|
Showing 1 - 3 of
3 matches in All Departments
Cybernetic-Existentialism: Freedom, Systems, and Being-for-Others
in Contemporary Arts and Performance offers a unique discourse and
an original aesthetic theory. It argues that fusing perspectives
from the philosophy of Existentialism with insights from the
'universal science' of cybernetics provides a new analytical lens
and deconstructive methodology to critique art. In this study,
Steve Dixon examines how a range of artists' works reveal the ideas
of Existentialist philosophers including Kierkegaard, Camus, de
Beauvoir, and Sartre on freedom, being and nothingness, eternal
recurrence, the absurd, and being-for-others. Simultaneously, these
artworks are shown to engage in complex explorations of concepts
proposed by cyberneticians including Wiener, Shannon, and Bateson
on information theory and 'noise', feedback loops, circularity,
adaptive ecosystems, autopoiesis, and emergence. Dixon's
groundbreaking book demonstrates how fusing insights and knowledge
from these two fields can throw new light on pressing issues within
contemporary arts and culture, including authenticity, angst and
alienation, homeostasis, radical politics, and the human as system.
Cybernetic-Existentialism: Freedom, Systems, and Being-for-Others
in Contemporary Arts and Performance offers a unique discourse and
an original aesthetic theory. It argues that fusing perspectives
from the philosophy of Existentialism with insights from the
'universal science' of cybernetics provides a new analytical lens
and deconstructive methodology to critique art. In this study,
Steve Dixon examines how a range of artists' works reveal the ideas
of Existentialist philosophers including Kierkegaard, Camus, de
Beauvoir, and Sartre on freedom, being and nothingness, eternal
recurrence, the absurd, and being-for-others. Simultaneously, these
artworks are shown to engage in complex explorations of concepts
proposed by cyberneticians including Wiener, Shannon, and Bateson
on information theory and 'noise', feedback loops, circularity,
adaptive ecosystems, autopoiesis, and emergence. Dixon's
groundbreaking book demonstrates how fusing insights and knowledge
from these two fields can throw new light on pressing issues within
contemporary arts and culture, including authenticity, angst and
alienation, homeostasis, radical politics, and the human as system.
The historical roots, key practitioners, and artistic, theoretical,
and technological trends in the incorporation of new media into the
performing arts. The past decade has seen an extraordinarily
intense period of experimentation with computer technology within
the performing arts. Digital media has been increasingly
incorporated into live theater and dance, and new forms of
interactive performance have emerged in participatory
installations, on CD-ROM, and on the Web. In Digital Performance,
Steve Dixon traces the evolution of these practices, presents
detailed accounts of key practitioners and performances, and
analyzes the theoretical, artistic, and technological contexts of
this form of new media art. Dixon finds precursors to today's
digital performances in past forms of theatrical technology that
range from the deus ex machina of classical Greek drama to Wagner's
Gesamtkunstwerk (concept of the total artwork), and draws parallels
between contemporary work and the theories and practices of
Constructivism, Dada, Surrealism, Expressionism, Futurism, and
multimedia pioneers of the twentieth century. For a theoretical
perspective on digital performance, Dixon draws on the work of
Philip Auslander, Walter Benjamin, Roland Barthes, Jean
Baudrillard, and others. To document and analyze contemporary
digital performance practice, Dixon considers changes in the
representation of the body, space, and time. He considers virtual
bodies, avatars, and digital doubles, as well as performances by
artists including Stelarc, Robert Lepage, Merce Cunningham, Laurie
Anderson, Blast Theory, and Eduardo Kac. He investigates new
media's novel approaches to creating theatrical spectacle,
including virtual reality and robot performance work, telematic
performances in which remote locations are linked in real time,
Webcams, and online drama communities, and considers the
"extratemporal" illusion created by some technological theater
works. Finally, he defines categories of interactivity, from
navigational to participatory and collaborative. Dixon challenges
dominant theoretical approaches to digital performance-including
what he calls postmodernism's denial of the new-and offers a series
of boldly original arguments in their place.
|
You may like...
Loot
Nadine Gordimer
Paperback
(2)
R398
R330
Discovery Miles 3 300
|