51287
Antonopoulou, Caterina "The materiality of digital art: practices of integration of everyday objects into sociopolitical media artworks." PhD
, University of the Aegean, 2021
Keywords/Fields of Study : Media art; Materiality; Object of everyday use; New media; Digital art; Critical, socially engaged, tactical art; Human - Computer interaction; Physical computing; Internet of Things; Open Technologies; Digital Commons; Networks of more-than-human entities; Sociopolitical artworks
Abstract: This thesis investigates artistic practices of integration of technologically augmented everyday objects into critical, socially engaged, and tactical media artworks. Moreover, it examines the material objects’ potential capacity to articulate networks of more-than-human entities around them, as well as to transform the relationships between these entities, through their actions and interactions.
The material object of everyday use is examined from an interdisciplinary perspective, considering it as an artistic, social, and technological entity. Following this interdisciplinary approach, artistic practices are examined first through the lens of arts history and theory, investigating the incorporation of everyday objects into sociopolitical media artworks of the 20th century, emphasizing the continuity between older and newer practices. Then the artistic practices are examined in dialogue with a body of social, anthropological, and philosophical theories. These theories provide various conceptualizations of the concepts “object” and “thing”, focusing on their agency, hybridity, and interconnectivity. Furthermore, the artistic practices are examined in relation to digital media and technologies that artists embed in the objects, transforming them into hybrid, interactive, and networked artifacts, such as embedded systems, physical & ubiquitous computing, human-computer interactive interfaces (e.g. tangible user interfaces), and network technologies (e.g. the Internet of Things). A special emphasis is placed on practices and communities that potentially empower artists and enable them to use these technologies critically, such as the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) and Do-It-With-Others (DIWO) practices, opensource technologies, digital fabrication technologies, collaborative practices through peer-to-peer platforms, and practices that support the digital Commons.
The application of artistic practices and the transformative role of everyday objects are examined through the study of selected media artworks (case studies). The case studies include original artworks by the researcher, as well as existing artworks by other media artists that take a critical, socially engaged, or tactical approach to sociopolitical issues. Through the study of the selected media artworks, the networks of relationships articulated around the objects of everyday use are defined, as well as the transformations of these networks, caused by the action of the objects and their interaction with multiple, heterogeneous, human and non-human entities.
Department: Department of Cultural Technology and Communication
, University of the Aegean
Advisor(s): Nikos Bubaris
