities of humans cultural regime [17], it has Then, it was reasonable for us to follow the same path,
been also our motivation to pursue a critical approach to by setting up in early 2013 a research-creation group
Proceedings of the 22nd International Symposium on Electronic Art ISEA2016 Hong Kong. 61
Part I. Full Papers (peer-reviewed)
62 Proceedings of the 22nd International Symposium on Electronic Art ISEA2016 Hong Kong.
The Algorithmic as Agonistic Agency: Approaches on Experimental Design, the Politics of Codes, and
Post-Anthropocentric Paradoxes in (Media) Cultures. Diego Gomez Venegas
References
1. Wolfgang Ernst, Digital Memory and the Archive
(Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2013), 147-157.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid, 148.
4. Universidad de Chile, Anales de la Universidad de Chile,
accessed January 4, 2016, http://www.anales.uchile.cl/.
5. Bruno Latour, Nunca Fuimos Modernos: Ensayos de
Antropologa Simtrica (Buenos Aires: Siglo Veintiuno
Editores, 2007), 27-30.
6. Wolfgang Ernst, Digital Memory and the Archive, 147.
7. Friedrich Kittler, The Truth of the Technological World:
Fig 6. Nature ex-novo prototype in use at the country side near Essays on the Genealogy of Presence (Stanford, CA: Stanford
Santiago, Chile. Detail of field record cards, January 2015. University Press, 2013), 138-151.
8. Ibid, 139.
Acrylic, 3D printed PLA and paper. Image from Adolfo 9. Ibid, 219-229.
Alvarez Dumonts personal archive. 10. Wolfgang Ernst, Digital Memory and the Archive, 70.
11. Bruno Latour, Reensamblar lo Social: Una Introduccin a
la Teora del Actor-Red (Buenos Aires: Manantial, 2008),
Possibilities 13-35.
12. Bruno Latour, Nunca Fuimos Modernos: Ensayos de
Both of these prototypes have stayed so far in a Antropologa Simtrica.
speculative realm, and any sort of conclusion should wait 13. Bruno Latour, Reensamblar lo Social: Una Introduccin a
for further analyses and complementary conceptual and la Teora del Actor-Red, 60-65.
theoretical discussions; which, I hope, will be part of the 14. Bruno Latour, From Realpolitik to Dingpolitik An
creative and/or academic work carried out by members Introduction to Making Things Public in Making Things
Public-Atmospheres of Democracy catalogue of the show at
of the Design and Agonism group in the near future. ZKM ed. Bruno Latour and Peter Weibel (Cambridge, MA:
However, at this point we have wanted to begin this MIT Press, 2005), 1-33.
dialogue, where research and creation simultaneously, 15. Wolfgang Ernst, Digital Memory and the Archive, 70.
have helped us to start a critical inquiry on the modes
Proceedings of the 22nd International Symposium on Electronic Art ISEA2016 Hong Kong. 63
Part I. Full Papers (peer-reviewed)
64 Proceedings of the 22nd International Symposium on Electronic Art ISEA2016 Hong Kong.