Fazi_Digital_Aesthetics_TCS2019.pdf (201.08 kB)
Digital aesthetics: the discrete and the continuous
Aesthetic investigations of computation are stuck in an impasse, caused by the difficulty of accounting for the ontological discrepancy between the continuity of sensation and the discreteness of digital technology. This article proposes a theoretical position intended to overcome that deadlock. It highlights how an ontological focus on continuity has entered media studies via readings of Deleuze, which attempt to build a ‘digital aisthesis’ (that is, a theory of digital sensation) by ascribing a ‘virtuality’ to computation. This underpins, in part, the affective turn in digital theory. In contrast to such positions, this article argues for a reconceptualization of formal abstraction in computation, in order to find, within the discreteness of computational formalisms (and not via the coupling of the latter with virtual sensation), an indeterminacy that would make computing aesthetic qua inherently generative. This indeterminacy, it is argued here, can be found by reconsidering, philosophically, Turing’s notion of ‘incomputability’.
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Published version
Journal
Theory, Culture & SocietyISSN
0263-2764Publisher
SAGEExternal DOI
Issue
1Volume
36Page range
3-26Department affiliated with
- Media and Film Publications
Research groups affiliated with
- Sussex Humanities Lab Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2018-03-22First Open Access (FOA) Date
2018-03-22First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2018-03-22Usage metrics
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