Technoetic Arts - Volume 17, Issue 3, 2019

The human sensory experience of submolecular phenomena is only possible through complex technological mediations that include not just magnifications, but also manipulations of time and translations from one sense to another. In my creative moving image project Wildly Oscillating Molecules, I develop strategies for using an atomic force microscope (AFM) as a cinematographic instrument, specifically using its tactile mechanisms to generate video. Using the AFM over four years to generate experimental moving image installations, I examine my physical and psychological experiences of this nanoscientific instrumentation. Although referred to by the philosopher of technology Don Ihde, the AFM's style of technological mediation has not been subjectively explored. Working to engage with an infinitesimal scale, the AFM has a unique style of spatial and temporal mediation that can be manipulated through the post-production and exhibition practices of the moving image. Wildly Oscillating Molecules provides insight into how the AFM influences human spatial and temporal perception of nanoscale phenomena and provides a new framework with which to analyse nanoscientific imaging practices. Understanding the nuances of technological mediation encourages science artists working with submolecular phenomena to adopt, evolve or transform properties of technological mediation when presenting their work to an audience.

Electronic machinic phenomena yield fascinating links with biological processes. Either in the macro-micro-structure of binary encoded information – bytes on media – to the processual flow programs execute on hardware while operating it. Observing micro-electronic worlds akin to living entities: electronic voltages running throughout electronic architectures pipelining data to memory registers; operating systems executing programs on electronic substrates; data flows taking place in machines and in communications protocols within networks. Static art-sci constructs explore and visualize these observations as 2D drawings (Neon Paleolitikos Drawings, 2017–present) or 3D sculptures (Binary and Biological Sculpture Series, 2018–present), creatively exposing their inherent rhythmic organization of information, while dynamic installations (Phoenix.Wolfanddotcom.info, Wolfanddotcom, Half-Plant, 2017, Ant Ennae Labyrinths, 2019–present) propose immersive interference mechanisms that attempt user entanglement in non-human environments. Seven aesthetic case examples are introduced and explored, observing and seeking resonances between micro-granular electronic, biological and hybrid data as source synthesis. This research proposes a look at bio-electronic aggregates on Neon Paleolitikos strata. After the Anthropocene, Neon Paleolitikos is an imaginary epoch dating since the decline of mankind until the zenith of bio-electronic life forms: operational symbioses combined among ruins of silica, transistors, algorithms, cells, plants, animals and electricity.

How have contemporary media artworks been proposing hybrid experiences, discussing the ontological implications from the experimentation with emerging techniques that alter our way of being-in-the-world? These experiences dialectically articulate aesthetic relations between real and virtual, visible and invisible, human and technological. In this article, we develop a participant observation of two specific works: Generation 244 (2011), by Scott Draves, and Zee (2008), by Kurt Hentschläger. This observation establishes a dialogue with phenomenology as it considers experience and perception as needed prerequisites for the analysis, as proposed by Merleau-Ponty. In this scenario, we have observed that a whole way of partitioning the sensible resets itself and points in the direction of a trans-immanence, generating an integrated knowledge that not only relies on reason, but in a collective wisdom where we can find, according to Didi-Huberman, a ‘light of survival’.

This article describes activities carried out at the computational art laboratory and discusses a question about place. To think of place as the place of universal, it’s ground, the place where you live, it isn’t only a residence place, a construction of exploration, but also the planet as a possible place of survival. Therefore, we will present artworks that, in the name of a conception inspired by ecocentrism, propose to eliminate the ontological and axiological difference between all living beings and, for this reason, considers the biosphere as an important biotic unit in the context of artworks. Here the development of affective computer interfaces that seek to promote interactions is also described: a process by which an external or an internal stimulus causes a specific reaction, producing a perception, considering that the idea, in the Deleuzian and Guattarian sense, goes through creative activities. The idea arises in three distinct forms: in the philosophical context, in the form of concepts and in visual production. We describe below the results of collaborative research that has in common the poetics of interactivity between living beings and machines through graphical and machine interfaces, provided by computational processes and methods that approach several ideas involving affective mapping, body, nature and artificial life.

This article demonstrates the possibilities and problems of the formation of a new type of human–technique–nature relationship – the organic technique – in modern civilization. It is a relationship in which neither human nor nature must adapt to the needs of technology; rather, the technique is embedded in nature and becomes 'human-sized'. We can find a model for building this new type of relationship in the construction of buildings from bamboo. The uniqueness of bamboo as a building material manifests in two ways. The first relates to resources: bamboo is a very fast-growing plant, so cutting it's stem does not destroy the plant itself and in three to four years there is a new 'harvest'. This means bamboo has an extremely low cost, which is critical for developing countries with rapidly growing populations. Second, bamboo has a number of architectural advantages. Due to the flexibility and elasticity of this product, bamboo buildings are earthquake resistant. Such structures do not violate the natural landscape, but instead work with it; they are characterized by low cost and ease of construction, in a variety of forms. This has led to the widespread use of bamboo by leading architects and innovators from different countries. This article shows that the application of bamboo in architecture – as opposed to artificial materials such as concrete, which exploit and destroy nature and impose their forms on cultures – helps this building technique to integrate into the life of ecosystems and society, and thus to become a model of harmonizing human–technique–nature relations.

Science and technology have changed all aspects of our lives, including the mode of narration, from traditional stories to data stories. Storytellers have been integrating visualizations into their narratives. From the case studies of some artworks and our students' works to visualization research, we have found distinct genres of narrative visualization and the education method for university students. We describe the differences between these artworks, together with interactivity and information transmission. Some small experiments and some examples of students' works will be shown to explore the visual narrative. We suggest new design strategies including how to make invisible things visible.

In this article, a semiotic approach is proposed to explain how human agents use and give meaning to art in complex contexts. Inspired by the psycho-historical approach on art appreciation, which attempts to embrace psychological and cognitive aspects of art sense-making, as well as the art-historical context dependence of artworks, an extended theory is suggested: an agent's art use and interpretation can be described using three general categories of meaning grounding: phylogenetic recurrence, ontogenetic recurrence and collective recurrence. These categories explain how a certain meaning of a sign is possible and justifiable, supported by human agents' capabilities and purposes. This article also proposes that it is possible to narrate, using such categories of meaning grounding, how different agents enact art, that is, give meaning and act upon art in different circumstances. Finally, I offer some examples about how the model can be used in real art contexts. The objective of this narrative-enactive approach, even though it offers a limited and edited focus, is to offer an orderly and comprehensible method to explain the dynamic nature of art meaning and how biologic, individual and collective grounding and purposes intertwine.