Processing: Understanding Art as Encountering Ongoing Narrative

Abstract:

When digital media plays a role in the production and reception of art, an aesthetic encounter may occur that influences the narrative perceived. A digital aesthetic can be understood as the relational and behavioral processes that unfold while one encounters the media, which may ultimately extend the narrative of the work to be recognized as a cultural mode of expression and a reflection of ourselves with/in contemporary culture. This paper examines artworks that explore the invisible processes of our relationships with digital technologies, in which there exists a continual state of processing and a desire to understand.

Questions that interest me:

How has the arena of sensation in relation to contemporary digital art changed or evolved?

How have the developments within digital culture impacted our perception of art that utilizes digital media, namely art that does not fit easily into traditionally defined categories?

What is to be understood by the narrativity of these works?