Intermediality and interactivity

Volume 63

Intermediality and interactivity are an issue for aesthetic theory. However, unlike in the recent past, artistic or video experimentation are not predominant aspects of aesthetic experience. Our enquiry is stimulated today by the investigation on the nature and functioning of media and interfaces and aims to clarify how our habits and experiences are changing. The essays gathered here put these questions into context and try to define the state of the art. In order to do so, they point out to a pivotal issue: that by speaking of “aesthetics” we refer more and more frequently to a theory of perception and sensitivity – and only occasionally to a theory of art. When we deal with creativity within this context, we refer to phenomena that can be only loosely referred to the domain of the arts, while they are relevant for the field of technique. We need to ask: Is aesthetics today a “technoaesthetics”, which concerns our forms of life rather than our taste for beauty?