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Spiel
as Term between Hermeneutics, Hyperfiction and
Computergame [German]
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Manuela
Kocher and Michael Böhler explore the term
Spiel (play/game) and its possible
potential as a key-concept linking post-kantian
Aesthetics, Gadamer’s Hermeneutics and
Iser’s Reader-Response Criticism as
analytical tools for the new artistic genres of
electronic hyperfiction and computer games.
Tracing the history of the term Spiel as
it oscillates between an abstract
figurative meaning as a purely mental
interplay between the different cognitive
faculties and its reference to concrete
performative acts in a leisurely
purposeless mood the authors show their
branching out into an outright dichotomy in the
post-kantian Aesthetics and they postulate the
re-convergence of the two meanings in the new
artistic forms of literary hyperfictions and
computer games.
http://www.dichtung-digital.com/2002/07-31-Kocher-Boehler.htm
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Hypertext:
Features, Research, Poetics
[German]
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Roberto
Simanowski discusses some of the main problems
with hypertext with the following conclusion:
Contextualization and intertextuality of
hypertext nodes bases on nodes as strict units
which do not blend seamlessly with their
neighbors. Instead of speaking about the death
of the author one should announce the death of
the reader. The link causes the carnevalisation
of thinking rather than critical reflection.
There is no new meaning of an hyperfiction by
new navigation through it, at least not intended
and designed by the author.
http://www.dichtung-digital.com/2002/07-31-Simanowski.htm
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"Formen
interaktiver Medienkunst", ed. by Peter Gendolla
a.o. [German]
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This
anthology on new media focusses on interactivity
instead of intermediality or hybridity and
applies mainly sociological theory. Georg
Christoph Tholen objects to this and comments
the merits and faults of the 15
contributions.
http://www.dichtung-digital.com/2002/07-29-Tholen.htm
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Media
Studies and Curricula: Interview with Georg
Christoph Tholen [German]
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Finding
criteria to determine digital literature and
broaden our cultural canon needs to pair proven
ways of literature analysis with methods gained
from current media studies. Prof. Dr. Georg
Christoph Tholen was appointed as chair of the
Institute for Media Studies of the University of
Basel in 2001. Roberto Simanowski asked him
about the main aspects of current media studies
and their practice in Basel.
http://www.dichtung-digital.com/2002/07-28-Tholen.htm
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Metonymical
Mov(i)es. Lev Manovich's "The Language of New
Media" [English]
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According
to Lev Manovich in New Media we have to deal
with a visual culture which is predominantly
cinematographic. And indeed, Hollywood's and
Silicon Valley's language of new media is
massively cinematographic. However, Inke Arns
could not really recognize the world Manovich is
describing. She was missing all the other
aspects of New Media as net art, media art, or
net culture practices like chatting or SMS.
http://www.dichtung-digital.com/2002/07-27-Arns.htm
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Creating
and Understanding Digital Art: Interview with
Richard Karpen [English]
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"With
regard to the nature of teaching and research,
we are boldly experimenting with our curriculum.
I can't say I know exactly what I'm doing, but I
know that we must make changes in our arts
curricula and just as in the process of making
art, making a new arts program will require some
adventurous thinking and taking some risks."
Richard Karpen is Professor of Music and
Director of the Center for Digital Arts and
Experimental Media at the University of
Washington in Seattle. Roberto Simanowski talked
with him about the aim of the Center for Digital
Arts and Experimental Media and the relation
between digital media and academic world.
http://www.dichtung-digital.com/2002/07-26-Karpen.htm
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Reconfiguring
Education with Flexible Teachers: Interview with
Mark Amerika [English]
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"The very
notion of an engaged net art practice focused on
digital narrative and theory in cross-media
platforms challenges our conventional assessment
of what a certain kind of work or cultural
production actually is. We need to reconfigure
education and the pedagogical process associated
with learning, especially when using new media
technology in an arts and humanities context."
In an earlier interview we talked with Mark
Amerika about his works, about authorship, and
about writing concepts on the net. Amerika has
since been offered a professorship in the Fine
Arts Faculty at the University of Colorado.
http://www.dichtung-digital.com/2002/07-25-Amerika.htm
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Texts,
Scripts and Codes: The Programmer as Artist
[German]
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The
programmer as modern wizard who is bound by the
laws of her magic: if only one comma is missing
nothing will work. The programmer as modern
iconoclast in a time of visual spectacle: She
puts letters beneath the screen to create images
above. The programmer as law breaker when she
publishes codes to free information from copy
right which does not fall under the first
Amendment. But what if one paints,
sings, or performs the code? Does
mathematic then becomes art? Reinhard Storz
investigates this and other questions about the
programmer as artist.
http://www.dichtung-digital.com/2002/07-24-Storz.htm
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Online-Project
"shrink to fit": Net Art and Theory Commissioned by
Xcult.org [German/English]
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10 artists
were asked to produce net art (which does not
demand more than 3 - 5 minutes of the
viewer’s attention). 10 theorist were asked
to write a text about it (which does not exceed
2500 characters in length). From August 2001
till May 2002 each month, a new sub-project and
the accompanying text had been thrown open in
"shrink to fit". dichtung-digital mirrors in
cooperation with Xcult.org the finished
project.
http://www.dichtung-digital.com/2002/07-23-shrink.htm
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The
@-Bomb: On Evil Geniuses Behind Apocalyptic
Computer Virus [German]
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Legend has
it that virus writers are extremely talented
computer scientists who for some reason have
turned to the dark side of their craft. But a
live encounter with one of them gives a hint at
who they really are. A second look at their code
shows that "between the lines" of executable
code lies a second layer of secret global
graffiti. A brief history of the virus industry
shows the intimate relationship between virus
writers and antivirus-programmers. And an
anecdotal anthology of virus hoaxes indicates
that in the weird world of viruses a rumour can
wreak as much havoc as an actual infection.
Hilmar Schmundt explores the wondrous
netherworld of code gone haywire and nightmares
come true and comes up with a surprising
solution: narrative strategies to get out of a
technological mess.
http://www.dichtung-digital.com/2002/07-20-Schmundt.htm
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Interfictions.
On Writing in the Net
[German]
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Introduction
to "Interfictions. On Writing in the Net" by
Roberto Simanowski. This book does not target
literature which moves into the net but
finally wants to end up in actual print. This
book deals with 'literature' which comes
from the net of digital code and is
interactive, intermedial, and based on a hidden
language of performance making it impossible to
be printed out. The introduction discusses the
shift of media, terms, features, and typology of
digital literature as well their history and
future.
http://www.dichtung-digital.com/2002/07-19-Simanowski.htm
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The
Messager is the Message. McLuhan's "Understanding
Media" [German]
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People
considered him a populistic bletherer or a
prophet of new media studies. People accused him
of irrational arguments or praised the
originality of his thoughts, one complained his
vague terminology and one quoted him as often as
possible. Today no media theory can avoid him.
And all begin with his most famous
statement: The Medium is the Message.
Roberto Simanowski has read the book again and
can explain why a woman with glasses is a "cold
medium", provided the glasses are dark.
http://www.dichtung-digital.com/2002/06-07-Simanowski.htm
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