Alexander-Schubert SwitchingWorlds

66 % Fr. 4. Dez.
10:09
ALEXANDER
SCHUBERT
Switching
Worlds
wolke
1
0 Alexander Schubert studied neuro-informatics and multimedia composition. He
is a freelance composer and professor at the HfMT Hamburg. His work focuses on
post-digital performance concepts, which take place at the junction of the digital
and analog world. He explores the friction between immersive physical settings and
their artificially virtual counterparts. His multimedia compositions use sound, video
and light. They address the subjective and social confrontation of humans with a
technical reality and future.
2
Alexander Schubert
Switching Worlds
wolke Verlag
3
First Edition
© Alexander Schubert
All rights reserved, Wolke Verlag 2021
Layout and Coverdesign: Sebastian Kokus
Translation: Liz Hirst
ISBN 978-3-95593-110-0
www.wolke-verlag.de
4
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 9
PUBLICATION OF ARTICLES 10
ABSTRACT 11
1. INTRODUCTION 12
1.1 Postdigital Turn 12

1.20 Personal Motivation 14
1.3 Postdigital Change in Perspective as a Compositional Strategy 14
1.4 Thesis Structure 15
2. DIGITALITY, POST-INTERNET AND A NEW AESTHETIC 17
2.1 Digitality 18
2.1.1 Raster and sampling 19
2.1.2 Computability of the New Media 21
2.1.3 Overlaying through Transcoding 23
2.2 Post-Digitality 25
2.2.1 Invisibility 26
2.2.2 Digital Imprinting 27
2.2.3 Post-Screen 29
2.2.4 Dis-Illusionment 31
2.2.5 Errors and Glitches 33
2.2.6 Visualization 37
2.3 Post Internet 38
2.3.1 Implications 39
2.3.2 Post-Internet Art 41
2.3.3 Post-Internet Perspective 43
2.4 New Aesthetic 47
2.4.1 New Aesthetic and the Web x.0 48
2.4.2 Virtual Ghosts 50
2.4.3 Surfaces 51
2.5 Summary and Outlook 53
3. METHODS OF ARTISTIC RESEARCH 57
3.1 Artistic Research 57

3.1.1 What is (Artistic) Research? 58
3.1.2 The Concept of Knowledge and (Sensory)Experience 61
3.1.3 Forms of Artistic Research 63
3.1.4 Production Aesthetics 65
3.1.5 Subject and Objectivity 68
3.1.6 Artistic Research: Opportunities
0 and Summary of Relevant Aspects 70
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3.2 Exploratory Approaches in my Composition 70
3.2.1 World Disclosure and Changing Perspectives 70
3.2.2 Tools, Interfaces and Research for the Arts 72
3.2.3 Experimental Designs 76
3.2.4 Documentation 82
3.2.5 Objective Subjectivity 84
3.2.6 Concrete Methods and Tools 86
3.2.7 Summary and Objectives 87
4. POSTDIGITAL CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVE AS

COMPOSITION STRATEGY 88
4.1 Composed Refocussing 89

4.1.1 Focus in the Art Field 90
4.1.2 The Focus of my Compositional Work 92
4.2 Postdigital Inevitability 94
4.2.1 Postdigital Courses of Action 94
4.2.2 Postdigital Imperative 96
4.3 Postdigital Practice as a Disclosure Tool 98
4.3.1 Overview of Existing Practices 98
4.3.2 Interface View 104
4.3.3 Composite-View and Analogue Discretization 105
4.4 The Digital Error as a Visibility Tool 107
4.4.1 Glitch Art 109
4.4.2 Analogue Glitch Art and Surface Error 112
4.5 Virtuality and Uncoupling 115
4.5.1 Fundamental Terms 116
4.5.2 Uncoupling of the Tools 120
4.6 Truth and Dis-Illusionment 124
4.6.1 Deception 125
4.6.2 Nullification 127
4.7 Uncoupling the Body 131
4.7.1 References 132
4.7.2 Virtual Control Mechanisms 133
4.7.3 Synchronized Community 135
4.7.4 Changing Perspectives 138
4.8 Post Internet 140
4.8.1 Overview of Post-Internet Artworks 142
4.8.2 Sensitization and Disclosure 144
4.8.3 Wiki-Cooperation 146
4.8.4 Repository Composition 149
4.9 Summary and Virtual Imperative 151
5. CONCLUSION AND PERSPECTIVES 152
5.1 Outlook “With the Eyes of the Machine” 155
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6. PUBLISHED ARTICLES 158
6.1 The Aesthetics of Error 158

6.1.1 Kinds of Errors and Principles 159
6.1.2 Causes of Error 159
6.1.3 Analogue and Digital Media 160
6.1.4 Coding 161
6.1.5 Behind the Scenes 163
6.1.6 Post-Internet 164
6.1.7 Virtual Systems and Expectations 165
6.1.8 Narrative Crash 166
6.1.9 Artificial Bodies and Performance Machinations 168
6.1.10 Forecast 171
6.2 Virtuality and Deception 173
6.2.1 Uncoupling 174
6.2.2 Hologram 176
6.2.3 Computer and Games 177
6.2.4 Bodies and Identities 180
6.2.5 Avatars and Synthetic People 181
6.2.6 Quantitative and Qualitative People 183
6.2.7 Virtual Imperative 184
6.2.8 Empty Interconnections and Lifeless Worlds 186
6.2.9 The Dis-Illusioning of the Production Resources 187
6.2.10 Tutorial World 188
6.2.11 Interfaces and Overlaps 189
6.2.12 Between the Worlds 190
6.2.13 Conclusion and Prospects 191
6.3 Binary Composition 192
6.3.1 Pop Aesthetic 193
6.3.2 Overwhelming 194
6.3.3 Intuition 196
6.3.4 Humour 197
6.3.5 Bodies 198
6.3.6 Private 199
6.4 Focussing the Gaze 200
6.4.1 Central Themes in my Work 201
6.4.2 The Slow Penetration of Light 202
6.4.3 Prototyping 203
6.4.4 The Relationship between Sound and Light 205
6.4.5 Pitfalls 208
6.4.5 Installations 209
6.4.7 Future Projects 210
6.5 Uncertain Conditions 211
6.5.1 Sensor/Performance 211
6.5.2 Hybrid 212
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6.5.3 Immersion 213
6.5.4 Narration 214
6.5.5 Thoughts/Projections 215
7. WORK LIST 217
8. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 220
9. BIBLIOGRAPHY 222
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
0 First, I would like to thank Georg Hajdu and Manfred Stahnke for supervising
this doctoral thesis. I was able to continuously develop my work through their
assistance, joint discussions and helpful comments, a process also instructive and
inspiring beyond this research. I would also like to explicitly thank Georg Hajdu for
his work in the broader context of the University of Music and Theatre Hamburg
because the thriving field of multimedia composition at this site offers a fertile
environment for work and communication. In the multimedia department, however,
this also includes the other teachers. I would like to especially mention Jacob
Sello with his innovation laboratory. The student environment was also important
to me. Across the whole campus, I benefitted from supportive and stimulating
discussions and remarks. Comments and suggestions for improvement on the first
version of the thesis by Gordon Kampes and Nina Noeske must here be emphasized
as being particularly constructive. Similarly, suggestions and comments by Rein-
hard Flender and Samuel Penderbayne were extremely inspiring as regards the
chapter on artistic research. In the cooperation and discussions described above,
I experience the ambience of the university as a great enrichment not only on a
professional but also on a personal, friendly level and therefore as the basis for
my work in an academic context.
0 In addition to the professional and personally inspiring working environment at

the Musikhochschule, I would also like to emphasise that such a thesis and the
compositions described in it cannot be created in a vacuum. Several influences
and reference works are specifically mentioned in the paper but the overall context
of implicit cooperative development should also be considered. The exploration
of a postdigital compositional language is a collaborative, international process
to which I hope to contribute one facet. I consider myself lucky to be part of it.
Furthermore, all the ideas described here would be mere theory if not for the large
number of musicians who bring the concepts to life. Apart from all these wonderful
musicians, I would like to thank the Decoder Ensemble for their devotion and
dedication over the years to realizing every idea, no matter how extreme. I would
also like to thank my circle of friends and my family, who support me so warmly
in these sometimes very demanding and absorbing projects. Special thanks go to
Lena at this point, who has additionally improved this work with her suggestions
for corrections.
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PUBLICATION OF ARTICLES
Uncertain Conditions
Dissonance, Swiss Music Magazine,
Issue 140, 2017, page 8ff (German, original)
Virtuality and Deception

Music Texts 153, 2017, page 46ff (German, original)
Tempo
0 ocussing the View

F
CeC, eContact, Issue 19.2, 2018 (English, original)
Binary Composition
Music Texts 153, 2017, page 46ff (German, original)
Tempo
The Aesthetics of Error

Neue Zeitschrift für Musik[New Newspaper for Music],
Issue 02/2018, page 14ff (German, original)
Tempo
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ABSTRACT
0
0 In the context of this work, I propose the examination of my compositional
strategy in the context of a postdigital1 perspective and present my artistic method
as a tool for visualizing and sensually experiencing digital effects in the analogue
world. This approach is based on the assumption that, today, the use of digital tools
and representational forms is no longer the exception but the rule, and that this
circumstance nowadays significantly influences our interactions, views and body
images. In particular, these approaches address the question of whether, in this
newly established constitution, our view of the analogue, non-digital environment
has also changed. “Post-digitality” is to be understood here as a “shift in perception”.
This readjustment of a digitally influenced or digitally reflective perspective will be
presented as a compositional strategy. Under the title "Switching Worlds", this
practice will be established as a technique that actively thematizes the interweaving
of the analogue with the digital and their interplay, thus making it palpable, and shall
present and contrast different perspectives. The comparison of virtual and physical
worlds and their artistic decoupling will be presented as a compositional approach
and method of artistic research that attempts to convey these implications not only
theoretically, but also to make them comprehensible to the senses.
1 In this article I use the form “postdigital” for the adjective and “post-digital” for the phenomenon.
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1 INTRODUCTION
0
0 The digital revolution is over.2
0 With these words, Nicholas Negroponte proclaimed an age in which the use of
digital tools and representational forms is no longer the exception, but has become
the rule. 3 Today, our interactions, perspectives and body images are significantly
influenced by this reality. Even though technical fields continue to develop and a
fascination for technology persists, the digitalization and virtualization of our living
environment are, although not yet complete, so far advanced that it can be taken for
granted. Digitality is no longer a sign of the future and is slowly disappearing from
our focus: it is its absence that continues to catch our attention. 4 There is much
to be said for the fact that, in this newly established constitution, our view of the
analogue, non-digital environment is also changing. This observation is reflected
in the term “post-digital”.
0 Post-digitality is to be understood here as a shift in awareness. This readjustment
of a digitally influenced or digitally reflecting perception shall be presented as a
compositional strategy. Under the title "Switching Worlds", this practice will be
established as a technique that actively addresses the penetration of the analogue
and digital and their interplay and thus makes them palpable by positioning and
contrasting different perspectives next to each other. The comparison of virtual and
physical worlds and their artistic decoupling will be presented as a compositional
approach and method of artistic research, which attempts to convey these
implications not only theoretically, but to make them comprehensible to the senses.
1.1 Postdigital Turn

0 The postdigital perspective is based on an analogue world which is completely
permeated by digitality. The use of the prefix “post” before the term “digital” refers
not to the end of digitality, but to the moment when the digitalization of cultural
living reality is more or less established. “Post” initially describes not a state after
digitalization, in which there is no longer any digitality, but rather, its complete dis-
tribution. On the one hand, this term can now describe the extent to which our modes
of seeing, interaction, communication and reception have changed as a result of
widespread digitalization. On the other hand, this shift describes a differentiated
position towards digitality. With the social, economic and governmental integration
2 “The digital revolution is over.” Negroponte, Nicholas: ‘Beyond Digital’, in:Wired (2008),
online: http://web.media.mit.edu/~nicholas/Wired/WIRED6-12.html (Retrieved: 19.7.2019)
3 Miyazaki, Shintaro: ‘Medien, ihre Klänge und Geräusche – Medienmusik vs. / (=) Instrumentalmusik’,
in: PopScriptum 9 - Instrumentalisierungen - Medien und ihre Musik(2008) , Forschungszentrum Populäre
Musik der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin [ ‘Media, its Sounds and Noises– Media Music vs./ (=) Instrumental
Music’, in: Popscriptum 9 – Instrumentalisation– Media and its Music ],
online: https://www2.hu-berlin.de/fpm/popscrip/themen/pst09/pst09_miyazaki.htm (Retrieved: 19.7.2019)
4 Negroponte, Nicholas: ‘Beyond Digital’, in: Wired (2008),
online: http://web.media.mit.edu/~nicholas/Wired/WIRED6-12.html (Retrieved: 19.7.2019)
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of all digital technologies, they have lost some of their original magic. In the post-
digital viewpoint, digital technology is not seen as a pure tool, but as including its
cultural implications.
0 The starting point for postdigital upheavals is digitality and its properties of
computability, discretization and fragmentation. But the implications meant here
emerge only in the subsequent step: in the broad use and cultural integration of
these technologies. Consequently, a number of elementary reference points are now
available for social and artistic disposal. Central are questions of manipulability
(this being simplified and more strongly established by digital tools) and connected
to this, of authenticity. Easy access to processing and synthesis techniques as well
as to large amounts of data has enabled the creation of qualitatively new potentials
here (and also democratized their availability). 5 6 Also affected are representation
in general and of physical bodies in concrete terms. A changed depiction and
reception in the context of the postdigital shift goes hand in hand with virtualization
and leads to an increased decoupling of original and image, as well as cause and
effect. As a consequence, aspects of body perception, identity, authenticity and
social interaction are affected.
0 Parallel to social development in the age of digitalization, the use of electronic

media in the arts – and also specifically in art music – has changed. In multi-
media music, electronic content and processes are, by now, rarely an end unto
themselves; rather, they are used representatively – i.e.exemplarily, descriptively
or symbolically. Comparable to the stagnation of material progress in instrumental
composition 7 8 , there has been a change in the way digital tools and content are
used. Sound effects, projections, synthesis programs and transformations are,
for the most part, established techniques that are increasingly seldom sufficient
as the sole raison d'être for a work. Then again, the creative field of research
is all the more diverse, searching for forms of presentation and interaction that
discursively deal with our changed reality of life, and therefore, with digital tools
and representations.
5 Cornell, Lauren and Halter, Ed: Hard Reboot: An Introduction To Mass Effect,
Cambridge Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2015, p. 20.
6 Weibel, Peter: ‘The Post-Media Condition’, in: Metamute (2006),
online: http://www.metamute.org/editorial/lab/post-media-condition (Retrieved: 20.7.2019).
7 Lehmann, Harry: Gehaltsästhetik [ Salary Ethics ], Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 2016, p. 197ff
8 Lehmann, Harry: Die digitale Revolution der Musik [ The Digital Revolution of Music ],
Mainz: Schott Verlag, 2012, p. 92.
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1.2 Personal Motivation
0 Ever since I owned a computer as a teenager, the interplay between analogue
and digital content has been a central element both in my private life and in my
artistic work. My musical (and artistic) activity has always been characterized
by integration or interweaving of electronic content and techniques as well as
analogue material. Since the beginnings of my compositional work, making music
has meant cutting, collaging and editing samples and audio tracks. My socialization
is characterized by an electronic production environment. Nevertheless, the
analogue, wild, spontaneous, gestural, direct has always played an important role
in my life. I love being performative, sleeping outdoors in the open air or playing with
acoustic instruments. These opposite poles have always driven me to produce art.
So, in the beginning, I mixed field recordings with electronic simulations of nature,
composed acoustic music albums and then, in the course of time, deconstructed
one track after the other, or integrated electronic performance setups into free jazz.
The friction between these contrasting elements and the resulting and questioning
of each one inspired me: to see the electronic as an analogue object and to
simulate the analogue through the electronic. I wanted to represent the virtual, the
constructed and the artificial in a setting that was not technical, cold and clear. The
digital should always shimmer through, through a tangible, warm, human surface.
This central duality contains a number of ambiguities that are either connected to
it or directly result from it. These include aspects of authenticity and physicality,
for example. Over the last twenty years, this activity has evolved from an intuitive
approach to an increasingly consciously reflective approach. Last but not least,
the formulation of this text represents a further step in the concretization of these
aspects.
01.3 Postdigital Change in Perspective as a Compositional Strategy

0 If one understands the postdigital shift as a change in the perception of digital
content, or as a reorientation of position in relation to digitality, the question
arises as to how art can, or should, behave respectively. I find this issue
extremely relevant in the context of multimedia composition. Due to the social
connotation of digital media, I would even go so far, in the sense of a postdigital
imperative, as to say that these connotations can no longer be blanked out. The
implications of digital technologies have become an integral part of the digital itself.
0 An artistic examination of this range of themes offers the chance to make these
aspects sensually perceptible and directly tangible. Because the consequences
of post-digitality particularly influenced perception, experience and also physical
interactions, it is obvious that this level should also be dealt with. The technique of
perspective-comparison I have proposed should enable the possibility to compare
different modes of perception and interaction. In this way, opposing modes
of presentation and communication are juxtaposed and thus made tangible.
By this, I understand the process of visualization. 9 It is intended to bring into
9 In the German text the word “Sichtbarmachung” is used, which does not only refer to how something
is visualised–but rather, that it is visualised.
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focus those consequences of digitalization which are invisible, unnoticed or
disregarded. As there is a noted disappearance of technology in the wake of post-
digitality, art can offer space here, to once again make characteristics an object
of observation. In my own artistic practice, I realize this approach essentially
through the construction of immersive settings with technical contents. So, firstly
scenarios are constructed, which can then be deconstructed and contrasted
with another perspective. The continuous comparison of opposing modes of
observation provides the space for the audience to form its own opinion. In this
sense, my compositions contain no clear moral conclusions, but instead, offer
an experimental setting that challenges the audience to take a stand. I regard
this process as artistic research since it explicitly involves neither illustrative nor
descriptive works of art, but rather, experimental setups with an open outcome.
Many of my pieces are setups that deal with digitally‑mediated perception. This
enables the sensual experience of the technical content and then the evaluation
by the audience (and by myself). These approaches are exploratory, in the truest
sense of the word, as I want to learn, together with the audience, something
about the changing modes of perception and interaction in the postdigital age.
01.4 Thesis Structure

0 The presented text is divided into two main parts. In the first part, I describe my
compositional strategy and its contextual classification (Chapters 2–5). In the
second part, I present a collection of essays and magazine articles about the
thematic field that I have written in recent years (Chapter 6). Therefore, I will first
present my approach to postdigital techniques in contemporary composition and
place it in the context of cultural studies. I will exemplify and substantiate this with
various shorter contributions.
0 Initially, I will introduce the terms “post-digital”, “post-internet” and “new
aesthetic”(Chapter 2). Originating with a description of the basic digital
characteristics (Chapter 2.1), their consequences are explained and systematized
in the context of the postdigital turn (Chapter 2.2). As a central point, the digital
error as an artistic tool is also discussed in this section (Chapter 2.2.5). A further
direct consequence of digitalization, the term “post-internet” is used to describe
the repercussions of widespread distribution of the internet, first socially and
then artistically (Chapter 2.3). The “new aesthetic” proposed by James Bridle is
a collective term that attempts to describe the impact of digital techniques on the
visual language of the present day (Chapter 2.4). The visibility of technology itself
and its technical influence on society are discussed as central points in this chapter.
This summary represents the content basis and motivation for my own work.
0 Subsequently, I will situate my artistic activity within the context of artistic
research (Chapter 3). First, I will outline the basic characteristics and issues of
artistic research (Chapter 3.1), focusing on the production of knowledge through
sensual insight, the aesthetics of production, and the interplay between the
researcher/subject and the object under investigation. I will then correlate these
approaches and observations with my own practice (Chapter 3.2). The development
15
of technical tools (Chapter 3.2.2) and experimental settings (Chapter 3.2.3) plays a
central role here. This forms the basis for examining the postdigital thematic area
at a sensual level of experience in an experimental set-up with an open outcome.
Methodical documentation tailored to the project will be presented as an integral
part of the compositions (Chapter 3.2.4).
0 In Chapter 4, I present my composition strategy as a tool for achieving a post-
digital change in perspective. In doing so, I present my artistic practice as a means
of comparing different perspectives within the interplay of the analogue and digital
world (Chapter 4.1). I argue that the influence of the digital is so elementary that the
use of digital content must necessarily be thought of as postdigital (Chapter 4.2).
A postdigitally positioned composition can actively reflect codes of representation
and interaction and make them perceptible. The influence of program interfaces
and the affordance of digital technology, in general, are concrete examples (Chapter
4.3). The digital error is often used in my artistic work as an instrument for breaking
up narration and media presentation. This is a key method with which to steer the
focus away from pure technology onto its implications (Chapter 4.4). Analogue
and digital are discussed as two levels which increasingly penetrate and overlap
each other. This coupling and artistically induced uncoupling are presented as
practical approaches (Chapter 4.5), followed by the consequences of increasing
virtualization on the concept of truth and upon physical sensations (Chapters 4.6
and 4.7). Finally and specifically, I deal with the influence of post-internet shift in the
compositional context (Chapter 4.8). The virtual imperative (Chapter 4.9) suggests
the viewpoint that the use of digital techniques always has a virtual character, and
that this should not be ignored in the artistic context.
0 The second part of the thesis (Chapter 6) contains five articles which have been
published in various magazines. These texts elaborate on some of the topics
presented in the main text and additionally provide further details about some
of my compositions and techniques. The essay The Aesthetics of Error (Chapter
6.1) explains in detail the use of digital error, introduced in Chapter 4.3, and also
references the topics of authenticity and reality, presented in Chapter 4.6. It also
discusses the more general connotations of malpractice/malfunction and failure.
Aspects of physicality, identity and authenticity are discussed in the essay Virtuality
and Deception (Chapter 6.2). This text also expands upon thoughts from chapter
4.6, giving supplementary examples from an artistic and compositional context.
The essay Binary Composition (Chapter 6.3) takes this paper's recurring theme of
ambivalence and duality and extends it to further levels, such as humour, intuition
and pop aesthetics, as well as expanding the principle of opposing perspectives
out into a broader spectrum. The main body of text introduces the use of light as
a postdigital means of visualization (Chapter 4.3.3) and is supplemented by the
essay Focussing the Gaze (Chapter 6.4), which provides further insights into light
usage in my work. The last essay Uncertain Conditions provides a summary of the
basic intentions of my work (6.5) and specifically reflects the interplay of technical
and human.
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02 . DIGITALITY, POST-INTERNET AND A NEW AESTHETIC
0
0 In "The World is not a Desktop", Marc Weiser, a computer scientist at Xerox PARC,
inquires as to the characteristics of perfect technology and suggests this answer:
0 A good tool is an invisible tool.10
0 The quote comes from 1993 when this idea was a noble ideal and digital techno-
logy still far from it. Desktop PCs were physically and visibly present, and every
kind of technology was very clearly recognizable as such. Almost 30 years later,
we are a few steps further ahead. The visibility and invisibility of technology have
taken on a whole new significance. The omnipresence of digital content and its
systematic reduction and integration into the physical world makes it disappear in
our perception, making it an integral part of our lives. Perhaps we must already re-
phrase the statement above to "This World is a Computer Desktop". In any case, we
can today at least stop for a moment and ask ourselves, to which extent the inner
life of the computer – that is, digital order and the associated working processes –
have already permeated our world. When workers, guided by algorithms, navigate
their way through the city; when airports are a digital check-in, moulded into
architecture; or when newspapers look just like their online version: we then feel,
perhaps, the influence of digitality, which is literally permeating our world in ever
greater depth.
0 Several explicit and implicit imprints of our communication and interaction with
media are initially resulting from the fundamental characteristics of digital techno-
logy (and more generally, in the next step, also extending beyond media use).
The screen, the interface and also the predictability of digital content opened
up a new field in the 1990s. Due to its widespread dissemination, the digital
became increasingly invisible (and its influence nevertheless more visible). The
omnipresence of computation – “ubiquitous computing”, as Weiser calls it 11 – often
eludes our attention and only returns to our consciousness when an error occurs.
As a perfect technique, Weiser cites a pair of glasses, which normally seem invisible
to the wearer. At this point, Benjamin Hill observes that a fine crack, or dirt on the
lens, makes glasses very noticeable.12
0 The first rupture through digitality was named by Kim Cascone with the term “post-
digitality”.13 The digital mistake and disillusionment with new media established a
glitch aesthetic of its own, which became the starting point for a series of further
viewpoints, addressing the permeation of the analogue world by the digital and
questioning how our entire perception has already been shaped by this content.
10 Weiser, Marc: ‘The World is not a Desktop’, in: Interactions 1/1 (1994), p. 7–8,
online: https://www.dgsiegel.net/files/refs/Weiser%20-%20The%20World%20is%20not%20a%20Desktop.pdf
(Retrieved: 13.04.2019).
11 Weiser, Mark: ‘The Computer for the 21st Century’,
in: ACM SIGMOBILE Mobile Computing and Communications Review 3/3 (1991), pp. 3–11.
12 Hill, Benjamin Mako: ‘Revealing Errors’,
in: Error: Glitch, Noise, and Jam in New Media Cultures, Mark Nunes, New York: Continuum, 2011, pp. 27-41.
13 Cascone, Kim: ‘The Aesthetics of Failure: “Post-Digital” Tendencies in Contemporary Computer Music’,
in: Computer Music Journal 24/4 (2000), pp. 12-18.
17
Similar observations can be made in the context of a “post-internet” shift, here
exploring the influence of the internet upon representation, communication and
interaction and the changed role of the internet after virtually complete expansion.
0 The permeation of the analogue world by network and digital technology has
created a visual language with a strong virtual character. This overlap and visibility
is the focus of a current called “new aesthetic”, as Just Hodgson describes it:
0 The New Aesthetic is concerned with the blurring of boundaries associated with
0 ubiquitous computing.14
0 At the centre of the shifts being introduced in this chapter is always a sensitization
to the visibility or perceptibility of digital technology. To some extent, this is an
active process of (re)disclosing15 : this being an active and critical process that
makes hidden or blended-out content perceptible again.
0 Referring to Giorgio Agamben's definition of a paradigm, it seems reasonable to
speak of a paradigm in the context of the postdigital and thus to focus on how we
think – and not what we think about.16 17 It is interesting to look at the changes in
interaction, presentation and communication that have resulted from digitalization.
Consequently, the theme doesn’t primarily concern the use of digital content and
technology, but rather the resulting new usage modes. Thus, these post-topics are
to be understood as shifts and not as a break in evolution.18 The focus is not on
the fact that digital technology is being used (or is no longer being used), but on
the consequences that have resulted from the technology. John Culkin’s quote19
from 1967 can therefore also be applied to the digital era:
0 We shape our tools, and afterwards, our tools shape us.
2.1 Digitality
0 Keywords such as “digital revolution” and “information society” are intended to
account for the fact that digitalization is bringing about fundamental changes in
the economic and working world as well as in public and private life.
14 Hodgson, Justin: Post-Digital Rhetoric and the New Aesthetic.

Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 2019., p. 5.
15 Here, as in later chapters, the word “disclosure” has been chosen to represent the idea of making
something visible [Sichtbarmachung].
16 Meskin, Jacob and Shapiro, Harvey; ‘To Give an Example is a Complex Act: Agamben’s pedagogy of the paradigm’,
in: Educational Philosophy and Theory 46/4 (2014), pp. 421-440.
17 Agamben, Girogio: ‘What is a Paradigm?’ August 2002.
online: http://www.maxvanmanen.com/files/2014/03/Agamben-What-is-a-paradigm1.pdf (Retrieved :13.04.2019).
18 Cramer, Florian: “What Is ‘Post-digital’?” in: Postdigital Aesthetics. Art, Computation and Design,
David M. Berry and Michael Dieter, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 (=Nr. 24), pp. 12–26.
19 Culkin, John: ‘A Schoolman’s Guide to Marshall McLuhan’, in: Saturday Review (18.3.1967), 70–72, pp. 51–53.
18
0 The ‘Digital Revolution’ is a recent term describing the effects of the rapid drop
0 in cost and rapid expansion of power of digital devices such as computers and
0 telecommunications. With the arrival of the digital media, the world was arguably
0 altered and the way that we think of ourselves and the planet (indeed the universe)
0 has conceivably changed forever. In particular, digital culture is associated with
0 the speeding up of societal change, causing a number of technological and social
0 transformations in a surprisingly short amount of time.20
0 Only a rough outline of the most important aspects can be given here: significant
changes include access to information, faster and globalized communication,
limited privacy, forms of digital surveillance, distribution of copyright-protected
material, network organization (of collaborations) and the emergence of the inter-
net – to name but a few (more detailed implementations can be found here 21 22 23).
There is no intention to present the full extent of the digital changes at this point;
rather, in the context of this work, to present some key elements and their influence
on society and art.
2.1.1 Raster and sampling

0 In order to be able to analyse the consequences of digital media, techniques and
representations, it is useful to first consider what is meant by “digitality”. The term
has many aesthetic connotations and is sometimes used symbolically, for example,
for something cold, technical or unnatural. On a basic level, digitalization is first
and foremost to be understood as merely a mastering process or grid, the mapping
of the analogue onto the discreet:
0 The nature of digital media is the raster (the sequence of similar addressed
0 individual elements) and the rule (the agreement on how an element is defined).24
0 Consequently, continuous data with both seamless temporal progression and

value range are discretized and quantized and thus transferred in all their resolution
properties into a rasterized system. This value range can be binary, but can also
use any other subdivision of the analogue spectrum. It is essential that a (loss-
laden) mapping is made to a discrete (i.e.numeric) representation. This screening
and coding occur in different levels of detail: the temporal discretization ranges
from the high-resolution scanning frequency (sampling rate) of an analogue-to-
digital converter (up to 192,000 samples per second) to larger sampling or storage
20 Greeber, Glen and Royston, Martin: ‘Introduction’, in: Digital Cultures - Understanding New Media,
Glen Greeber and Martin Royston, Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2009, p.5
21 Leeson, Lynn. (Ed.): Clicking in: Hot Links to a Digital Culture, Seattle: Bay Press, 1996.
22 Gere, Cahrlie (Ed.): Digital Culture, London: Reaktion Books, 2008.
23 Campanelli, Vito: Web Aesthetics: How Digital Media Affect Culture and Society, Rotterdam: INC, 2010.
24 “Die Natur digitaler Medien ist das Raster (Folge gleichartiger adressierter Einzelelemente) und die Regel
(die Vereinbarung, wie sich ein Element definiert)”.Großmann, Rolf: ‘Spiegelbild, Spiegel, leerer Spiegel.
Zur Mediensituation der Clicks & Cuts’, [Mirror image, mirror, empty mirror. On the media situation of Clicks & Cuts]
in: Soundcultures, Marcus S. Kleiner and Achim Szepanski, Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2003, pp. 59-60.
19
units (frame rates with 25 frames per second, stop-motion/time-lapse with several
seconds’ duration). In addition to the temporal rasterization, the resolution per point
in time (bit depth or pixel/voxel amount of an image/frame) is also extremely scalable.
This quantization can vary between high-resolution 4K/32Bit representations and
highly compressed storage forms, allowing a wide range of raster depths. Common
to all resolutions and formats is the countable display.
0 The concept of sampling or rastering is of particular interest in this context
because of its manifold scalings. Basically,“sampling” is the taking of (continuous)
samples to exemplify, reconstruct or approximate the original with a countable
selection of data points. The practice of taking a part (as a sample) out of continuous
signals, events, actions or representations and then using it further is also relevant
on an artistic level in every degree of scaling. It should also be noted that rasterizing
can also be implemented in other ways – such as light pulses – in addition to typical
instruments such as microphones, scanners and cameras.
0 It should be emphasized that this is not only about the quality of the sampling at
the detailed level of the measuring process, but that these effects also occur at a
larger scale. Discretization in the context of digitalization is accordingly not limited
to the finest possible discrete representation. It can also be found at a higher
representation and storage level – in the subdivision and rasterization of larger
information units. The sampling rates consequently not only determine how error-
prone a signal can be when restored and reconstructed in detail, but are also a
process of subdivision and selection. Under certain circumstances, the selection
of a section or sample can influence the presentation and content implication of
the material to be represented. It can be a conscious act of selection, equivalent to
steering attention. It is therefore not necessarily the case that the rasterized result
aptly represents the continuous original. On a technical level, for example, one finds
the effect “aliasing”, which occurs when a signal is not sufficiently finely scanned.
Sonic, temporal or visual artefacts are then created. Whether it is an error artefact
caused by an insufficient sampling rate, or a distortion of the representation, since,
in a selection process, only certain numerical values are taken: both lead to a
decoupling between the original and the image. More generally, one could also
speak of a discontinuity – and in this sense, also of an uncoupling – instead of
discretization only. In the course of the text, this aspect will still be considered as
a technical basis with regard to authenticity, body images and deception.
0 The reduction to a discrete form has immediate effects on a whole range of
factors. Besides the discrete representation, it is primarily the processing of this
data that enables qualitatively new steps to be taken. The following aspects are
direct consequences of digitalization: the storage of large amounts of data, access
to extensive databases, optimized computability of digital data, non-linearity of
data, automation of processes and interaction with the data (detailed presentations
can be found here 25 26 27). Calculability – i.e.the ability to (easily) perform processes
25 Paul, Christiane: Genealogies of the new aesthetic (2017).

online: https://prezi.com/st0oypvunvdc/genealogies-of-the-new-aesthetic/ (Retrieved: 13.5.2019)
26 Creeber, Glen: ‘Theorizing New Media’, in Digital Cultures, Glen Creeber and Royston Martin,
Berkshire: Open University Press, 2009, pp.11ff.
27 Roads, Curtis: The Computer Music Tutorial, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1996, pp.5ff.
20
and calculations with the data – is not fundamentally tied to the digital 28 , but the
speed and the quantity that can be achieved with it means that a new quality can
be attained, which can only be realized on the digital level.
02 .1.2 Computability of the New Media

0 The most relevant and consequential physical and formal manifestation of
digitalization is the “new media”. In the course of digitalization, they have become
the epitome of the so-called “digital revolution” and have thus become a socially and
theoretically relevant object. Although discretization is theoretically conceivable
without the new media, it is these media that have brought about the most decisive
implications. They have driven and enabled the fundamental social change from
a post-industrial, “technocratic society” via a “knowledge-based society” to an
“information society”. 29
0 The broad generic term “new media” covers a wide spectrum of devices and
formats, including computer animations, human-computer interfaces, websites,
VR worlds, computer installations, computer games, and much more. The new,
digitally‑mediated media distinguish themselves from analogue media, such as
radio, television, books, magazines and classic film formats. More helpful than
classifying the media according to a new or old publication date is an analysis of
the characteristics and implications of the different media types. Terry Flew, for
example, highlights the aspects of digitalization and convergence, interactivity and
networks, virtuality and globalization as essential characteristics of new media. 30
0 Lev Manovich 31 begins by describing five essential features that describe new
media and characterize their basic function:
0 1. Numerical Representation
0 2. Modularity
0 3. Automation capability
0 4. Variability
0 5. Transcoding (the relationship between calculation and aspects of the general
0 cultural aspects of everyday life)
0 This description is initially characterized by the interaction of the user with a

computer. This is primarily an inventory of the use of a computer or similar device.
Only the fifth point provides a preview of the transferred properties. It can be
stated here that discretization and digitalization – in interaction with new media –
lead directly to changed interaction, depiction and representation concerning the
28 Cramer, Florian: “What Is ‘Post-digital’?”, in: Postdigital Aesthetics. Art, Computation and Design,
David M. Berry and Michael Dieter, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 (= Nr. 24), pp. 12–26.
29 Berry, David M.: ‘Thinking Postdigital Aesthetics: Art, Computation and Design’,
in: Postdigital Aesthetics. Art, Computation and Design, David M. Berry and Michael Dieter,
London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 (= Nr. 24), pp. 1–11.
30 Flew, Terry: New Media: An Introduction, South Melbourne, Victoria: Oxford University Press, 2002. p. 28
31 Manovich, Lev: The Language of New Media, Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press (Leonardo), 2002. pp. 27ff
21
data. Besides the numerical (discrete) depiction, the computability of the data is
the decisive point. This is perhaps initially a quantitative leap since many things
can now be done much faster. Following from this, however, is a whole series of
further technical implications, which also become socially relevant in succession.
Modularity, automation capacity and variability allow a fundamentally new way of
dealing with data and media. In the next step, numerical representation allows an
object or information to be broken down into several parts. These can be processed
separately from this point on. Such a form of representation allows arbitrary
calculations to be performed on the data, ranging from low-level evaluations to
manipulations, to high-level processes, such as AI-supported analyses. According
to Manovich, variability means that a “new media object” (i.e.an object that exists
in new media) no longer has a fixed, unchangeable form and representation. The
most consequential and, for this thesis, relevant point – namely, the process of
transcoding – shall be discussed in detail after a short insert. Before that, the
classification of digital media by Christiane Paul will be examined.
0 Christiane Paul postulates similar, extensively presented characteristic 32 , which
can be regarded as a concision of some aspects of Manovich's classification:
0 Aesthetics of the characteristics of the digital medium:

0 – Computable: determined by numerical methods and mathematics
0 (divisible into small units)
0 – time-based: requiring an extended viewing period
0 (as video, performance)
0 – non-linear: assemblage (with or without interaction) in new
0 configurations: recombinantaesthetics
0 – real-time: relying on instantaneous communication processes or
0 constructing themselves “on the fly”
0 – algorithmic: requiring a certain media literacy with regards to the
0 rules of programming
0 – generative: able to self-produce
0 – automated: new balances between authorship and programmability
0 – interactive: new media works require an understanding of response
0 as a medium
0 Like Manovich, her first point bases on the central aspect of computability/
predictability and also refers to the automation capacity. Out of this, she derives the
generative, algorithmic properties and focuses on processing in real-time systems.
This additionally results in the ability to interact, made possible by algorithmic
processing with real-time access. In the context of this thesis, the component of
nonlinearity is particularly interesting. The abolition of a clear temporal progression
in display, readout, interaction and sampling are the fundamentals for temporal
uncoupling, as outlined in Chapter 2.1.1. In terms of creating new content and
realities, the generative aspect is of ongoing interest in the course of this work
(see 4.7).
22
Christiane Paul subsequently derives several specifics for the digital medium from
the aesthetics of the digital medium's characteristics. 33 This describes what could
be called the most natural, logical or adequate forms of the digital medium:
Aesthetics of the medium:
0 Aesthetics of the medium:

0 – (networked) installation
0 – net art/networked art
0 – ‘software art’
0 – virtual /mixed/augmented reality
0 – locative media art
0 In this list, there are various aspects which will be of interest in the course of this
dissertation. Even if not all explicitly fall into these categories, essential aspects
are influenced by these cited works. For example, a piece does not have to be
explicitly a network installation, to be implicitly influenced by digital properties,
and thus contain aspects of a network-influenced way of thinking, construction or
aesthetics.
02 .1.3 Overlaying through Transcoding

0 As described by Manovich and Paul, the fact that digitalization and the use of
new media have such strong implications suggests that they have a social impact
on user behaviour, interaction and general cultural practices. Matt Hills maintains
that new media are already old and that it is not their existence that is new, but
their influence on society:
0 Instead of asking what is New Media […] we should be asking […] what’s new for
0 society about the New Media? 34
Glen Creeber formulates this question as follows:
0 What are we doing with New Media and what is New Media doing with us? 35
0 With the term “transcoding”, Lev Manovich no longer describes the concrete
properties of a digital medium and the computational implications resulting
from them, but rather takes up the interwoven relationship between the digitally
represented object and its meaning in the analogue, cultural world.

34 Greeber, Glen and Royston, Martin: Digital Cultures - Understanding New Media,
Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2009, p. 5.
35 Greeber, Glen and Royston, Martin: ‘Introduction’, in: Digital Cultures - Understanding New Media,
Glen Greeber and Martin Royston, Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2009, pp. 1-10.
23
0 As I have suggested, computerization turns media into computer data. While from
0 one point of view computerized media still displays structural organization which
0 makes sense to its human users — […] from another point of view, its structure now
0 follows the established conventions of computer's organization of data.36
0 In doing so, he distinguishes between the “cultural layer” and the “computer layer”.
The “cultural layer” describes the aspects of an object that convey content, narration
and meaning. Consequently, this is the information that a human being extracts from
an image or text when he or she registers the content. The “computer layer”, on the
other hand, describes the categories of machine language, such as packages, lists,
functions, variables and data structures. The crucial point for Manovich is that the
two layers of content and storage form cannot be considered separately:
0 Since new media is created on computers, distributed via computers, stored and
0 archived on computers, the logic of a computer can be expected to significant
0 influence on the traditional cultural logic of media. That is, we may expect that
0 the computer layer will affect the cultural layer. The ways in which computer models
0 the world, represents data and allows us to operate on it; the key operations
0 behind all computer programs (such as search, match, sort, filter); the conventions
0 of HCI — in short, what can be called computer’s ontology, epistemology and
0 pragmatics — influence the cultural layer of new media: its organization, its
0 emerging genres, its contents.37
0 Lev Manovich postulates here a permeation of these two levels, an effect which
is widely spread and observable today; to be observed, for example, in the clear
interplay between print media and digital text media. Whilst New Media often imitated
traditional media initially, the trend has reversed, in that the visual appearance of
print media is modelled on the flat appearance of websites. A comparable trend
can be observed with analogue and virtual synthesizers.
0 Lev Manovich describes a first step on the way to a postdigital perspective: the
anchoring, superimposition and blending of analogue and digital layers. The use
of “compositing” directs the focus to a deliberate act of fusion and merging:
0 The result of this composite is the new computer culture: a blend of human and
0 computer meanings, of traditional ways human culture modeled the world and
0 computer’s own ways to represent it.38
0 In this section, it was made clear that the digitalization of content leads to a
change in its representation. Digital processing opens up an arsenal of inherent
operations and manipulations, from which several implications arise, influencing
36 Greeber, Glen und Royston, Martin: Digital Cultures - Understanding New Media,
Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2009, S. 5.
37 Greeber, Glen und Royston, Martin: „Introduction“, in: Digital Cultures - Understanding New Media,
hg. von Glen Greeber und Martin Royston, Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2009, S. 1-10.
38 Manovich, Lev: The Language of New Media, Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press (Leonardo), 2002, p. 46
24
interconnectedness, variability, interactivity and the generative nature of the content.
An uncoupling of content attributions of the analogue original and its representation
in the computer layer leads to two-part classifications and characteristics of the
objects. Both perspectives permeate each other, so that the analogue media,
objects and works of art significantly shape their digital counterparts and, in the
second stage, are significantly influenced by them. As this phenomenon occurred
at the turn of the millennium primarily in the context of new media and was an
isolated characteristic of certain interfaces, media and devices, one could question
whether a society significantly shaped by its digital tools is completely affected by
the penetration of the computer layer: a hypothesis titled "Post-Digital", which will
now be analysed as resulting from digitalization and the success of new media.
2.2 Post-Digitality
0 Digitalization and new media have a relevant influence on the handling of media
content of all kinds. As a result, usage has changed fundamentally, for example in
terms of availability, editing possibility, interaction and predictability. In the context
of new media, this is seen as a rather self-contained phenomenon, a phenomenon
which is limited to the use of (digital) media and which is clearly delineated or
takes the contrast between analogue and digital worlds for granted. However,
from the perspective of a so-called “postdigital turn” 39 , society and its cultural
modes of interaction are now viewed under the premise that the entire cultural
world has already been digitally developed and permeated. This view is based on
the assumptions that a separation of these two worlds no longer truly exists and
that the disparate contrast is no longer to be found in this form.“Post-digitality”
describes a shift that takes place after the social inclusion of digital technologies. 40
Consequently, the prefix “post” is not to be understood as a time after digitalization,
in which digital media no longer exist: rather, it is a state in which, in large parts
of the western cultural world, digitalization cannot be considered complete, but at
least omnipresent. This results firstly in three potential consequences:
0 2.2.1 Digital technology is becoming increasingly invisible in everyday life

0 (due to this content being progressively embedded and familiarized).
0 2.2.2 Perceptions of the analogue parts of the world have changed.
0 2.2.3. Disillusionment with the digital world following the political, economic
0 and social use of digital tools
0 Subsequently, one may discuss the question as to which options for action result
from these observations. Specifically, this means: Is post-digitality simultaneously
an action, an operation, an exit, a positioning, or a perspective? These questions
40 In this thesis I use the form “postdigital” for the adjective and “post-digital” for the phenomenon.
25
– which also constitute the artistic practice – will be discussed from Chapter 2.2.5,
and then in Chapter 4 in detail. Before this, the core aspects of “post-digitally" will
be outlined.
02 .2.1 Invisibility
0 The establishment of the concept “post-digitality” is situated after the phase of
digitalization and new media. It can only be assumed that the period in which
new media were in focus, and were perceived as new, has concluded. The use of
smartphones, computers, tablets, online communication and social networks is no
longer a rarity – it is everyday life and the norm. This phase is followed by one in
which the disappearance of visibility occurs. Florian Cramer, therefore, claims that
the concept of post-digital can be seen as the “opposite” of new media since it
assumes a state in which digitality is no longer seen as disruptive, i.e.as permeating
the analogue world and contrasting with old media. 41 David Berry goes so far as
to say that the “digital” describes a historical condition. He means that formerly, in
an analogue environment, something would be digitally calculated or represented
at a certain moment in time, i.e.as a separately recognizable action. He sees our
present time in contrast to this, as completely digital:
0 Indeed, in a similar way to how the distinction between ‘being online’ and
0 ‘being offline’ has become problematic, with widespread wireless networked
0 devices, so too, perhaps, the term ‘digital’ describes a historical world of discrete
0 moments of the computational.42
0 It is, therefore, a question of the extent as to which digitality is still visible and is
received as such. We certainly perceive it increasingly less explicitly and take it
more for granted. Sean Cubitt describes this fact as follows:
0 Applications like wireless networks […] are effectively invisible, inaudible and
0 cannot be felt. This poses a first problem in digital aesthetics: many aspects of
0 digital media simply cannot be sensed. In fact, as we shall see, what you cannot
0 see if often the most significant thing about digital aesthetics.43
0 But the term invisibility refers not only to actual, invisible components, such as
radio transmissions: in addition, we no longer regard the end-user devices as an
intrusion into the analogue world but as having become an integral part of it. When
embedded in cars, kitchen machines and other everyday objects (see also "internet
of things" and Chapter 2.3 for comparison), this phenomenon becomes particularly
David M. Berry and Michael Dieter, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 (= Nr. 24), pp. 12–26.
42 Berry, David M.: ‘Thinking Postdigital Aesthetics: Art, Computation and Design’, in: Postdigital Aesthetics. Art,
Computation and Design, David M. Berry and Michael Dieter, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 (= Nr. 24), p. 3.
43 Cubitt, Sean: ‘Case Study: Digital Aesthetics’, in: Digital Cultures - Understanding New Media, Glen Greeber and
Martin Royston, Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2009, pp. 23ff.
26
obvious. Sean Cubitt postulates that the basic properties of computational ability
are hidden under user-friendly levels of the interfaces, thus partially eluding the
gaze of the consumer. 44 There are two opposing trends of visual disappearance
and visual imprinting which can be observed in parallel here. On the one hand,
technical devices increasingly elude our (active) perception; on the other, these
devices shape our human perception and our physical living space.
02 .2.2 Digital Imprinting

0 The tangible negative consequences of digitalization – e.g.surveillance, loss of
data protection, manipulation – are clearly identifiable, even if they partially overlap
in positive contexts, such as freedom of expression and access to knowledge. The
changed perception of the human being as a result of digitalization is a subtle and
differentiated aspect. It can be assumed that our interactions and perceptions
today are shaped by the use of digital media. Here, Katja Kwastek points out that
it is important to look at the aesthetics and not at what is depicted, focussing at
this point upon the form of representation and not the content. 45 In this context,
we find the following interesting: how do we perceive it, how is it represented?
Consequently, it is not only a matter of the digital becoming initially invisible but
also of how our view is shaped by such interconnections. To what extent are our
perception and interaction with the analogue – or the holistic, analogue-digital en-
vironment – shaped by digital media (and all its implications)? This is not one clearly
identifiable element that can be isolated, but a whole range of different aspects.
0 The imprints caused by the use of digital interfaces and the altered role of
screens (see Chapter 2.2.3) are evident, a probable conclusion being that we
generally receive media and content increasingly through digital communication.
These aspects extend to modes in which bodies are represented and have a
decisive influence on interpersonal communication (see Chapter 6.2). Network-
based, collaborative modes of communication and presentation, and those shaped
by the internet, also have a lasting influence on how we operate in the analogue
world (see Chapter 2.3).
0 The basis for these phenomena is the predictability/computability of all digital
content, including all the aspects and consequences already described (in Chapter
2.1.2.). In the editing possibility, manipulability, analysability and recombination
of digital contents – and consequently of the provided user interfaces – lies the
altered basis of the postdigital view of our environment. David Berry describes the
potency of calculation and digital transfusion as follows:
0 All of these proposed terms and concepts seize on a hybridized approach

0 towards the digital and non-digital, finding characteristics of one within the other,
44 Mirocha, Lukasz: ‘Communication Models, Aesthetics and Ontology of the Computational Age Revealed’,
London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 (= Nr. 24), pp. 58-71.
45 Kwastek, Katja: ‘How to be theorized’, in: Postdigital Aesthetics. Art, Computation and Design,
David M. Berry and Michael Dieter, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 (= Nr. 24), pp. 72-85.
27
0 deliberately mixing up processes of making things discrete, calculable, indexed
0 and automated in unorthodox ways. In doing so, they form part of an epistemological
0 asterism of practices, experiences and mediations that follows the primacy of the
0 computal as normative. That is, the appearance of these terms can be interpreted
0 collectively as endeavours to elucidate the trajectories of ubiquitous digitalization;
0 they collectively form new patterns which can help us begin to map and historicize
0 the varieties of computal societies.46
0 Here, under “computal societies”, Berry describes a digitally shaped society,

whose practices, experiences and mediations are given by the paradigm of
discretization and calculability. Conventions and aesthetics of the digital are
rubbing off on the analogue world. This happens partly consciously, in the use of
“modern” styles and tools. It also happens unconsciously, within ourselves. We see
a book, a photo, a screen, a film, a telephone, a building, not detached from digital
properties, functions and interactions. Furthermore, the digital logic of calculation
also penetrates the analogue world in a concrete way – e.g.architecturally.
Increasingly often, the analogue world is not only stylistically digital but is
explicitly shaped by digital, algorithmic specifications. For example, sections of
airports, warehouses or delivery services can simply be regarded as the physical
representation of an algorithm (this permeation is sometimes reflected by the name
"New Aesthetic", and is discussed in more detail in Chapter 2.4). Our environment
is thus digitally viewed and digitally shaped. It is accordingly both an aesthetic and
a logical imprint, as David Berry notes:
0 Rather, surfaces themselves become thin machinery, containing not just the
0 possibility of a hermeneutic encounter but also an agency drawn from computation
0 itself. These surfaces point towards and suggest the very veneer of computation
0 networked across the terrain of everyday life, directed towards control and
0 surveillance. The postdigital is, then, both an aesthetic and a logic that informs the
0 re-presentation of space and time within an epoch that is afterdigital, but which
0 remains profoundly computational and organized through a constellation of
0 techniques and technologies to order things to stand by.47
47 Berry, David M.: ‘The Postdigital Constellation’, in: Postdigital Aesthetics. Art, Computation and Design,
David M. Berry and Michael Dieter, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 (= Nr. 24), pp. 44-57.
28
0 The essential aspect here remains the ability to compute. This is reflected in the
editing capacity and manipulability of contents. We experience in this an effect
of digital “affordance”48 – i.e.a digital, offer-orientated character. The perceptual
psychological affordance concept describes the stimulative nature of an object,
i.e.the actions and interactions that a user could and would perform with the object,
based on the object's properties. This approach can be transferred to digital
implications, as Justin Hodgson postulates:
0 […] The changes to textuality via computationality did not stop with typographical
0 play or manipulation of format. Rather, the combination of increased affordances
0 of manipulation (Marinetti in a machine) and new functions for engagement
0 (the promises of hyperlinks and algorithmic augmentation) brought textuality
0 alive in unprecedented ways — dramatically altering the range (and impact) of
0 ekphrastic practices (whether put to rhetorical ends or not).49
0 That we can interact with them and change them have become the overriding
characteristics of digital media and content. So: they are no longer rigid objects and
content: they are containers incorporating a range of manipulation and selection.
It can now be argued that this invitation to interact is, increasingly, deeply rooted
in our perception. In this way, the screen has taken on a new, formative role as an
interaction tool.
02 .2.3 Post-Screen
0 An essential component that has been shaped by digitalization is the handling
of content through the presentation on a screen. Content has been displayed on
screens for a long time now, and, with the advent of television, this display has also
become a mass medium and a socially established mainstream.50 However, advanced
digitalization has changed how screens are used to present and represent in a more
comprehensive, multi-layered form. These are no longer merely a playback device
for produced, fixed content. Rather, the screen and the digital surface have become
48 “Affordances are an object’s properties that show the possible actions users can take with it, thereby suggesting
how they may interact with that object. For instance, a button can look as if it needs to be turned or pushed.
The characteristics of the button which make it look “turnable” or “pushable” together form its affordances.
Psychologist James Gibson coined “affordance” in 1977, referring to all action possibilities depending on users’
physical capabilities. So, a chair not only “affords” being “sat on”, but also “thrown”, “stood on”, etc. However, in
human-computer interaction (HCI) expert Don Norman […] defined as perceivable action possibilities—i.e.,only
actions users consider possible. Thus, an object’s affordances depend on users' physical capabilities and their
goals and past experiences. A chair only affords “sitting”, because past experience supports that action. Don
Norman’s definition of affordances as perceivable action possibilities soon became the predominant one in HCI and
UX design.” What are Affordances?,
online: https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/affordances (Retrieved: 4.4.2020).
Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 2019, p. 6.
50 Also, using screens has a long tradition in art–for example, by Nam June Paik.
29
an interface for communication, processing and interaction.51 We no longer see a
screen and the content displayed on it as content to be received, but rather as an
(interaction) surface, with which we can design, retrieve, edit, share, retouch and
communicate content ourselves. The integrity of the surface of content has given way
to the interactivity of the user interface. The focus of the screen has become possible
interaction.
0 Josephine Bosma concludes “post-digital” must be followed by “post-screen.” 52 53
Two consequences are conceivable here, parallel to the considerations about
post-digital: first, abandoning the screen or changing the way it is used. However,
forms of presentation that manage without a screen can be explicitly influenced
in their aesthetics by the contemporary use of a screen. This applies, for example,
to the Brush Stroke works of the artist Elisa Giardina Papa, which transfer digital
Photoshop tools into the analogue exhibition context. The non-use of a screen is
consequently no anachronistic step backwards since it is done in the knowledge of
the interface's potential. Second, the handling of a screen display can be regarded
differently. If the surface displays of desktop programs are embedded, for example,
in classic formats such as feature films, this reflects the fact that even a closed
format such as a Hollywood film is viewed on the screen through the users' eyes.
This is especially true for content that is received via streaming with a browser. Our
passive view has given way to an active user role. 54
0 David Berry thematizes the focus on the interface in the postdigital turn,
questioning the lasting role of the screen:
0 The postdigital, as an aesthetic, gestures towards a relation produced by digital

0 surfaces in a bewildering number of different places and contexts. This interface-
0 centricity is not necessarily screenic, however, and represents the current
0 emerging asterism that is formed around notions of art, computation and design.
0 In this conception, the postdigital is not purely a digital formation or artefact
0 – it can also be the concepts, networks and frameworks of digitality that are
0 represented (e. g. voxels, glitch, off-internet media, neo-analogue, ‘non-digital’
0 media, post-internet art). Nonetheless, the interesting aspect is the implicit notion
0 of surfaces as theatres of action and performance – such as through data visualization,
0 interactivity or material design – above and beyond a depth model, which highlights
0 the machinery of computation.55
51 Manovich, Lev: The Language of New Media, Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press (Leonardo), 2002.
52 “What is not directly visible is also less likely to be seen. Additional issues for art in the context of digital media
seem to be the visual impermeability or the spatial dispersion of specific works and practices. What I mean with
visual impermeability is the presence of somehow ‘hidden’ structures, like network technologies, code and software
processes, and even indirect influences of the Internet or of computer technology, in specific works of art.”
Bosma, Josephine: ‘Post-Digital is Post-Screen: Arnheim’s Visual Thinking applied to Art in the Expanded Digital
Media Field’, in: A Peer-Reviewed Journal About Post-Digital Research Vol 3 No 1 (2014).
online: https://aprja.net/article/view/116091 (Retrieved 20.7.2019).
53 Bosma, Josephine: ‘Post-Screen - Fehlerhafte Interpretationen des Digitalen in der Kunst’,
in : Kunstforum International [‘Post-Screen– Erroneous Interpretation of the Digital in Art’, in: Artforum International]
Nr 243 (2016), pp 56ff.
54 Manovich, Lev: The Language of New Media, Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press (Leonardo), 2002, pp. 94ff.
David M. Berry and Michael Dieter, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 (= Nr. 24), p. 44.
30
0 Again, computability is cited as the starting point and relevance and focus on
the interface emphasized. In this, Berry describes the relevance of the interface,
also placing at disposal the extent to which this concept must still be tied to the
screen. On the one hand, the perspective is already so imprinted that we can
sense the affordance of an interface, even when there is no screen; on the other,
the aesthetics and concepts of the interface and screen are actively transferred
to media and formats that are not digital.
0 In conclusion, we can say: we see a screen with different eyes, and we see our
world through the eyes of our programs and end-user devices. 56 57
02 .2.4 Dis–Illusionment 58
0 This provocative statement from Nicholas Negroponte (already quoted above) is
often used in the postdigital context:
0 Like air and drinking water, being digital will be noticed only by its absence, not its
0 presence. [...] Computers will be a sweeping yet invisible part of our everyday lives:
0 We’ll live in them, wear them, even eat them. A computer a day will keep the doctor
0 away. [...] Terabit access, petahertz processors, planetary networks, and disk drives
0 on the heads of pins will be ... they’ll just be.
0 Face it – the Digital Revolution is over.59
0 In saying this, Negroponte postulates an end to the digital boom, and to focussing
on the digital – thus leading to disenchantment or disillusionment with aspects of
digitalization. 60 The process of this disillusionment and disenchantment, both in
terms of content and technology, is to play an essential role in this text, focusing on
the extent to which digitality disappears from our field of vision: for example, because
it becomes invisible, or because we no longer see it, it being omnipresent. However,
this dissertation also concerns itself with enthusiasm for digitality: have the objects
lost their initial enchantment? Or do we observe how, in recent years, techniques
have increasingly been used for practices that must be critically assessed, such
as repression, surveillance and marketing? Many original applications, networks,
forums and techniques were initially conceived with a rather optimistic, utopian
56 For example in SELFIE CONCERT by Ivo Dimchev, Lauren McCarthy’s Follower, Dries Depoorter’s Tinder Me Cards,
Memo Atkin’s Learning to See or Pippin Bar’s The Artist is Present.
57 Iconographic Photo of Hillary Clinton at the airport, showing the public turned with their backs towards her in
order to make selfies.
Photo by Barbara Kinney, 2016, https://time.com/4508252/hillary-clinton-epic-selfie/ (Retrieved 20.7.2019)
58 In the original German text, the word “Enttäuschung” is used to refer not only to disillusionment, but also to
the removal of an illusion.
59 Negroponte, Nicholas: ‘Beyond Digital’, in: Wired 6/12, 1998.
online: http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/6.12/negroponte.html (Retrieved: 04.04.2020)
60 Herwig, Jana: ‘Postdigitaler Vordenker oder digitaler Antagonist? Zu Nicholas Negropontes Entwurf des Digitalen’,
[ Post-Digital Forward-Thinker or digital Antragonist? On Nicholas Negroponte’s Digital Draft ]
in: Post-digital Culture, Daniel Kulle; Cornelia Lund; Oliver Schmidt and David Ziegenhagen, 1995.
online: http://www.post-digital-culture.org/herwig (Retrieved: 04.04.2020), p. 3.
31
intention; with the common good in mind. The complete capitalist and political ex-
ploitation of these methods, forms of communication and technologies naturally
leads to a fundamentally more critical debate. In this sense, postdigital can also
mean the disillusionment after the hype, the more clarified, disenchanted view after
the digital boom. As with and similar to the dot-com bubble, the optimistic mood of
new beginnings in the digital age changed and gave way to a more differentiated
view, as Florian Cramer indeed records:
0 More pragmatically, the term ‘postdigital’ can be used to describe either a

0 contemporary disenchantment with digital information systems and media gadgets,
0 or a period in which our fascination with these systems and gadgets has become
0 historical – just like the dot-com age ultimately became historical in the 2013 novels
0 of Thomas Pynchon and Dave Eggers. After Edward Snowden’s disclosures of the
0 NSA’s all-pervasive digital surveillance systems, this disenchantment has quickly
0 grown from a niche ‘hipster’ phenomenon to a mainstream position – one which is
0 likely to have a serious impact on all cultural and business practices based on
0 networked electronic devices and Internet services.61
0 This aspect is a theme in itself. In the context of this work, two components may
be of interest. On the one hand, the insights and ambiguities in dealing with digital
techniques are the content-related motors for discussion and artistic reappraisal:
the complexity and diversity of the digital factors’ influence upon human beings
are objects of artistic research and exploration. On the other hand, the concept
of "disenchantment" is particularly exciting here, in its various connotations. If one
accedes to the disillusionment or disappointment with the processes of the digital
society outlined above, we recognize, with this term, the moral evaluation of a
development, in which promising approaches have been misused. Disillusionment,
in the direct sense of the word, also means the removal of a deception — i.e. the
exposure of blindness or an illusion. In the context of the postdigital perspective,
this process is not only to be understood in terms of social evaluation but also
as a process of “rendering visible”. If we are to understand the permeation and
invisibility of digital content as a deception, the process of disillusionment can be
seen as a tool that directs the gaze back to digital content in everyday analogue life.
The different modes of visualizing digital components can be realized by various
methods and can occur randomly through different processes. Here, a central
motive is the occurrence of an error that reveals digital processes, representations
or techniques. The original definition of the term “post-digitality” is directly linked
to the occurrence of an error, and will therefore now be declared as a fundamental
component. In addition to the technical component of the error, the aesthetic and
content-related implications will be more intensively discussed in the course of
this text.
David M. Berry and Michael Dieter, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 (= Nr. 24), p. 13.
32
02 .2.5 Errors and Glitches
0 With its various connotations and implications, the term “post-digital," first used
by Kim Cascone 62 in 2000, has since been the subject of controversial discussion
and is accompanied by various connotations and implications. In its original use
by Cascone, the term is established within the framework of the glitch aesthetic
to address genuine digital errors and artefacts. The original definition is thus
contained in – but not bound to – a musical style description and should not
be reduced to it or one genre. 63 Since the term's initial use, it has increasingly
emancipated itself from the genre and now covers a broader spectrum.
0 In his text, Cascone describes the musical use of the error as a sonic, aesthetic
tool. The spectrum illustrated encompasses several loosely related sub-genres,
with the glitch aesthetic at their core. This stylistic works with digital errors, artefacts,
coding errors, file errors and corrupt digital media. The works of Markus Popp
(under the pseudonym “Oval”) in the 1990s are classic examples of this approach:
CDs and other digital sound carriers were manipulated and destroyed, resulting in
a dense, rhythmic texture field with hard artefacts, breaks and jumps. The album
Solo For Wounded CD by Yasunao Tone is also a classic example of this working
method. Cascone describes the artists' working method within this context as
follows:
0 The ‘postdigital’ aesthetic was developed in part as a result of the immersive

0 experience of working in environments suffused with digital technology: computer
0 fans whirring, laser printers churning out documents, the sonification of user-
0 interfaces, and the muffled noise of hard drives. But more specifically, it is from
0 the ‘failure’ of digital technology that this new work has emerged: glitches, bugs,
0 application errors, system crashes, clipping, aliasing, distortion, quantization noise,
0 and even the noise floor of computer sound cards are the raw materials composers
0 seek to incorporate into their music.64
0 Obviously, such editing and manipulation of digital media make the nature of the
media explicitly audible and perceptible. These are processes that could not have
been achieved with analogue media. The error thus reveals the data structure and
the nature of the digital medium. In the broader context of the glitch aesthetic,
Cascone also cites other sub-genres such as "clicks'n'cuts" or "microwave". In
these forms, the brutality of the error, that is, the aggressively disruptive, is no
longer quite so evident; the empty, virtual-digital sound worlds in the foreground.
There is a reduction of a data format, to a sonically reduced, digital sound language.
The sound of this language is quite different from the minimal or drone music of
previous decades. Also, the genuinely digital processing remains audible in these
62 Cascone, Kim: ‘The Aesthetics of Failure: “Post-Digital” Tendencies in Contemporary Computer Music’,
in Computer Music Journal 24/4, (2000), pp.12-18.
63 Ferguson, John R.: ‘Fostering a post-digital avant-garde: Research-led teaching of music technology’,
in Organized Sound Volume 21/Special Issue 2 (2016), pp.127-137.
64 Cascone, Kim: ‘The Aesthetics of Failure: "Post-Digital" Tendencies in Contemporary Computer Music’,
in: Computer Music Journal 24/4, 2000, pp.12f.
33
subgenres – if not so aggressive. The continuous use of clicks and compression
artefacts explicitly demonstrates the sampling form. The way in which samples are
cropped or looped is explicitly digital in these genres. It is a sonic image of a file.
In this environment, the digital artefacts, which are normally masked, have become
the decisive distinguishing feature. According to Cascone therefore, “post-digital”
means the use of techniques and stylistic devices that almost exclusively use faulty
artefacts found in digital techniques. Contrasting with music (and art in general)
produced only by digital means, the digital tools used here do not disappear within
a black box. Nor are they easy to hear, as is often the case with the introduction
of new techniques, because of their (new) sound characteristics. Rather, it deals
with the disclosure of the methods, storage formats and processes of digital sound
processing. It is also a shift in perspective from the foreground of a work (motive,
melody) to the background. Comparable to minimalism in the visual arts, a shift
in perspective takes place on the material (files) or the tools (DSP processes)
themselves. In this case, the fixation on the error created a new sound language,
which was genuinely digital and also a tool that could provide information about
the new digital media. The prominent musical use of the error can thus be seen as
being a tool with which to provide information about the technology and medium
used. 65 The abortion of (digital) functionality can be used to remove a veil of techno-
logy, to deal expressively with the inherent structures and processes. 66 67
0 In principle, Kim Cascone is describing the tip of an iceberg, which was not yet
wholly apparent at the turn of the millennium. The glitch aesthetic of the 1990s was
capable of deconstructing and reflecting a digital medium and developing a new
digital-centric language from it. Referencing the development of the new media
(as described in Chapter 2.1.2), this was a process carried out on a separately
perceived storage medium. It was, therefore, initially the use of a self-contained
medium, whose characteristics were being mapped out. The highlighting of the
digital working tools, and the elevation of these processes to an aesthetic of
their own, have, in turn, a generalizable validity. This focus of looking/hearing
can certainly be read as directing the attention within a society to an activity
taking place mostly in the background. The digital storage and processing that
actually takes place in the background are thereby brought into focus and exhibited.
These are not yet metaphorical processes, nor are they primarily critical positions.
Although the fixation on the digital is already a step towards the recognition of the
digital influence, this takes place in a rather abstract, minimalist context. Cascone
65 “Resonating with Martin Heidegger’s (1977) notion that the essence of technology is revealed in its breakdown,
the glitch reveals aspects of the technology, it draws attention to its structure, its opaque quality, the fact that it is
designed and has materiality.”
Cascone, Kim: ‘The Aesthetics of Failure: "Post-Digital" Tendencies in Contemporary Computer Music’,
in: Computer Music Journal 24/4, 2000, pp.12f.
66 “The post-digital seeks to lift the veil of the technical, to find ways of being expressive using inherent structures,
processes and other affordances.”
ebd.
67 Jenkins, Henry: ‘Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media education for the 21st century’,
in: Cambridge Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2009,pp.9ff.
34
himself says that no art can be freed from its relationship to its environment. This
is certainly true, but the emphasis can still be stated.
0 Twenty years after the publication of Cascone's text, it seems reasonable to
rethink the function, implication and connotation of the (digital) error and to examine
it for new potentials in light of the changed conditions.
0 The malfunctioning of a system can open our eyes to the mechanisms behind
technology or refine our view of its use in society. The following questions take
centre stage:
0 1. What impact/role can an error play in a digital society?

0 2. How can the fault be used to artistically depict and thematize changes
0 in digitalization?
0 Regarding point 1: errors are not only an artistic tool but occur naturally, especially
in complex systems. Justin Hodgson uses the example of two computer system
failures to describe how digital errors can lead us to rediscover otherwise invisible
or unnoticed structures and reflect on their effects:
0 For example, on July 8, 2015, a technical glitch grounded, for the entire day, all
0 United Airlines flights in the US. That same day, the New York Stock Exchange and
0 the Wall Street Journal websites went down as well—also glitch-related. In addition
0 to demonstrating how digital disasters have the potential to operate with the
0 magnitude of a natural disaster, these events also revealed the scary reality that
0 many major corporate glitches and computational mishaps are, as informatics
0 scholar Zeynep Tufekci explained in “Why the Great Glitch of July 8th Should
0 Scare You”.68
0 These are two extreme examples, addressing the fragility of the digital system.
A susceptibility to error goes hand-in-hand with the weaknesses of capitalist
globalization. The small errors that we encounter in everyday life are, perhaps, even
more exciting. Justin Hodgson uses a faulty ATM to describe how its defect lets us
peek behind the seemingly perfect façade of a banking company:
0 Anyone who has seen a famous “Blue Screen of Death”—the iconic signal of a
0 Microsoft Windows crash—on a public screen or terminal knows how errors can
0 thrust the technical details of previously invisible systems into view. Nobody
0 knows that their ATM runs Windows until the system crashes. Of course, the
0 operating system chosen for a sign or bank machine has important implications for
0 its users. Windows, or an alternative operating system, creates affordances and
0 imposes limitations. Faced with a crashed ATM, a consumer might ask herself if,
0 with its history of rampant viruses and security holes, she should really trust an
0 ATM running Windows.69
Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 2019, p.6.
69 Hill, Benjamin Mako: ‘Revealing Errors’, in: Error: Glitch, Noise, and Jam in New Media Cultures, Mark Nunes,
New York: Continuum, 2011, p.27.
35
0 An error can therefore make a closed system – at least partially – understandable.
Through the termination, we learn something about the system behind it (in the
example above, the operating system). A look behind the facade of a digital
interface can tell us firstly, something about the medium itself, as described in
Chapter 2.1.2, and secondly, something about its basic properties, such as the
computational capability. At a more elevated level, it tells us something about
fragility, narration, appearance and control. A closed system can claim something,
represent something. It has a certain authority and power. These media/interfaces
always function as a black box in the digital world. The link in the programming is
not physically visible; it can be designed in any way and can, therefore, initially only
be experienced by the user based on its graphic design (GUI). If a system is not
visible, not understandable, not controllable, then it has a hierarchical component,
which Benjamin Hill summarizes as follows:
0 As technologies become more complex, they often become more mysterious to their
0 users. While not invisible, users know little about the way that complex technologies
0 work both because they become accustomed to them and because the technological
0 specifics are hidden inside companies, behind web interfaces, within compiled soft-
0 ware, and in “black boxes”. Errors can help reveal these technologies and expose
0 their nature and effects. As technology becomes complex, the purpose of technology
0 is to hide this complexity. As a result, the explicit creation of black boxes becomes
0 an important function of technological design processes and a source of power.
0 Once again, errors that break open these boxes can reveal hidden technology
0 and its power.70
0 The manifestation of this digital control can have many facets. The malfunctioning
of a digital system can reveal fragilities, power structures, manipulations, con-
ventions, labels and forms of representation. It is the surface that can be broken.
To recognize that this surface exists, and that (under certain circumstances) an
unreflected trust is placed in it, is then the supporting achievement. A disappearing
black box is made visible again and its structure is potentially recognizable.
0 As to point 2: in contrast to such randomly occurring mistakes, the mistake

is used in the artistic context as a productive tool, to additionally generate an
increased awareness. This is what constitutes the changed situation as compared
to the original use of the term. The possibilities and necessities of making digital
processes visible, experienceable and criticizable have increased since then.
Digitalization has developed from a marginal phenomenon within society to the
norm. Perhaps it is no longer necessary to explicitly focus on digital media; rather,
it must be shown that we are already looking at it, that our view is imprinted by it
and that it is hidden beneath the surface of everyday life. Further use of this style
and this tool can be derived from this. Even if the tools and elements of aesthetics
have remained the same, their function and use today is different.
36
0 Historically, the term “digital error” is often associated with noise, or with the
noise genre. Mark Nunes, for example, sees noise as the primary manifestation of
an error:
0 Error gives expression to the out of bounds of systematic control. When error
0 communicates, it does so as noise: abject information and aberrant signal within
0 an otherwise orderly system of communication.71
0 Based on the concept of a “glitch” – i.e.a digital error – this observation seems
initially plausible. The digital errors are in themselves naturally noisy and have a
distorted sound. But noise72 also means randomness – although this only covers part
of the potential of the digital error. Noise – or more clearly the sub-genre "digital
harsh noise” – is characterized by a digital saturation of signals. This is where both
the sonification of digital data and rebellion against a clinically clean digital system
come together. This form of expression can be understood in an activist way: it
bears both destructive traits against an intact digital world, and constructive traits,
in which a sound language is found that can be perceived as beautiful. However,
the reduction to noise, to the random and to that, which is designated as noise,
does not do justice to the digital error's potential, specifically within the postdigital
context: for it is not only destruction, deconstruction, rebellion against the digital
and the loss of control that this brings about, but rather, it is mostly an effect that
clearly points to a system. In this, not only the accidentally added value of an error
can be seen, but also its potential as an artistic tool, as also described by Mark
Nunes:
0 Errors are underappreciated and underutilized in their ability to reveal technology

0 around us. By painting a picture of how certain technologies facilitate certain
0 mistakes, one can better show how technology mediates. By revealing errors, scholars
0 and activists can reveal previously invisible technologies and their effects more
0 generally. Errors can reveal technologies and their power and can do so in ways
0 that users of technologies confront daily and understand intimately.73
02 .2.6 Visualization
0 “Post-digitality” is to be understood as a shift, which is situated after digitalization.
It encompasses numerous approaches and ways of thinking, all of which are based
on an increasingly digitalized world. The social omnipresence of digitality provides
the basis for several observations, all of which are linked to the visibility of digital
media and technologies. Although some theories originate from the visual disciplines,
and interface theory is also primarily anchored in the visual, it is nevertheless a
comprehensive – not only visually tangible – phenomenon. Disclosure of digitality
71 Nunes, Mark: ‘Error, Noise, and Potential: The Outside of Purpose’, in: Error: Glitch, Noise, and Jam in
New Media Cultures Mark Nunes, New York: Continuum, 2011, p.3.
72 In the original text, both “Rauschen”[noise] and “noise” are written, as both are in use in German language
37
does not only mean that we can see it with our eyes, but rather that it is revealed:
making it experienceable, perceptible and understandable. 74 The visibility and
invisibility of the digital are the central elements in the postdigital world, regardless
of whether the devices disappear behind facades or through miniaturization, GUI
surfaces conceal or hide the content, a digital view is trained on the analogue,
or the physical world increasingly obeys the logic of the algorithm. In a world
permeated by digital content, the conscious perception of these elements is no
longer a matter of course. Theoretical research or artistic practice on post-digitality
attempts to take this fact into account by thematizing, revealing and making this
interplay perceptible. A number of new artistic practices and aesthetic currents
consequently emerge around the theme of the visibility of digitality and calculation.
0 The compositional possibilities resulting from this will be presented in Chapter 4.
The so-called “new aesthetic” is an aesthetic emerging from post-digitality. It is
based on the phenomena and observations described above and already forms a
bridge to the aesthetic practice described in the following. This current is described
in Chapter 2.4. Before this, the parallel spread of the internet and associated social
influence will be discussed, described by the term “post-internet”.
2.3 Post Internet

0 Closely linked to the postdigital turn is the phenomenon of “post-internet”. Similar
to the context of post-digitality, this perspective is based on the assumption that
the internet, as a phenomenon, is not complete or no longer in existence, but rather,
has spread and established itself so widely that a large part of cultural and social
components are significantly and irreversibly shaped by it. Analogous to the term
“postdigital”, this does not mean a perspective or aesthetics following the epoch
of the internet: rather, it is intended to draw attention to the changes in the way we
view and interact with it. For this reason, Guthrie Lonergan (for example) prefers
the term “internet-aware”.75 76 “Internet-aware” accordingly describes the fact that
today, perception and interaction take place in the awareness of the existence of
the internet. This could be interpreted as meaning that today, in the Western world,
internet knowledge and its cultural implications can be assumed as being standard.
It is therefore no longer an optional way of thinking or a volitional tool: this way of
thinking tends to assume that the internet's practices and forms of representation
are so well established that they are already firmly rooted within us. Marisa Olson
and Gene McHugh have called the influence or the changed perspective that this
engenders “post-internet”.77 78
74 In the German text, the phrase “sichtbar machen” [to make visible] is used.
75 Cornell, Lauren and Halter, Ed: Hard Reboot: An Introduction To Mass Effect,
Cambridge Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2015, p.183.
76 Droitcour, Brian : Why I Hate Post-Internet Art (2014).
online: https://culturetwo.wordpress.com/2014/03/31/why-i-hate-post-internet-art/ (Retrieved 1.12.2017)
77 Olson, Marisa: POSTINTERNET: Art After the Internet.,
online: https://www.academia.edu/26348232/POSTINTERNET_Art_After_the_Internet (Retrieved 20.7.2019).
78 McHugh, Gene:Post-Internet, Brescia: Link Editions, 2011, p.123.
38
0 As early as 1964, Marshall McLuhan predicted the “global village” 79 80 and in so
doing, was already predicting a process that became increasingly widespread at
the beginning of the twenty-first century. Gene McHugh postulates that the internet
is indivisibly linked to life – and is no longer a separate island. 81 As described above,
the distinction between online and offline today is basically historical. Using the
internet, dialling in is no longer an active process – one is actually constantly online
unless one chooses not to be. Not only has personal access become increasingly
omnipresent, but embedding this in every kind of technical device, service and
infrastructure is increasingly establishing itself as a normal state of affairs.
02 .3.1 Implications
0 With the integration of the internet into almost all areas of human life, various
parameters of cultural life have changed significantly. These effects are initially
based on all the characteristics and implications of the digital. The phenomenon of
“post-internet” is thus based on the characteristics of the digital and extends them
by network-specific components. Other starting points here are factors such as
calculability, rasterization, interface logic, black box components and screen focus.
The consequences of the changed perspective, the transition into the invisible and
the imprint of the interface are also present and relevant. But the internet has a
whole range of other implications that go beyond pure digitalization. The network
character is obviously at the centre. As a result, new forms of communication for
data exchange will initially emerge in a very basic way. On the technical – but also
the content – level, the internet offers a decentralized and, initially, autonomous
infrastructure. Positive aspects here include the opportunity for knowledge
exchange, the democratization 82 of tools and information and low-threshold access
to means of production and software solutions. The community idea and the joint
solving of problems in forums and open‑source contexts reflect the idealistic side
of the internet. On the one hand, positive characteristics such as cooperation,
communication, community and equal opportunities can be observed here. With
the internet’s “coming of age” – likewise to be seen analogously to the develop-
ment of the digital into the postdigital – various internet components have also
changed from an often optimistic origin to a negative side. Capitalist and power-
driven corporations and states have now transformed large parts of the net into a
supervised system with a capitalist orientation, as Alexander Galloway, for example,
describes:
79 McLuhan, Marshall: Die Gutenberg-Galaxis [ The Gutenberg Galaxy ], Toronto: Toronto Press, 1962, pp.21,31ff.
80 “Today, after more than a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous system itself in a
global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned.”
McLuhan, Marshall: Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, Berkeley: Ginko Press, 1964 , p.100.
81 “What we mean when we say ‘Internet’ became not a thing in the world to escape into, but rather the world one
sought escape from… sigh… It became the place where business was conducted, and bills were paid. It became the
place where people tracked you down.”
McHugh, Gene: Post-Internet, Brescia: Link Editions, 2011, p.123.
82 Taylor, T. D.: Strange Sounds: Music, Technology and Culture, New York: Routledge, 2001, pp.3ff.
39
0 […] the mere existence of networks does not imply democracy or equality ...
0 [we] suggest [that] rhizomatics and distribution signal a new management style ...
0 as real as pyramidal hierarchy, corporate bureaucracy […].83
0 On the other hand, clearly discernible as negative developments are a lack of

data protection and an increasing tracking of user behaviour. Less obvious, but of
increasing relevance, are aspects of narrative sovereignty, opinion manipulation,
influence and authenticity. The tools of the internet belong to the toolbox of
diverse activists, parties and social currents. The struggle for the sovereignty of
interpretation, visibility and credibility is fiercely fought in the internet's forums,
commentary columns and social media groups, in an embittered and increasingly
professionalized manner. Stemming from the time of its foundation, the internet and
its private participants are partly attributed with something “authentic,” since they
have not yet been instrumentalized, Within this multilateral communication platform
is, therefore, a battle for credibility. Florian Cramer describes this development as
follows:
0 The 1990s / early 2000s assumption that ‘old’ mass media such as newspapers,
0 movies, television and radio are corporate, while ‘new media’ such as websites are
0 DIY, is no longer true now that user-generated content has been co-opted into
0 corporate social media and mobile apps. The Internet as a self-run alternative
0 space – central to many online activist and artist projects, from The Thing onwards
0 – is no longer taken for granted by anyone born after 1990: for younger generations,
0 the Internet is associated mainly with corporate, registration-only services.84
0 However, several genuinely new practices, aesthetics and media products can
also be observed, existing exclusively on the internet, the only place where their
creation was possible. The network character has contributed to the develop-
ment of new forms of cooperation, artistic appropriation and remixing, both in the
distribution of media and in the mode of distribution of media products. In this
context, authorship and copyright, for example, face fundamental challenges. But
new forms of expression were also found, such as memes, commentary videos, net.
art collaborations and wiki websites. These cultural products are a direct result
of the internet and are explicitly based on its core characteristics. Some of these
forms of expression are explicitly art. Others of these mechanisms are indirect
factors influencing the reception and production of art. “Post-internet art” can be
seen as a segment within a post-internet society, which is genuinely shaped by it
and can illustrate or make other aspects palpable.
83 Galloway, Alexander R. and Thacker, Eugene: The exploit: A theory of networks,

Minneapolis, Minnesota, London: University of Minnesota Press, 2007, p.13 and 39.
84 Cramer, Florian: “What Is ‘Post-digital’?” in: Postdigital Aesthetics. Art, Computation and Design,
David M. Berry and Michael Dieter, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 (= Nr. 24), p.22.
40
02 .3.2 Post-Internet Art
0 “Post-internet” as a phenomenon shows various parallels to post-digitality and/or
is largely caused by it. Just as post-digitality breaks away as a shift from digitality,
so also with art shaped by the internet, “post‑internet art”, and “net.art”. The art
genre “net.art” has its roots in the Web 1.0 era. In the emerging internet, these
were works of art, mostly in the form of websites, which were static in nature:
static in the sense that most of them did not originate from collaborative genesis,
but were predetermined by artists as fixed works. That the means of the internet
were explicitly used is the central point, these being HTML pages (later e.g.Flash,
Shockwave), which are displayed in a browser. It is art on the internet – and often
via the internet. The artist duo Jodi wrote about this in 1997:
0 When a viewer looks at our work, we are inside his computer. There is this hacker
0 slogan: “We love your computer.” We also get inside people's computers. And we
0 are honored to be in somebody's computer. You are very close to a person when you
0 are on his desktop. I think the computer is a device to get into someone's mind. We
0 replace this mythological notion of a virtual society on the net or whatever with
0 our own work. We put our own personality there.85
0 So, it takes place explicitly on the net, on the viewer's computer. In contrast, the
movement of network art has placed an even stronger focus on telemetric content,
while net.art explicitly focused on the language, aesthetics and presentation of
websites.
0 Web 2.0, with its interactive pages, forums, social media and wiki pages, brought
about clearly altered changes in user behaviour and the range of possibilities,
as outlined above. From now on, every user could participate, change, comment,
publish and research.
0 The shift to post-internet art took place parallel to the complete adoption of Web
2.0 and the internet's social permeation. In the broadest sense, post-internet art
is an art which is created in the awareness of the internet's existence, but without
necessarily using it as a means of realization. In fact, the difference to net.art
is that post-internet art does not have to be a website, take place on the inter-
net or be digital in any form: rather, it is a matter of transporting, illustrating,
adapting or criticizing specific characteristics of the internet. This is possible if the
characteristics of the internet are known and taken for granted by both the artists
and the audience. Olia Lialina wrote accordingly:
0 For a long time it did not make sense to show net art in real space: museums or
0 galleries. For good reasons you had to experience works of net artists on your own
0 connected computer. Yesterday for me as an artist it made sense only to talk to
0 people in front of their computers, today I can easily imagine to apply to visitors in
0 the gallery because in their majority they will just have gotten up from their
85 Baumgärtel, Tilman: ‘Interview with Jodi,’ in: Telepolis, 1997.

online: https://www.heise.de/tp/features/Interview-with-Jodi-3446080.html (Retrieved: 12.11.2019)
41
0 computers. They have the necessary experience and understanding of the medium
0 to get the ideas, jokes, enjoy the works and buy them.86
0 This immediately raises the question of why art shaped by the internet should
be exhibited for example in a gallery. In fact, critics argue that the essential and
positive qualities of internet art could disappear as a result. Even more critical is the
view that, in this way, internet art would be adapted for the white cube – and would
finally become sellable. This view can be reconciled with the commercialization
of the internet itself and is certainly partly justified. This process can also be
interpreted as a sell-out of subculture.
0 Despite justified criticism, however, the practices and perspectives carried under
the label “post-internet art” can make a contribution of their own – independent of
net.art. The internet has given rise to numerous practices, forms of representation
and communication that can also be thought about, taken up and criticized outside
the net. They can either be actively transferred, they can be disclosed analogously,
or it can be shown that our interaction and viewpoint are already shaped by them
anyway. Some examples of practices in the field of post-internet art would be:
0 – implementation of analogue network structures

0 – transferring the curatorial and editing work from the internet
0 – adaptation of internet-specific art forms (memes, wiki, video clips ...)
0 – reflection of critical internet aspects (surveillance, data protection ...)
0 – utilization of archives/databases (visualization, big data ...)
0 – accessing private user material (artwork, based on user behaviour)
0 – real-time connection/evaluation of network data
0 – adapting self-portrayal modes
0 – adopting/presenting social media practices
0 – addressing the density and quantity of information (information overload)
0 – adapting media behaviour (non-linear, fragmented, interactive ...)
0 – hypertext analogy
0 – mapping Internet algorithms (search results, auto-complete, suggestions,
0 cookies, advertising ...), using them as tools
0 – integrating of GPS and/or geodata
0 Some cases refer simply to the transfer of an approach or an idea into the
analogue space. However, there are also some basic characteristics of internet
practices, the use of which has relevance outside the internet. Artie Vierkant, for
example, sees post-internet art as a departure from new media and conceptualism.
0 Post-Internet also serves as an important semantic distinction from the two

0 historical artistic modes with which it is most often associated: New Media Art and
0 Conceptualism. New Media is here denounced as a mode too narrowly focused on
0 the specific workings of novel technologies, rather than a sincere exploration of
86 Lialina, Olia: Flat against the wall, 2007.

online: http://art.teleportacia.org/observation/flat_against_the_wall/ (Retrieved: 12.11.2019)
42
0 cultural shifts in which that technology plays only a small role. It can therefore be
0 seen as relying too heavily on the specific materiality of its media. Conceptualism
0 (in theory if not practice) presumes a lack of attention to the physical substrate in
0 favor of the methods of disseminating the artwork as idea, image, context, or
0 instruction. Post-Internet art instead exists somewhere between these two poles.
0 Post-Internet objects and images are developed with concern to their parti-
0 cular materiality as well as their vast variety of methods of presentation and
0 dissemination.87
0 Again, this is an analogy to the relationship between post-digitality and new

media. Vierkant sees the detachment of the object from the internet presentation
form as a positive process, in which not only the medium itself is reflected, as was,
for example, also the case in net.art. In this sense, post-internet art can be seen
as an artistic tool, adapting and reflecting concepts, approaches and forms of
representation, without remaining within the exclusive examination of the medium
itself. This would, therefore, be the opposite of any criticism claiming that this art
form would be freed from the advantages of net-based art. Another fundamental
point is the internet's handling of archives, data and information. Vierkant describes
the artist's changed role within this context as follows:
0 “Artists after the Internet thus take on a role more closely aligned to that of the
0 interpreter, transcriber, narrator, curator, architect.” 88
0 Here, the process of collecting, compiling, interpreting and curating is brought to

the fore. In fact, this practice is becoming increasingly common: the arranging of
existing content, the (unquestioned) use of internet search results, or commenting
on and describing existing materials. Commentary videos, reaction videos and
edited image replicas have become a common meta-language on the internet,
which would be unthinkable in this form without network-based distribution.
0 The term “post-internet” was coined and has been significantly discussed in the
art context. However, this description should not only designate an art practice
but may also serve as a perspective for observing and describing general social
and cultural phenomena. Thus, we can ask more fundamentally: to what extent are
online concepts relevant, can be discussed and criticized, even in offline mode.
02 .3.3 Post-Internet Perspective

0 The above-mentioned artistic practices already describe various aspects of an
internet-influenced activity. These strategies also include a heightened perception
of aspects of the internet, and, by detaching oneself from the medium itself, elements
can be viewed quasi detached and more clearly. If we remove an object from its
87 Vierkant, Artie: The Image Object Post-Internet, 2010.

online: http://jstchillin.org/artie/pdf/The_Image_Object_Post-Internet_us.pdf (Retrieved: 12.11.2019)
online: http://jstchillin.org/artie/pdf/The_Image_Object_Post-Internet_us.pdf (Retrieved: 12.11.2019), p.8.
43
usual context, we look at it more critically or analytically, because we perceive
its setting and therefore its legitimation as less self-evident. At this point, it is
worth considering which basic characteristics of the internet now allow changed
perspectives and which options for courses of action result from this.
0 Florian Cramer describes, with the assertion of the internet, a change from the
symbolic to the index, i.e.from printed text to hypertext and from text in general to
context. 89 On the internet, virtually all elements are connected to each other by a
few mouse clicks: one can get from a political video to a cake recipe by activating
a few links. So here, on the one hand, various materials stand side by side and
coexist in a web of connections. The users have the role of curators, deciding for
themselves when and what next follows. Consequently, there is no longer a linear
narrative that is fixed in time. This fundamentally changes the form of presentation
and interaction/media use. But on the other hand, not only are different materials
lying next to each other, but increasingly detailed representations and explanations
are hidden behind every façade. It is an extensive archive through which users can
navigate. This form of navigation and media content preparation is also increasingly
found outside the internet, where the collective character and the research aspect
increase.
0 A further aspect is the continuous change, modification and proliferation of
content and objects on the internet. Artie Vierkant describes this trend as follows:
0 First, nothing is in a fixed state: i.e., everything is anything else, whether because
0 any object is capable of becoming another type of object or because an object already
0 exists in flux between multiple instantiations. The latter is a schema already
0 intuitively arrived at by artists in recent history, prompting writers as diverse
0 as Rosalind Krauss and Lev Manovich to proclaim a “Post-Medium Condition” and
0 the rise of “Post-Media Aesthetics”.90
0 According to Vierkant, internet objects are even more subject to change and
their content is even less fixed in this context than that of objects from the field
of new media. Already, Manovich had postulated the changeable character of
objects in the context of new media, a view that gains further weight through the
post-media perspective; since, according to this approach, digital objects can be
easily transferred from one media form to another. If this procedure takes place as
data-moshing, then, here too, a bridge to the glitch approach of media reflection
can be seen. In the internet context, aspects already highlighted by Manovich
are fundamentally expanded. It is not only the nature of the digital medium but
also its placement in the network context. Processes of versioning, development,
commenting and editing are among the obvious practices of the online community.
This has a significant impact on how we look at the content or an object. The request
for the original, which has been repeatedly re-negotiated in terms of technical
David M. Berry and Michael Dieter, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 (= Nr. 24), pp.12–26.
online: http://jstchillin.org/artie/pdf/The_Image_Object_Post-Internet_us.pdf (Retrieved: 12.11.2019).
44
reproducibility and digital storage, is, here too, confronted on a technical basis
with a changed work mode and a differentiated form of authorship. Vierkant writes:
0 In the Post-Internet climate, it is assumed that the work of art lies equally in the
0 version of the object one would encounter at a gallery or museum, the images and
0 other representations disseminated through the Internet and print publications,
0 bootleg images of the object or its representations, and variations on any of these
0 as edited and recontextualized by any other author. The less developed stratagem for
0 pointing to a lack of representational fixity is that of taking an object to be represented
0 (to be more direct, presented) as another type of object entirely, without reference
0 to the “original”. For objects after the Internet there can be no “original copy”.91
0 Parallel to the “dis-illusionment” process within the context of the post-digital

(see Chapter 2.2.4), and the described implications of the internet (Chapter 2.3),
the post-internet perspective can also be seen as a critical view. Following the
euphoria surrounding the new medium, the new means, the hopes, the uncontrolled
and free mechanisms of action, a perspective emerges which looks to a future, in
which the internet has become established and developed. The gaze turns away
from the medium itself, towards the mechanisms and implications. The use of the
tools and formats of the net gains something critical and reflective. It is no longer
primarily a matter of technical contextualization, but rather, of the economic and
social parameters. This step back is made both in terms of content and as a step
out of the net, into an analogous form of presentation. Post-internet art thus creates
a certain distance to the object (be it through a critical perspective or through the
actual distancing in the sense of an offline presentation of internet content). This
is how Jennifer Chian describes this circumstance:
0 Unlike 1990s Net.art, Post-Internet practices often exploited the web‘s decentralized,
0 commercial properties to communicate with users and corporations. Many works
0 were peer-responsive, profoundly cute and personal (for example, Parker Ito and
0 Caitlin Denny’s curatorial project, JstChillin, Ryder Ripps’s dump.fm, Computers
0 Club collective, and John Transue’s New Age Addiction.com online was the informality
0 and adventure, and the pleasure young artists took in creating contexts where their
0 work could exist away from galleries and museums, in a naively utopian manner.
0 These optimistic tendencies concerning Net art were not unlike their 1990s
0 precedents, but possessed little, if any, critical backbone in relation to the political
0 implications of Pool—a platform for “expanding and improving the discourse between
0 on each other”. This platform was short-lived, only updated intermittently, space for
0 grad students, curators, emerging artists, and academic artists to promote writing
0 about art and Internet culture after Web 2.0.92

online: http://jstchillin.org/artie/pdf/The_Image_Object_Post-Internet_us.pdf (Retrieved: 12.11.2019).
92 Chan, Jennifer: ‘Notes on Post-Internet,’ in: #mm Net Art—Internet Art in the Virtual and Physical Space of Its
Presentation, Marie Meixnerová, Brescia: PAF + Link Editions, 2019, p.132.
45
0 This perspective is directly consistent with the concept of post-digitality as
previously described (Chapter 2.2). Just as postdigital practices do not have to
use digital media, so can post-internet art do without the net or even technology
in general, as Marisa Olson notes:
0 […] exciting turn happening in new media, with respect to both the art world and
0 the context of “traditional media”. […] Things are more co-mingled now. […] There
0 doesn’t seem to be a need to distinguish, any more, whether technology was used in
0 making the work–afterall, everything is a technology, and everyone uses technology
0 to do everything. What is even more interesting is the way in which people are
0 starting to make what I’ve called “Post-Internet” art in my own work (such as my
0 Monitor Tracings), or what Guthrie Lonergan recently called “Internet Aware Art.”
0 I think it’s important to address the impacts of the internet on culture at large, and
0 this can be done well on networks but can and should also exist offline.93
0 Thus, the use of the technical means is irrelevant for the time being. The
consideration and presentation of the internet-specific methods and conditions are
what is important. The focus is, therefore, moving away from the technical basics
and rather pointing out modes of operation, forms of representation, processes
and implications. This can be done in an offline version, but also in a context that
explicitly uses the means of the internet (also in its critical aspects). It is central that
the mechanisms are thematized. This step is possible, as soon as it goes beyond
mere affirmation or technical use.
0 In summary, a change of perspective, a point of view or a focus on certain
aspects is the essential point here as well. “Post-internet art” thus means a glance
at the internet, with which its specifics are brought into focus in a critical or at
least reflective way. This point of view also includes a general perception, taking
place in the awareness of the existence of the internet. Modes of presentation
and communication have changed fundamentally and are no longer used without
reservation, but now addressed in a contemplative manner. The collective term
“post-internet” includes a broader spectrum of changed or consciously taken
perspectives enabled by the internet.
0 Doubtless, our everyday life is significantly influenced by internet use. Its
permeation leaves traces in our perception, our cultural objects and the physical
world. The visual imprint of our environment is reflected in the “new aesthetic”
view, due equally to post-digitality. This perspective describes the manifestations
in the cultural sphere of the Western world, occurring as a result of digitalization,
virtualization and networking.
93 Debatty, Régine: Interview with Marisa Olson 2008,

online: https://we-make-money-not-art.com/how_does_one_become_marisa/ (Retrieved:12.11.2019)
46
2.4 New Aesthetic
0 If one follows the development from the digital to the postdigital; and if one
understands this tendency as a development of the visible, displaying and
adaptation of the view of technology in the twenty-first century: then, this leads
to a loose aesthetic construct called “new aesthetic”, denoting the increasing
visibility of digitality and the internet in the analogue, physical world. It describes
the shaping of the non-digital environment, through a visual language having its
origins in digital and internet‑specific media. Therefore, it describes a consequence
of the digital and is characterized by the visual appearance of the virtual and
algorithmic in the physical environment. Examples of this can be found in all fields,
such as architecture, fashion, business processes or photography. It is a general
phenomenon, initially describing visual aspects, but which can also be easily
transferred to the auditory and all other areas. The appearance of this language
and the sensitization to recognize it in everyday life developed partly parallel to
the phenomena of post-digitality and post-internet and can also be seen as a
consequence of them. These are not clearly separated areas, but rather focal
points with larger intersections. While the postdigital focuses on the computational,
and the postdigital is influenced by network characteristics, the focus of the new
aesthetic prefers to lie on the virtual.
0 The term “new aesthetic” has never been explicitly defined, nor outlined in a
manifesto; it is a conglomeration of considerations. Fittingly, the original foundation
stone was a Tumblr blog by James Bridle. Bridle first used the term in 2011 at the
SXSW1 conference and wrote about the topic in the first post on his blog:
0 For a while now, I’ve been collecting images and things that seem to approach a new
0 aesthetic of the future, which sounds more portentous than I mean. What I mean is
0 that we’ve got frustrated with the NASA extropianism space-future, the failure of
0 jetpacks, and we need to see the technologies we actually have with a new wonder.
0 Consider this a mood-board for unknown products.94
0 His essential groundwork for the concept of the new aesthetic took place
afterwards as a loose collection of pictures, videos and links on the blog new-
aesthetic.tumblr. 95 These examples have been continuously updated and expanded
over the years. Consequently, there is no concrete theoretical concept here –
this was subsequently tested by cultural studies scholars and gradually updated.
Rather, Bridle creates a catalogue or documentation of computer/calculation-based
patterns in everyday life. The permeation of the digitalization and virtualization of
the visual language is to be illustrated in examples from the blog, in which one finds
examples from the context of architecture, computer vision, artificial intelligence,
lifestyle, virtual reality and much more. Curt Cloninger also writes that the new
aesthetic does not have a uniform (visual) aesthetic:
94 Bridle, James: The New Aesthetic, 2011.

online: https://jamesbridle.com/works/the-new-aesthetic (Retrieved: 12.11.2019)
95 The New Aesthetic. online: https://new-aesthetic.tumblr.com/ (Retrieved: 4.4.2020).
47
0 ‘Drone technology produces its own visual aesthetics. Google Maps produces its
0 own visual aesthetics. Generative Processing code produces its own visual aesthetics.
0 Glitches across various media, compression algorithms, and hardware displays
0 produce their own visual aesthetics.’ 96
0 The wide range of examples and visual languages makes a uniform definition
difficult or even impossible; the range of characteristics so wide that it should
preferably be understood as a rough generic term. Nevertheless, the sensitization
to technical permeation and its half-visible, half-invisible manifestation in the
physical world may be summarized and made tangible as one perspective, as David
Berry also notes:
0 The New Aesthetic, therefore, signals a kind of threshold or saturation point whereby
0 the obscure ubiquity of digital, networked and mobile devices inspires a struggle
0 to map, document and record; in other words, to make sensible and intelligible
0 the seemingly opaque operations of digital infrastructure, even while invoking an
0 ambiguous gesture of aesthetization using the Tumblr.com platform.97
0 So, it is not so much a uniform visual language or a closed aesthetic formalization,

but rather a vaguely sketched criterion that can unfold its relevance in the relation-
ship between technology and man, as also observed by Justin Hodgson:
0 That significance […] is a new kind of art practice and cultural critique—if not
0 a twenty-first-century rhetorical orientation—calling attention to human
0 relationships with technologies, human acts of mediation, the systems and
0 protocols that produce particular computational representations, and the human
0 viewpoints that frame those considerations.98
02 .4.1 New Aesthetic and the Web x.0

0 As formerly described, the phenomenon “new aesthetic” can be regarded in the
context or continuum of the development of the internet. Just as post-internet
relates to Web 1.0 and net.art, the new aesthetic has a specific positioning to the
changing web. While post-internet, beginning with Web 2.0, addressed net culture
from a distanced perspective, the new aesthetic is perhaps primarily to be found in
the consequences of Web 2.0 and in the transition to a successor, the (if anything)
perspectively named Web 3.0. Justin Hodgson also writes that the digital's specific
aesthetics and virtual permeation are still to be placed after Web 2.0 in terms of
time:
96 Cloninger, Curt: Manifesto for a Theory of the 'New Aesthetic, 2012.
online: https://www.metamute.org/editorial/articles/manifesto-theory-%E2%80%98new-aesthetic%E2%80%99
(Retrieved: 12.11.2019)
97 Berry, David M.: ‘Thinking Postdigital Aesthetics: Art, Computation and Design’, in: Postdigital Aesthetics.
Art, Computation and Design, David M. Berry and Michael Dieter, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 (= Nr. 24), p.5.
Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 2019, p.11
48
0 One such frame is the pseudo-continuum that exists from new media studies to
0 postdigital aesthetics to the New Aesthetic. To better situate this tripartite, I offer
0 the following parallel with Web 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 considerations. The Web 1.0 was fairly
0 static (primarily a client-based internet), while Web 2.0 moved the world toward a
0 dynamic social web. Web 3.0 is yet something else, involving […] at least three
0 common approaches: a shift from indexical to semantic web, an attunement to an
0 increasingly visually saturated culture […], and an orientation toward ubiquitous
0 computing and the ways in which it breaks down any digital/real distinction.99
0 Here, the further development of Web 2.0 is to be understood as a process,

through which the internet and its mechanisms manifest themselves in the offline
world as well. Following internet interaction in Web 2.0, physical everyday life is
now also increasingly being shaped by it. Examples (amongst many) are tracking
systems, online map services, augmented reality applications, gig economy
streaming or online audio recognition. These are more than merely interactive web
services. At the same time, it is also about more than social interaction online and
the feeding of content by the users. As a result of data mining, artificial intelligence,
big data and the integration of technologies in a variety of devices, as well as high
user numbers, the internet can virtually turn itself inside out: it is not a closed
space that can only be reached with browsers and telephones, but increasingly
penetrates the analogue world, as Justin Hodgson also notes:
0 … new media (and new media principles) took shape on the front edge of
0 Web 1.0 technologies and solidified, more or less, in the Web 2.0 era; postdigital
0 (and post digital aesthetics) took shape somewhere between the coming of Web 2.0
0 technologies and the Web 3.0 turn; and the New Aesthetic was of a different moment
0 yet, taking shape in a culture operating in (if not beyond) the Web 3.0 mobile,
0 techno- cultural scene.100
0 The new aesthetic is definitely no phenomenon shaped solely by the internet;

however, it is inevitably connected with it and the consequences of post-internet
sensitization. The blurring of the line between digital and analogue is central, as
is the blurring between online and offline. It is precisely the lack of separation
that is a basis for this aesthetic. It is supported by the semantic web (like post-
internet) and the predictability of digital content (like post-digitality). Nevertheless,
not all post-internet practices and perspectives can automatically be assigned to
the new aesthetic. There is a whole range of internet-specific styles, forms of co-
operation and visual languages, which are more influenced by clip-making, editing
and publishing methods. Humorous lo-fi video clips, GIFs, commentary sections,
memes, image boards, ASMR, Let's Play videos and many more are examples of
stylistic devices originating from the internet and also reflecting on the post-inter-

49
net, but nevertheless, do not necessarily run along the dividing line where the new
aesthetic sees itself positioned. The focus here is more upon the virtual and its inter-
face to the analogue world. This is partly emphasized technically or metaphorically
by the protagonists of the movement.
02 .4.2 Virtual Ghosts

0 An example James Bridle himself cites, as a core segment of his “new aesthetic”
are the so-called “render ghosts”.101 He also deals with this phenomenon as an
artist. For him, it stands exemplarily for virtual, physical content. Bridle uses
the term “render ghosts” to describe photographed people, from stock footage
archives, who are inserted into 3D renderings, simulations or photographs. The
most common application is the simulation of architectural building projects, in
which the render ghosts are intended to breathe life into the design. Bridle describes
them as follows:
0 The Render Ghosts are the people who live inside our imaginations, in the liminal
0 space between the present and the future, the real and the virtual, the physical
0 and the digital. A world of architecture, urbanism and the city before it is completed -
0 which is also never. They inhabit a space which exists only in the virtual spaces of 3D
0 computer rendering software, projected onto billboards, left to rot and torn down
0 when the actual future arrives; never quite as glossy or as perfect as our renderings
0 of it would like it to be, or have prepared us for.102
0 The observation of these figures within their virtual scenes, detached from time,
shows a number of parallels to post-internet practices, in which artists place
objects in the physical world, otherwise only found in the digital world (such as
“pins” from Google Maps or the building blocks of a computer game). It also blurs
the line between VR and computer game simulations, which also place people in
artificial settings: only that here, the bridge to the real world is built. A parallel may
also be found here in the increasing use of 3D-scanned people-called 3D-People-
for similar commercial purposes.
0 Antonio Palacios places the phenomenon “new aesthetic” and the “render
ghosts” within the context of simulation in the sense of Jean Baudrillard. In his
text "An Ontology of Render Ghosts"103 , he uses this phenomenon to address limits
of representation and simulation. Baudrillard himself quotes the short story "Del
Rigor en la Ciencia" by Jorge Luis Borges in his text "Simulacra et Simulation"104 ,
which describes a world overlaid with a map. This map moves away from being a
representation and becomes more and more a simulation. Palacios argues – in the
spirit of Baudrillard – that a hyperreal space is created; a space having no concrete
101 Bridle, James: The Render Ghosts. online: https://www.readingdesign.org/render-ghosts (Retrieved:04.04.2020)
102 Bridle, James: The Render Ghosts. online: https://www.readingdesign.org/render-ghosts (Retrieved: 20.1.2020)
103 Palacios, Antonio: An Ontology of Render Ghosts, 2014.

online: http://www.padjournal.net/ontology-render-ghosts/ (Retrieved: 20.1.2020)
104 Baudrillard, Jean: Simulacra and simulation, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2017.
50
reference to the original but simulating an abstract space upon it. If, for example,
we look at the organization of warehouses in online department stores, we observe
that the articles' storage no longer follows any humanly comprehensible logic. The
goods are distributed without any comprehensible order: stochastically, according
to human standards. This location can only be used via the digital interface. For
humans, the place is initially useless and disordered in its pure physicality. It is
arguably the new aesthetic's appeal that it addresses precisely this aspect: to what
extent does the digital represent the analogue world, and to what extent does it
superimpose a simulation upon it? The “render ghosts” are therefore primarily a
handy example for a deeper‑lying phenomenon, as Justin Hodgson points out also:
0 … like screen glitches, down-sampled satellite imagery, and the blurry squared
0 edges of render ghosts. But for Bridle […] the pixelated imagery was and is merely
0 a kind of visual short-hand — serving as a relay toward larger concerns: like the
0 blurring boundaries between the digital and the real, and the underlying systems
0 that (a) produce those boundaries and (b) produce culture-specific understandings
0 of such. Or, said another way: while the New Aesthetic is attentive to the very media
0 in which pixelated and glitched representations are being undertaken (and of which
0 they are reflective), it is just as concerned with the human–technology assemblages
0 that allow critics and working creatives alike to make sense of those attunements
0 on multiple levels and scales.105
0 The virtuality of the new aesthetic is a much deeper one: in deep permeation also
lies its power. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to reflect also upon the associative
space of the render ghosts. This secondary strand allows a sensitization for aspects
of the virtual that go beyond the technical. A place of longing, a projection surface,
i.e.a fictional place is created here, in analogy to concepts of hauntology 106 107 and
vaporwave. It is a space freed of content, which is ostensibly superimposed on
real space, thereby able to serve as a projection surface. Here, technology and
physical representation are charged with associations in a digital clinical setting;
perhaps making something tangible, palpable and visible, something that otherwise
virtually disappears in the invisible digitalization of our world.
02 .4.3 Surfaces
0 Is the new aesthetic hype, a buzzword or a superficial conceptual figure? This can
certainly not be completely denied in every case. But nevertheless, this hodgepodge
of perspectives, trends and manifestations seems to hit a nerve, one suggesting
that it nonetheless touches a relevant point. Bruce Sterling finds that this aesthetic
viewpoint unquestionably exists and that the technical present looks at us directly
through these objects:
106 Fisher, Mark: Ghosts of my life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures,
Winchester, U.K: Zero Books, 2014.
107 Shaw, Katy: Hauntology, Berlin: Springer, 2018.
51
0 Above all, the New Aesthetic is telling the truth. There truly are many forms of
0 imagery nowadays that are modern, and unique to this period. We’re surrounded
0 by systems, devices and machineries generating heaps of raw graphic novelty. We
0 built them, we programmed them, we set them loose for a variety of motives, but
0 they do some unexpected and provocative things. [...] [M]odern reality is on display
0 there. What we think about that, or do about that, is another matter. That it exists
0 is not in question.108
0 The notion that modern reality manifests itself in this aesthetic on top of the
physical world's surface has a poetic beauty and technical clarity. Bruce Sterling
complains that this surface or form of representation – or the discourse about it –
can be partly naive:
0 The “New Aesthetic” is a native product of modern network culture. […] it was born
0 digital, on the Internet. […] It’s open-sourced, and triumph-of-amateurs. It’s like its
0 logo, a bright cluster of balloons tied to some huge, dark and lethal weight.109
0 Just as the maturing of internet art to a postdigital perspective led to a more

serious and critical perspective, so can the sometimes naive or backwards-looking
visual language of the new aesthetic also be constructively critical. The affirmative
use of representation codes does not mean that the result is likewise affirmative.
Under its usage, negative connotations of technical reality can remain present, in
a certain way. Christiane Paul and Malcom Levy, therefore, write additionally that
the new aesthetic is an apolitical surface, which can, however, in the best-case
scenario, provoke political reflection:
0 As a series of artefacts of the heterogeneous network, the diffuse, crowdsourcey

0 and rhizomatic New Aesthetic per se is not socio-political or concerned with identity
0 politics; it is a surface infused by anything ranging from technological gadgets and
0 software to design, marketing and more. It is, as Bridle himself puts it, an echo. At
0 the same time, this surface and the poor image reflect a spectrum of highly political
0 issues, ranging from the invasive nature of technologies of vision to the understanding
0 of the subject and its boundaries in an age of decentralized control mechanisms.
0 The New Aesthetic is apolitical, while the discourse it generates is politicized.110
0 Indicative of this fact is perhaps the mixing of so many different languages on the
internet, where humorous, trivial and political content is juxtaposed. Using internet
services can serve as a democratic or manipulative tool; platforms can be both
deeply capitalist and tools for autonomous communication, possibly making it
108 Sterling, Bruce: ‘An Essay on the New Aesthetic’, 2012.

online: https://www.wired.com/2012/04/an-essay-on-the-new-aesthetic/ (Retrieved: 20.1.2020)
110 Paul, Christiane and Levy, Malcolm: ‘Genealogies of the New Aesthetic’ in: Postdigital Aesthetics. Art,
Computation and Design, David M. Berry and Michael Dieter, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 (= Nr. 24), p.30
52
more difficult to form a comprehensive theory about this phenomenon. But this
subject's time-related urgency evokes at least a clear need for action and research.
It is necessary to face up to this challenge. Bruce Sterling also demands this:
0 That’s the big problem, as I see it: the New Aesthetic is trying to hack a modern
0 aesthetic, instead of thinking hard enough and working hard enough to build one.
0 That’s the case so far, anyhow. No reason that the New Aesthetic has to stop where
0 it stands at this moment, after such a promising start. I rather imagine it’s bound
0 to do otherwise. Somebody somewhere will, anyhow. That is my thesis; that’s why I
0 think this matters. [I had] the conviction that something profound had been touched.
0 Touched, although not yet grasped.
0 I’d suggest getting right after it.111
2.5 Summary and Outlook

0 In this chapter, I summarized the influences, imprints and aesthetics, manifesting
themselves after the establishment of the new media and the implementation of
digitality in the twenty-first century. The perspectives “postdigital” and “post-inter-
net” were presented, based on the concrete characteristics of the digital and the
new media, addressing and reflecting on the resulting consequences. Finally, the
young current “new aesthetic” was presented: this has some similarities with post-
digital and post-internet, but extends them by aspects of virtuality. In this section, I
would like to close the chapter with a summary of the essential aspects, to conclude
with considerations concerning the possibilities for action in art or other critical-
activist disciplines.
0 Screening, quantification, sampling and discretization have now been established
as the basic characteristics of the digital. Representation in the digital had a
primary series of implications, of which the calculability of digital objects must be
mentioned first; in other words, the fact that digital objects may be items resulting
from the most diverse processes of analysis, conversion and transformation. This
leads to the removal of the boundaries between different types of media (“post-
media condition”).112 113 114 Above all, however, media objects after digitalization are
to be processed and not just to be received. These characteristics lead to a change
in media use and also have a lasting influence on the way non-digital media are
used or perceived. In this early phase, attributed to the era of new media and the
transition from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0, digital content and new media are still perceived
disruptively – i.e.as a disparate element – in an otherwise analogue, non-digital

112 Kittler, Friedrich: Grammophon, Film, Typewriter, Berlin: Brinkmann & Bose, 1986, pp.1-2.
113 Weibel, Peter : ‘The Post-Media Condition’, in: Metamute (2006).

online: http://www.metamute.org/editorial/lab/post-media-condition (Retrieved 20.7.2019)
114 Manovich, Lev: ‘Post-Media Aesthetics’, in: http://manovich.net/ (2001),
online: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a753/4122ecb3fefdb775dfea546cf1f331419f50.pdf (Retrieved 20.5.2019)
53
world. Although the influence of this content began to be reflected in the non-digital
world, the separation of these two worlds remained intact for the time being.
0 Post-digitality now positions itself at the point to which digitalization has
progressed: to such an extent, that it is now firmly integrated into everyday cultural
life, permeating the entire society. This is accompanied by the observation that,
on the one hand, digital content is becoming increasingly invisible or hidden, and
that, on the other, our perception of the entire non-digital world is increasingly
shaped by the reception of digital objects: explicitly a phenomenon that has to do
with visibility and viewing habits, or general modes of perception. Such imprinting
is essentially based on the way screens and interfaces are handled and on their
changing roles and influences. Following screen fixation and software interface
analyses, the postdigital perspective now assumes that, even without an inter-
face and without a screen, these modes of perception come into play, making the
analogue world appear through this framing. The media error has been presented
as a basic postdigital concept: thus, the first step from a digital medium's use to its
reflection could be made. An error can be understood here as a tool to reveal the
digital medium's quintessence and thereby to advance quasi towards the object's
characteristics. It is also a process that directs the focus from the surface to the
inside of the medium and, as such, a process of changing perspective. The post-
digital turn is therefore not only a change of perspective in perception-based media
reception but also a reorientation of content. Post-digitality is also understood as a
phase in which a critical rethink took place, following the widespread establishment
of digital media. After digital technologies were increasingly used for negatively
charged practices (surveillance, tracking, Castilian data mining, etc.), the original
optimism of digitality is now followed by a differentiated opinion. In summary, this
process can be understood as an eye being refocussed, from the digital surface
onto the medium and practices behind it.
0 In parallel, the internet's permeation of society and the resulting impact can be
observed under the catchphrase “post-internet.” This perspective describes a view,
interaction and art form, taking place in the constant knowledge of the existence
of the internet. The theory is that certain practices and objects only take place in
a particular form because the internet exists. These processes can be concretely
or only indirectly shaped by the internet, and are explicitly not necessarily linked
to technical realization. If they are, however, localized within the internet, they use
the tools reflectively. Here too, a more critical view of the implications of the internet
can be observed. In addition to the internet's most obviously used platforms, visual
languages and codes, the underlying structures of networking, the semantic web,
media use and presentation formats are also formative. The aim here is to link the
analogue and digital worlds and to sensitize the eye to this connecting point.
0 The strands of post-digitality and post-internet are partially grouped under
the term “new aesthetic”. Within this perspective, the focus is specifically on
the visual impact of digital and internet-based technologies. While the aspect of
visual imprinting was a sub-area in the above-mentioned concepts, the presence
of virtually imprinted elements in the physical world is the central point in the
new aesthetic. The new aesthetic deals with everything invisible, but integrally
54
contained in the essence and reception of these elements, as James Bridle puts
it:
0 New Aesthetic is concerned with everything that is not visible in these images and
0 quotes, but that is inseparable from them, and without which they would not exist.115
0 The central issue is, therefore, the visibility and invisibility of the digital, a matter
of sensitizing the gaze, to recognize how we look at the analogue through a digital-
influenced perspective, and how we already experience our analogue world as
being shaped by digital influences. Christiane Paul and Malcolm Levy describe
this interplay, the two sides of which are mutually dependent, as follows:
0 The New Aesthetic seems to be a twofold operation: first, the confluence and
0 convergence of digital technologies in various materialities; and second, the ways
0 in which this merger has changed our relationship with these materialities and our
0 representation as subjects. The New Aesthetic captures the embeddedness of the
0 digital in the objects, images and structures we encounter on a daily basis and the
0 way we understand ourselves in relation to them. It captures the process of seeing
0 like, and being seen through, digital devices.116
0 These aspects of the merging and blending of the virtual and the physical and
also of the digital with analogue can be extended here to all the observations
portrayed and should be understood as a quintessence of these statements. This
concentration on the process of perception in the digital context is, for one thing, an
observational process, but it is also, as is sometimes implied, an active procedure
and the conscious assumption of critical observation. At this point, there is a
possible range of ways as to how these insights and works can be actively used.
This can happen in various contexts – and one of them is art.
0 From Chapter 4 onwards, I will relate the currents, perspectives and insights
presented here to my own creative activity. These ideas represent a larger
framework and leitmotif, upon which my work has been very concretely oriented
in the past ten years and, indirectly, earlier. I understand my compositional
work as a tool with which to describe and explore the dividing line between the
analogue and digital worlds. My pieces deal with this altered viewpoint, or rather,
a guided redirection of the eye. As previously described, the perceptual change of
perspective is to be actively brought about or revealed by creative resources. To
draw attention to this circumstance, or to make the invisible of the digital visible,
are the objectives of my works.
0 Before this, in the following chapter, I will review my basic working methods in the
context of artistic research. I see my compositional approach as an explorative tool
115 Bridle, James: ‘The New Aesthetic and its Politics’, 2013.
online: https://booktwo.org/notebook/new-aesthetic-politics/ (Retrieved: 20.1.2020)
116 Paul, Christiane and Levy, Malcolm: ‘Genealogies of the New Aesthetic’,
London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 (= Nr. 24), p.27.
55
with which to make post-digital aspects perceptible and palpable. Since I design
techniques, tools and experimental settings for this purpose, it is appropriate to
place my work into the discourse of artistic research. In the attempt not only to illust-
rate the postdigital but to make it perceptible, I design settings that allow an open
outcome or an open interpretation, motivated by an explorative character, with the
aim of making digitality and its consequences tangible, criticizable and sensually
experienceable. Through these research approaches, it is hoped to achieve an
insight that can complement theoretical considerations. In these compositions,
I also try to learn something: about myself, technology and human interaction,
the next step being to give the same opportunity to the audience. Therefore, I
understand a composition as a framework: a staked‑out, defined setting: a chance
to learn, within these set parameters. This research is my driving force behind
creating an individual setting for each piece anew: focusing upon an area of which
I myself have only a premonition of how it will precisely behave.
56
3. METHODS OF ARTISTIC RESEARCH
0 The definition of objectives and the creation process of most of my work is based
on the design of a setting, experiment or trial. In many cases, I begin a piece by
formulating a scenario within which I want to investigate, observe or provoke certain
events and interactions. Alternatively, my pieces begin with a hypothesis or state-
ment that I want to test or illustrate through the work, or to enable it as an experience.
Intuition and subjectivity still play an equally important role in the working process,
but this takes place within the fixed framework of a setting, often reminiscent of
experimental set-ups. These settings frequently contain technical (digital) tools. It
is then a goal to either fathom the effects, mechanisms and implications of these
technical tools or, based on a hypothesis, to illustrate or make them palpable.
Even if the approaches are not strict experimental setups such as in a physical
experiment, the selection of the setting, and thus the content to be reflected upon,
plays an essential role in the conception, execution, variation and evaluation of the
pieces. Consequently, two very different methods (of intuition and formalization)
meet here, and I try to structure them in the compositional process. Accordingly,
the interplay of selected technical features on the one hand and intuitive aspects
on the other can be found in these pieces both in the content and in the process
of creation.
0 Thus, the form of my artistic practice also touches significantly on the question
of in which way, with which methodology and with which defined objectives
composition can generate knowledge and insight or to make impacts and factors
of the (technical) world experienceable. I would therefore like to look at my artistic
practice and the approaches used from the perspective of artistic research, thereby
attempting to classify the procedure and define the desired objectives as a search
for (sensual) insight. Accordingly, I will next present basic characteristics of artistic
research (Chapter 3.1), followed by a description (Chapter 3.2) of how I approached
the development of the pieces and how this methodology can be reconciled with
core ideas of artistic research. This is therefore the methodological basis for
implementing the described contents from Chapter 4 onwards. Here I will focus
on the concrete realizations – the finished compositions, their classification and
the context in which they were created.
3.1 Artistic Research

0 The concept of "artistic research" has become a lively and controversial topic of
discussion in recent years. The structure of this work cannot reflect the whole
debate in its entirety. In the following, however, the basic outlines and most
important basic questions will be briefly presented (for a detailed overview see 117
118
). The categorization of artistic research, which is currently under development,
117 Mersch, Dieter and Ott, Michaela (Hg.): Kunst und Wissenschaft [ Art and Science ],
Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 2007.
118 Bippus, Elke (Pub.): Kunst des Forschens: Praxis eines ästhetischen Denkens
[ The Art of Research: The Practice of Aesthetic Thinking], Zürich: Diaphanes, 2012 (= Nr. 4).
57
can help classify artistic practice and name elementary characteristics, despite
the ongoing discourse and identification process.
0 “Artistic research” is understood to be a contemporary scientific theory that
comprehends artistic practices and products as researching, discursive processes.
Representatives of this approach see this process as a method which can gene-
rate knowledge, comparable to the established sciences. This perspective is partly
contrary to existing definitions of science, requiring contemplation on the concept
of research and an (also retrospective) analysis of artistic practices. It expressly
contradicts the conviction that art and science should be seen as opposites,
whilst considering both the rational aspects of creating art and the less explicitly
rational aspects of conventional research methods. The fundamental parallels and
similarities are the acquisition of insight and increase of knowledge.
0 The first question that arises is whether the phenomenon of research in art
exists – and if so, how it relates to traditional science, at its core, asking whether
the process of creating art or the resulting product can be research. In this text,
I proceed from this assumption, even though the indicated form of science is still
young and certainly incomplete119 120 . As a consequence, as per Henk Borgdorff,121
several sub-questions or subsequent questions can be derived:
0 1. What is research or its goal in general? And how does artistic research
0 concerning the object of investigation relate to traditional research? (ontology)
0 2. What form does produced knowledge or mediated knowledge take?
0 (epistemology)
0 3. In what way can artistic research be practised? (methodology)
0 4. Is the focus to be found in process-oriented or work-based aspects of
0 artistic creation?
0 5. What are the consequences of the distance/lack of distance between subject
0 and object?
0 I would like to examine these points in the following sections in sequence. In

Chapter 3.2, I will connect this categorization with my work.
3.1.1 What is (Artistic)Research?

0 In the debate surrounding what artistic research can be and accomplish, it is
firstly considered in comparison and contrast to traditional scientific research,
which in turn raises the question of what scientific research actually constitutes.
119 comparison: Borgdorff, Henk: ‘The Production of Knowledge in Artistic Research’, in The Routledge Companion
to Research in the Arts, Michael Biggs and Henrik Karlsson, London: Routledge, 2011, p.44.
120 Baecker, Dirk: ‘Kunstformate (Kulturrecherche)’, in: Künstlerische Forschung,[ ‘Art Formats (Cultural Research)’
in: Artistic Research ] Anton Rey and Stefan Schöbi, Zürich: Ipf, 2009, pp.79–97.
121 Borgdorff, Henk: ‘The Debate on Research in the Arts’, 2006.
online: https://konst.gu.se/digitalAssets/1322/1322713_the_debate_on_research_in_the_arts.pdf.
(Retrieved: 12.11.2019)
58
0 According to the UNESCO definition, research is ‘any creative systematic activity
undertaken to advance knowledge, including knowledge of mankind, culture and
society, and the use of this knowledge to develop new applications’ (OECD Glossa-
ry of Statistical Terms 2008).122 Research, therefore, means not-knowing; better: it
is not yet knowing and wanting to know.123 124 Moreover, research does not seem to
be a unique selling point of scientists but also includes many activities undertaken
by ar-tists. It is undisputed that most of them have been creative and a number of
them prefer a systematic approach.
0 Jens Badura describes research as an explorative practice, aiming to create new
insight. This view first of all underlines the parallels between the two fields of re-
search, even when they are not congruent:
0 Imagination, intuition and creativity are as much at work in the sciences as

0 research, analysis and experiment in the arts.125
0 Jens Badura further describes that scientific and artistic research pursue the
same goal–the production of original insight – but use a different concept of insight:
0 However, here the concept of insight is diversified: It is not merely taken for
0 granted that research only produces insight in the sense of scientifically determined,
0 rationally comprehensible findings, but that there can also be other, aesthetically
0 sensual insights, requiring other research practices and forms of articulating
0 research results.126
0 Paul Feyerabend has already established that science is also characterized by

“implicit knowledge” 127, and Mc Allister states that scientific research is very diverse
in its objects, methods and products.128 Here, too, there may be insights which are
not explicitly presented and formulated, but which may nevertheless be relevant. A
tendency may therefore be observed, whereby scientific methods are also opened
up to less rigid facts, and a change in artistic practice may redirect one’s eye to a
conceptual, analytical approach and a work reassessment.
122 Stern, Roger & Dale, Ian and Leidi, Sandro: OECD glossary of statistical terms, Paris: OECD Publishing, 2001.
123 Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg: Experiment – Differenz – Schrift: Zur Geschichte epistemischer Dinge
[ Experiment–Difference–Writing:On the History of Epistemic Things ], Marburg: Basilisken-Presse, 1992.
124 Dombois, Florian: ‘Kunst als Forschung. Ein Versuch, sich selbst eine Anleitung zu entwerfen’,
in: Hochschule der Künste Bern [‘Art as Research.An Attempt, to draft Instructions for Oneself’,
in: Bern: Higher School of the Arts ], (Pub.) Bern: Hochschule der Künste, 2006, pp.21-29.
125 Badura, Jens: ‘Forschen mit Kunst’, in: Dramaturgie. Zeitschrift der dramaturgischen Gesellschaft
[ ‘Researching with Art’, in: Dramaturgy.Magazine of the Dramaturgical Society ]02 (2012), p. 14.
126 “Nur wird hier der Erkenntnisbegriff diversifiziert: Es gilt eben nicht als selbstverständlich, dass Forschung nur
Erkenntnisgewinnung im Sinne wissenschaftlich ermittelter, rational fassbarer Erkenntnisse betreibt, sondern dass
es auch andere, ästhetisch sinnliche Erkenntnisse geben kann, die anderer Forschungspraktiken und Formen der
Artikulation von Forschungsresultaten bedürfen.” Badura, Jens and Hedinger, Johannes:
‘Sinn und Sinnlichkeit’,[Sense and Sensibility] in:Schweizer Monat [Swiss Month] 1001 (2012), p.68.
127 Polanyi, Michael and Sen, Amartya: The tacit dimension, Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press, 2010.
128 McAllister, J.: ‘Seven Claims’, in: Lier en Boog, A. W. Balkema and H. Slager, Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2004, p.18–22.
59
0 It can be established that, in a certain way, art has always sought insight. However,
artistic research does not refer to this fundamental quality, but rather to the fact
that art can be exploratory and produce original knowledge. Thus, not every form
of artistic practice is automatically artistic research. But it can be, and it can be
comparable to scientific research in its generation of knowledge. Paul Feyerabend
argues the theory here that a categorical difference between the research fields
cannot be claimed.129 Henk Borgdorff describes artistic research in the following
words:
0 Art practice qualifies as research if its purpose is to expand our knowledge and
0 understanding by conducting an original investigation in and through art objects
0 and creative processes. Art research begins by addressing questions that are
0 pertinent in the research context and in the art world. Researchers employ experi-
0 mental and hermeneutic methods that reveal and articulate the tacit knowledge
0 that is situated and embodied in specific artworks and artistic processes. Research
0 processes and outcomes are documented and disseminated in an appropriate
0 manner to the research community and the wider public.130
0 It is important at this point to emphasize the endeavour of artistic research to

obtain original insight with the help of experimental and hermeneutic methods.
Equally important characteristics are the documentation and dissemination of the
results within the relevant community. These points can be easily reconciled with
scientific research. It should perhaps be noted, however, that the use of methods
and practices in artistic research can and may be subject to freer use, as, for
example, Carmen Mörsch describes.131 The Manifesto of The Hamburg School of
Artistic Research in Music and Theatre makes a postulation in this respect:
0 [Artistic Research] can be operated using methodologies, concepts and principles of

0 these, even if it does not follow them comprehensively and/or exclusively. We see
0 this as mutually beneficial, where innovations can flow freely between established
0 and emerging forms of research.132
0 The common ground of artistic and scientific research towards the original gain
in insight is of central importance. The methods and approaches on the path to this
goal are in part (as described in the following section) comparable or even clearly
different. Despite a different approach, however, a common goal of knowledge
129 Feyerabend, Paul: Wissenschaft als Kunst, [ Research as Art ] Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 2003.
130 Borgdorff, Henk: ‘The Debate on Research in the Arts’ 2006.

online: https://konst.gu.se/digitalAssets/1322/1322713_the_debate_on_research_in_the_arts.pdf
(Retrieved: 12.11.2019)
131 Mörsch, Carmen: ‘Undisziplinierte Forschung’ in: Künstlerische Forschung. Ein Handbuch
[ ‘Undisciplined Research’, in: Artistic Research.A Manual ], Jens Badura; Selma Dubach; Anke Haarmann;
Dieter Mersch; Anton Rey; Christoph Schenker and Germán Toro Pérez, Zürich, Berlin: Diaphanes, 2015, pp.77–80.
132 ‘Manifesto of The Hamburg School of Artistic Research in Music and Theatre’ 7.4.2020.
online: https://artsearch.hfmt-hamburg.de/index.php/manifesto/ (Retrieved 7.4.2020).
60
generation can be pursued. The form of this knowledge can (in art) be very diverse
in nature and form: in the following, we shall consider, among other things, what
nature this knowledge can be. In art, how subjective, implicit or process-inherent
can, may or should a research result be?
3.1.2 The Concept of Knowledge and (Sensual) Insight 133
0 The type of knowledge produced, or rather, the resulting insights can be an

essential distinguishing feature of artistic research. According to the perspective
in which artistic research does not exactly replicate and reproduce the methods
and results of traditional science, not only do the process/production of results
in the two research disciplines differ but also the results achieved – i.e.the form,
representation and communication of knowledge. As already described, the results
in the research disciplines do not necessarily have to be categorically different,
but knowledge in artistic research can and is allowed to be different.134 135 136 This
means especially the acceptance of not strictly rational and explicit findings. The
theory here is that resulting insights can also be implicit and immanent – i.e.it does
not have to be defined as a theorem, and in some cases, it cannot be grasped
exclusively by scientific measurement and description processes. In other words,
a multi-layered and more comprehensive concept of insight is accepted as a
research result than is the case in scientific research. Jens Badura describes this
circumstance as follows:
0 [Here] the concept of insight is diversified: It is not simply taken for granted that
0 research only produces insight in the sense of scientifically determined, rationally
0 comprehensible findings, but that there can also be other, aesthetically sensory
0 insights requiring other research practices and forms to articulate research results.137
0 It should be emphasized that this sensual aesthetic is not a weakened or not yet
conclusively differentiated formulation of knowledge, but that it can stand on its own
and can also contribute to understanding. Alexander G. Baumgarten formulates
this fact as follows:
133 The German philosophical term Sinnlicher Erkenntnis has here and elsewhere been translated as
“sensual insight/cognition.”
134 Mersch, Dieter: ‘Kunst als epistemische Praxis’ in: Kunst des Forschens [‘Art as Epistemic Practice’,
in:The Art of Research], Elke Bippus, Zürich: Diaphanes, 2012, pp.27-47.
135 Heintel, Peter; Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg and Tretter, Felix; Zinggl, Wolfgang (Ed.): Wissenschaft:Kunst: Sind Künstler
Forscher und Forscher Künstler? [Science: Art: Are Artists Researchers and Researchers Artists?],
Klagenfurt/Celovec: Wieser Verlag, 2017.
136 Kirschner, Roman: ‘Materialwissen’, in: Künstlerische Forschung. Ein Handbuch [‘Material Knowledge’,
in: Artistic Research. A Manual ],Jens Badura; Selma Dubach; Anke Haarmann; Dieter Mersch; Anton Rey;
Christoph Schenker and Germán Toro Pérez, Zürich, Berlin: Diaphanes, 2015, pp.89–93.
137 “[Hier wird] der Erkenntnisbegriff diversifiziert: Es gilt eben nicht als selbstverständlich, dass Forschung nur
Erkenntnisgewinnung im Sinne wissenschaftlich ermittelter, rational fassbarer Erkenntnisse betreibt, sondern dass
es auch andere, ästhetisch sinnliche Erkenntnisse geben kann, die anderer Forschungspraktiken und Formen der
Artikulation von Forschungsresultaten bedürfen”, Badura, Jens and Hedinger, Johannes: ‘Sinn und
Sinnlichkeit’ [Sense and Sensibility], in Schweizer Monat [Swiss Month]1001 (2012), p.68.
61
0 Hence, sensual insight is ‘not a preliminary stage to the clarity’ of the ideas of logical
0 cognition, but its “aim” is precisely reversed: whereas clear cognition – abstracting
0 and analysing – concentrates ‘on the identical features accruing to several objects’,
0 ‘to form the species from the set of equals’, sensual insight – concretising and
0 synthesising – pays attention ‘to the richest possible set of features that constitute the
0 peculiar and non-comparable’ of the object.138
0 One can understand this shift to a changed or expanded spectrum of insight

as a sensitization: a task of exclusively rational explicit knowledge; the innate
theory being that such a process can provide additional insights in present world
disclosure:
0 A sensitisation through awareness of current times and of perceptual (or world-

0 generating) infrastructures, whose efficacy remains unnoticed in the pathways of
0 normality. In other words, an attentiveness that fosters our competence in dealing
0 critically and creatively with that contingency that shapes modern relationships
0 with the world.139
0 Hans-Jörg Rheinberger describes the search for insight fundamentally as ex-

plorative handling of materials to gain insight and, in the artistic context, explicitly
as a form of handling materials with an aesthetic-epistemic intention appropriate
to the arts.140 Christoph Schenker notes, however, that the insight gained – in the
artistic context – does not have to be congruent with knowledge. It can also be a
matter of competencies.
0 These competences mean thinking, doing and acting not only according to the
0 criterion of truth but also according to the criteria of justice and happiness,
0 correctness (beauty, interest) and efficiency.141
0 Jean-Francois Lyotard describes this knowledge as “dense knowledge” or

“narrative knowledge”142 . Dieter Mersch calls such knowledge “tacit knowledge”,
138 Baumgarten, Alexander G.: Ästhetik [ Aesthetics ], Hamburg: Meiner, 2007, p. XLII.
139 “Einer Sensibilisierung mittels Aufmerksamkeit gegenüber der Gegenwart und den wahrnehmungsleitenden
(bzw. welterzeugenden) Infrastrukturen nämlich, deren Wirkungskräfte in den Bahnungen der Normalität
unbeachtet bleiben. Eine Aufmerksamkeit also, die unsere Kompetenz im kritischen wie schöpferischen Umgang
mit jener Kontingenz befördert, die das moderne Weltverhältnis prägt.”
Badura, Jens: ‘Forschen mit Kunst’,[ Research with Art ] in Dramaturgie. Zeitschrift der dramaturgischen
Gesellschaft [ Dramaturgy.Magazine of the Dramaturgical Society ] 02 (2012), p.17.
140 Heintel, Peter; Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg and Tretter, Felix; Zinggl, Wolfgang (Hg.): Wissenschaft:Kunst:
Sind Künstler Forscher und Forscher Künstler? [Science: Art: Are Artists Researchers and Researchers Artists?],
Klagenfurt/Celovec: Wieser Verlag, 2017. p.124
141 Heintel, Peter; Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg und Tretter, Felix; Zinggl, Wolfgang (Hg.): Wissenschaft:Kunst: Sind Künstler
Forscher und Forscher Künstler?, Klagenfurt/Celovec: Wieser Verlag, 2017. S. 124.
142 Heintel, Peter; Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg und Tretter, Felix; Zinggl, Wolfgang (Hg.): Wissenschaft:Kunst: Sind Künstler
Forscher und Forscher Künstler?, Klagenfurt/Celovec: Wieser Verlag, 2017. S. 124.
62
silent and originating from practical insight – i.e. it is not necessarily or exclusively
discursive.143
0 The derivation of attentiveness to mechanisms and structures is definitely one of
art’s opportunities: it can show us mechanisms and social implications and make
them perceptible. In this way we can, for example, make the consequences of the
digital turn (but of course many other topics as well) sensually palpable: the theory
would be that this form of competence and knowledge gain need not be inferior to
a discursive, factual treatment of the issues.
0 Even if one allows and values these forms of knowledge and insight as scientific
results, this does not mean, of course, that this definition in the artistic context is
exclusive. On the contrary, art should also be able to make use of conventional
scientific methods – but not be limited to them. Last but not least, the interplay
of “hard” and “soft” methods and facts can result in added value – and, as I am
convinced, perhaps specifically at the dividing line between technical (digital) tools
and emotional implications.
3.1.3 Forms of Artistic Research

0 In describing artistic research, I would like to orientate myself specifically
according to the classification by Christopher Frayling144 and the continuation of his
categorization by Henk Borgdorff 145 . In his essay "Research in Art and Design" 146 ,
Christopher Frayling formulates three distinctions of art-related research: “research
into art”, “research for art” and “research through art”.
0 “Research into art” describes the classical disciplines in which art is analysed
theoretically and scientifically. The fields of music theory and musicology reflect
this branch in the context of music. Here, for example, historical classification,
aesthetic and perceptual research are as much a part of the core inventory as
theoretical, sociological, technical, political contextualization, classification and
analysis.
0 However, “research through art”, according to Frayling, refers to the branch in
which research is the means to an end, to achieve an artistic result. Consequently,
it is the development of technical, intellectual tools and materials which serve to
produce an original work of art. On the one hand, this can be material research: the
production of materials, hybrids, liquids or colours; on the other, the development
or modification of a technical device that allows a manufacturing or modification
process not previously possible. As per Frayling, this context can conceivably include
activity-based research: the documentation and manual-like description of actions
and activities. However, the main addition in the field of multimedia composition is
143 Mersch, Dieter: ‘Kunst als epistemische Praxis’, in: Kunst des Forschens [ ‘Art as Epistemic Practice’,
in: The Art of Research], Elke Bippus, Zürich: Diaphanes, 2012, p.37.
144 Frayling, Christopher: ‘Research in Art and Design’, in: Royal College of Art Research Papers 1.1. (1993), pp.1-5.
145 Borgdorff, Henk: ‘The debate on research in the arts’, in: Künstlerische Forschung – Positionen und Perspektiven
[ Artistic Research–Positions and Perspectives ], A. Rey and St. Schöbi,
Zürich: Museum für Gestaltung [ Museum for Design], 2009, pp. 23-51.
146 Frayling, Christopher: ‘Research in Art and Design’, in: Royal College of Art Research Papers 1 / 4 (1993), p.5.
63
the development of software implementations. Application-specific algorithms and
computer programs, developed for an innovative result, represent a significant tool
for the implementation and development of new content. The spectrum begins with
programs for editing, manipulation and content transformation (audio, video...). This
can mean pure sonic/visual manipulation, but also the complete reinterpretation
and rearrangement of data under data science. Extraction of features, creation
of VR interactions or production of artificial intelligence are just a few examples
among many. At this point, it should be stressed that it is precisely here that the
dissemination, recycling and transfer of research results is a very obvious parallel
to classical scientific research.
0 The third category, “research for art”, is, however, less obvious and is therefore
particularly controversial. Frayling attempts to outline it as follows:
0 Research where the end product is an artifact - where the thinking is, so to speak,
0 embodied in the artifact, where the goal is not primarily communicable knowledge
0 in the sense of verbal communication, but in the sense of visual or iconic or
0 imagistic communication.147
0 This category is the most difficult to grasp – but also a genuine opportunity to
gain knowledge through art. In this category, knowledge can be conveyed which
is less clearly verbalizable or materially definable. This form of research is closely
linked to the question of the knowledge to be generated or the knowledge type (as
described in Chapter 3.1.2).
0 Before attempting to compare this categorization with my own artistic practice, I

would like to discuss the continuation of this division by Henk Borgdorff. In his
essay The Debate on "Research in the Arts" 148 , Borgdorff continues Frayling's
thoughts and clarifies them further.
0 Borgdorff's definition of “research in the arts” is virtually congruent with Frayling's
definition of “research into art”, describing analogously the process of theoretically
analysing an artistic practice from a distance, to draw robust conclusions. In
this case, there is an explicit distance between the object to be investigated and
the subject under investigation. This approach can be found, for example, in the
disciplines of musicology, literary and theatre studies.
0 "Research for the arts" follows Frayling's term “research through art” in his
classification, although Borgdorff's formulation seems more intuitive to me. In ad-
dition to the above examples, Borgdorff cites for example the development of
extended techniques for an electronically modified cello. This category, which he
also calls “instrumental perspective”, thus describes a variant of research that
generates tools and knowledge necessary in the creative process or the resulting
product.
147 Frayling, Christopher: ‘Research in Art and Design’,
in: Royal College of Art Research Papers 1 / 4 (1993), p.5.
(Retrieved: 20.1.2020)
64
0 With “research in the arts”, Borgdorff continues the category “research for art”,
choosing a more intuitively fitting term here as well. Donald Schön speaks of
“reflection in action” 149 in this context, and Borgdorff continues the concept as
“immanent” and as a “performative perspective”. Still significant is the lack of
separation between object and subject – and thus the lack of distance between the
researcher and the observed object. According to Frayling, there is no fundamental
distinction here between theory and practice in art. Borgdorff summarizes this
pursuit in the context of research in the arts as follows:
0 Research in the arts hence seeks to articulate some of this embodied

0 knowledge throughout the creative process and in the art object.150
3.1.4 Production Aesthetics

0 In the artistic research context, not only is the form of the knowledge produced
sometimes defined differently to the traditional notion of science but the object of
observation also varies to some extent: not only the completed work of art but also
the path leading to it, with its various facets and implications, can be regarded
as an essential component and not just as an accessory or aid. In a particularly
exploratory, experimental and intuitive approach, the process can be a relevant
form of expression and a carrier of knowledge.
0 The work is at the centre of artistic production in classical aesthetic discourse.
This is the actual result, the actual object of the creative process. Although the
working process may involve a research process, or research may be carried out
on the work afterwards, in this traditional view, the focus is primarily on the created
work. Dieter Mersch presents the work aesthetic as follows:
0 So it also won't be possible to “find out” or show something through a work, but
0 instead, to make a statement or show something that is self-contained and can
0 stand for itself.151
0 In the course of the twentieth century, the pure work aesthetic has been
increasingly questioned or successively expanded. Dieter Mersch describes
the change from a work aesthetic via an aesthetic of reception to production
149 Schön, Donald: The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action.
New York: Basic Books, 1982, pp.49ff.
online: https://konst.gu.se/digitalAssets/1322/1322713_the_debate_on_research_in_the_arts.pdf.
(Retrieved: 20.1.2020), p.7.
151 “Es geht also auch nicht, durch ein Werk etwas „herauszufinden“ oder vorzuführen, sondern eine Aussage
zu machen oder etwas zu zeigen, das in sich abgeschlossen ist und für sich selbst stehen kann.”
Mersch, Dieter: ‘Rezeptionsästhetik/Produktionsästhetik/Ereignisästhetik’, in: Künstlerische Forschung.
Ein Handbuch, [‘Aesthetics of Reception/Production Aesthetics/Event Aesthetics’, in: Artistic Research. A Manual],
Jens Badura; Selma Dubach; Anke Haarmann; Dieter Mersch; Anton Rey; Christoph Schenker and
Germán Toro Pérez, Zürich, Berlin: Diaphanes, 2015, p.49.
65
aesthetic (and event aesthetics).152 In reception aesthetics, the viewer's perception
and relationship to the work of art are now incorporated into theoretical reflection,
becoming an essential component of artistic creation. Production aesthetics goes
one step further, including the production process of an artwork as an essential
(exploratory) component:
0 Production aesthetics describes and reflects ... the causes, rules and functions of
0 human production, within a field of reference that may encompass the art product
0 ..., its (pluri)media forms of representation and the elimination of boundaries ... in
0 the fields of technology, crafts and services. Since antiquity, successful production
0 has resulted as a complex process, out of the interaction between the factors of
0 knowledge and craftsmanship, each of which has to be determined, as well as
0 their communicative initiation of action under the auspices of an active, author-
0 emphasised effect.153
0 This involves not only the purely technical part of the creation process but in fact
a very multilayered and more complex, searching activity; meaning, above all, that
also the process is planned and considered as a tool and expression form, not
merely as a tool to be used on the pathway to the end result.
0 This conversion is to be found within the context of a change in practice in the
humanities and social sciences, in which, according to Henk Borgdorff, comparable
developments can be observed:
0 Occasionally it even represents a shift from text-centred to performance-centred

0 research, whereby the practices and products themselves become material:
0 symbolic forms of expression, as opposed to the numerical and verbal forms used
0 by quantitative and qualitative research. Artistic research fits into this frame of
0 reference too, since artistic practices form the core of research in a methodological
0 sense and are also part of the material result of research.154
152 Mersch, Dieter: ‘Rezeptionsästhetik/Produktionsästhetik/Ereignisästhetik’, in: Künstlerische Forschung.

Ein Handbuch [‘Aesthetics of Reception/Production Aesthetics/Event Aesthetics’, in: Artistic Research. A Manual ],
Jens Badura; Selma Dubach; Anke Haarmann; Dieter Mersch; Anton Rey; Christoph Schenker and
Germán Toro Pérez, Zürich, Berlin: Diaphanes, 2015, pp.49-57.
153 “Produktionsästhetik beschreibt und reflektiert […] die Ursachen, Regeln und Funktionen menschlicher
Herstellungen in einem Bezugsfeld, das das Kunstprodukt […], seine (pluri)medialen Darstellungsformen und
Entgrenzungen […] in den Bereichen von Technik, Handwerk und Dienstleistung umfassen kann. Die gelungene
Produktion resultiert dabei seit der Antike als ein komplexer Prozess aus dem Zusammenwirken der jeweils zu
bestimmenden Faktoren von Wissen und Kunstfertigkeit sowie deren kommunikativer Handlungseinlassung im
Zeichen eines aktiven, autorbetonten Wirkens.”
Semsch, Klaus: ‘Produktionsästhetik’, in:Historisches Wörterbuch der Rhetorik, [ ‘Aesthetics of Production’,
in:Historical Dictionary of Rhetoric], Gert Ueding, Nr. 7, Tübingen: de Gruyter Mouton, 2007, pp.140–154.
154 “Mitunter repräsentiert sie sogar einen Wechsel von text- zu Performanz-zentrierter Forschung, wodurch die
Praktiken und Produkte selbst die materiellen-symbolischen Ausdrucksformen werden, im Gegensatz zu den von
der quantitativen und qualitativen Forschung benutzten numerischen und verbalen Formen. Auch künstlerische
Forschung passt in dieses Bezugssystem, da künstlerische Praktiken den Kern der Forschung im methodologischen
Sinne bilden und außerdem Teil des materiellen Ergebnisses der Forschung sind.”
Borgdorff, Henk: ‘Forschungstypen im Vergleich’, in: Künstlerische Forschung. Ein Handbuch
[‘Types of research in comparison’, in:Artistic research. A Manual], Jens Badura; Selma Dubach; Anke Haarmann;
Dieter Mersch; Anton Rey; Christoph Schenker and Germán Toro Pérez, Zürich, Berlin: Diaphanes, 2015, p.72
66
0 Consequently, a shift in focus onto the work process may be observed in certain
areas. As such, the process of origin is of increasing relevance and can indeed
be seen as the actual content of a work, as Anke Haarmann describes:
0 ...a shift in emphasis in the concept from the work as a finished product to the
0 process as the work.155
0 Of course, the resulting work does not have to become meaningless; rather, a
connection and equality are conceivable, as Julie Harboe also postulates:
0 The work and the process are to be thought of as one.156
0 Anke Haarmann sees the shift towards a process-oriented approach as a core

characteristic of artistic research:
0 The term “artistic research” refers to a general tendency in contemporary art:

0 artistic practice is not only understood in terms of the completed work – i.e.its
0 work aesthetics – but also in terms of the practices and strategies of artistic
0 production – i.e.production aesthetics. The process of a work's creation shifts into
0 the centre of attention. Artists perceive this process as a phase of the work's
0 exploration or development.157
0 In fact, it can be said that the exploratory and experimental character claimed by
artistic research for itself can be found very easily in its process. The emphasis on
searching, on finding out – as opposed to merely making a statement – is evident.
In the same way, as described in the previous chapter, the form of knowledge trans-
fer and cognitive education does not necessarily have to be bound to textual and
strictly scientific result forms, but can also manifest itself in other ways. It seems
to make sense that, within this experimental idea, the production and (more gene-
rally speaking) the process stand in the foreground and are appropriate mediums.
155 “[…] eine Schwerpunktverschiebung im Konzept vom Werk als abgeschlossenes Produkt hin zum Prozess als Werk
leisten.“ Harboe, Julie: ‘Werk und Prozess’, in: Künstlerische Forschung. Ein Handbuch
[‘Work and Process’, in: Artistic Research.A Manuel] ,Jens Badura; Selma Dubach; Anke Haarmann; Dieter Mersch;
Anton Rey; Christoph Schenker and Germán Toro Pérez, Zürich, Berlin: Diaphanes, 2015, p.243.
156 “Werk und Prozess sind als Einheit zu denken.” Harboe, Julie: ‘Werk und Prozess’, in: Künstlerische Forschung.
Ein Handbuch [‘Work and Process’, in:Artistic Research. A Manuel], Jens Badura; Selma Dubach; Anke Haarmann;
Dieter Mersch; Anton Rey; Christoph Schenker and Germán Toro Pérez, Zürich, Berlin: Diaphanes, 2015, p.243.
157 “Der Begriff der künstlerischen Forschung – artistic research – verweist auf eine generelle Tendenz in der
zeitgenössischen Kunst: Künstlerische Praxis wird nicht nur vom abgeschlossenen Werk her begriffen – also
werkästhetisch, sondern von den Praktiken und Strategien der künstlerischen Produktion her – also produktions-
ästhetisch. Der Prozess der Entstehung einer Arbeit rückt in das Zentrum der Aufmerksamkeit. Künstlerinnen
und Künstler nehmen diesen Prozess als Phase der Untersuchung oder Entwicklung einer Arbeit wahr.”
Haarmann, Anke: Artistic Research – Künstlerische Forschung.
online: http://www.aha-projekte.de/HaarmannArtisticResearch.pdf. (Retrieved: 20.1.2020)
67
Last but not least, this approach also includes the “author-emphasized action” 158
described by Semsch – and this already indicates the synthesis of the subject and
the object under investigation.
3.1.5 Subject and Objectivity

0 While classical scientific research strives for the greatest possible separation
between the object to be studied and the observing subject, this can certainly be
different in artistic research. The form of research can – not least because of the
process-like form described above – involve the researching artists, and indeed
make them the object of investigation themselves. Henk Borgdorff presents this
circumstance parallel to other research disciplines – for example, in ethnography:
0 Particularly in ethnographic and action research, strategies have been developed

0 that can be useful for artists in their practice-based research; these include
0 participatory observation, performative ethnography, autobiographical narrative,
0 dense description, reflection-in-action and cooperative investigation. The often
0 critical and engaged ethnographic research strategy recognises the interweaving
0 of the fieldwork's subjects and objects. Given that the artist's own artistic practice
0 is the “field” of investigation, it could serve as a model for several kinds of research
0 in the arts.159
0 It is therefore conceivable that the involvement of the artist does not lead to a
falsification of the object to be researched, but is an effective means of researching
and revealing certain processes and facts in the first place. Scenarios are
conceivable in which the person conducting the research must go into a situation,
a context, a communication, a technical setting, to make effects and implications
perceptible, experienceable: and then in the next step, make them describable
and communicable. Accordingly, artistic research can mean that a setting is
created or visited in the course of artistic work, which then allows for aesthetically
communicable insights on levels of perception, interaction or realization. The
role of artistic experience is postulated by Julian Klein as a relevant step before
intersubjective communication:
158 Semsch, Klaus: ‘Produktionsästhetik’, in:Historisches Wörterbuch der Rhetorik [ ‘Aesthetics of Production’
in:Historical Dictionary of Rhetoric ], Gert Ueding, Nr. 7, Tübingen: de Gruyter Mouton, 2007, pp.140–154.
159 “Vor allem in der ethnographischen und in der Aktions-Forschung wurden Strategien entwickelt, die für Künstler
in ihrer praxisbasierten Forschung nützlich sein können; hierzu zählen teilnehmende Beobachtung, performative
Ethnografie, autobiografisches Erzählen, dichte Beschreibung, Reflection-in-Action und kooperative Recherche.
Die häufig kritische und engagierte ethnografische Forschungsstrategie erkennt die wechselseitige Durchdringung
der Subjekte und Objekte der Feldforschung an. Angesichts der Tatsache, dass die eigene künstlerische Praxis
des Künstlers das »Feld« der Untersuchung ist, konnte sie als ein Modell für einige Arten der Forschung in
den Künsten dienen.”
Borgdorff, Henk: ‘Forschungstypen im Vergleich’, in:Künstlerische Forschung. Ein Handbuch
[ ‘Research Types in Comparison’, in:Artistic Research.A Manual], Jens Badura; Selma Dubach; Anke Haarmann;
Dieter Mersch; Anton Rey; Christoph Schenker and Germán Toro Pérez, Zürich, Berlin: Diaphanes, 2015, pp.71ff.
68
0 In the mode of aesthetic experience, perception itself becomes present, opaque
0 and tangible. Artistic experience can be defined analogously as the mode of perceived
0 interfering framing. Accordingly, to have an artistic experience means to look at
0 oneself from outside a framework and simultaneously enter it. Framings crossing
0 our perception in this way are also present and palpable. Both the artistic and the
0 aesthetic experience are modes of our perception and, as such, constantly accessible,
0 not only in art-works and art-places. In “experiencing”, the subjective perspective is
0 furthermore constitutively included, for experiences cannot, by their very nature, be
0 delegated and can only be intersubjectively negotiated in a second order.160
0 Here, the artistic practice can be a (researching) tool, providing access to

subjective – inherent to the author – experiences, memories and immanent building
blocks of knowledge. This circumstance can, of course, first be accepted and
postulated in any emotionally orientated art. But just then, when the work of art is
not a mere description of pre-existing knowledge (or emotion, assumption…) but
creates a context of introspection; then, an inquiring character can be inherent
within it. For here it can be a tool, in the true sense of the word, with which to unlock
knowledge or generate insight. Artistic practice can be seen here as an access – a
method of measurement. It can be determined that this process is not completely
arbitrary by various framework parameters: setting design, experimental structure,
documentation form and type of aesthetic presentation. Julian Klein describes this
distinction as follows:
0 It is particularly true for artistic experiences that they cannot be separated from
0 underlying experiences. Artistic experience is an active, constructive and aesthetic
0 process in which mode and substance are inseparably fused. This distinguishes
0 artistic experience from other implicit knowledge, which can usually be thought
0 out and described separately from its acquisition.161
160 “Im Modus des ästhetischen Erlebens wird Wahrnehmung sich selbst präsent, opak und fühlbar. Künstlerische
Erfahrung kann analog bestimmt werden als der Modus gefühlter interferierender Rahmungen. Demnach bedeutet
eine künstlerische Erfahrung zu haben, sich selbst von außerhalb eines Rahmens zu betrachten und gleichzeitig in
denselben einzutreten. Rahmungen, die in dieser Weise unsere Wahrnehmung durchqueren, sind auch präsent
und fühlbar. Die künstlerische Erfahrung wie das ästhetische Erleben sind Modi unserer Wahrnehmung und als
solche ständig verfügbar, auch außerhalb von Kunst-Werken und Kunst-Orten. Im „Erfahren“ ist zudem die
subjektive Perspektive konstitutiv enthalten, denn Erfahrungen lassen sich naturgemäß nicht delegieren und
erst in zweiter Ordnung intersubjektiv verhandeln.”
Klein, Julian: ‘Was ist künstlerische Forschung?’ [ What is artistic Research?], in: Künstlerische Forschung…
Artistic Research…, Annette Matthias and Julia H. Schröder, 2011.
online: http://www.kunsttexte.de/index.php?id=6&tx_zjdspaceviewer_viewer%5Buuid%5D=ac7541f3-3e13-4511-
ab19-905951c8e635&tx_zjdspaceviewer_viewer%5Baction%5D=showCollectionItems&tx_zjdspaceviewer_viewer%
5Bcontroller%5D=Viewer&cHash=b3a3f7777eae458b655e04a4f0a39cfe (Retrieved: 20.1.2020)
161 “Für künstlerische Erfahrungen gilt in besonderem Maß, dass sie nicht von den zugrunde liegenden Erlebnissen
zu trennen sind. Künstlerische Erfahrung ist ein aktiver, konstruktiver und ästhetischer Prozess, in dem Modus
und Substanz untrennbar miteinander verschmolzen sind. Das unterscheidet künstlerische Erfahrungen von anderen
impliziten Kenntnissen, die in der Regel von ihrem Erwerb getrennt gedacht und beschrieben werden können.”
Klein, Julian: ‘Was ist künstlerische Forschung?’[What is artistic Research?], in: Künstlerische Forschung…
Artistic Research…, Annette Matthias and Julia H. Schröder, 2011.
online: http://www.kunsttexte.de/index.php?id=6&tx_zjdspaceviewer_viewer%5Buuid%5D=ac7541f3-3e13-4511-
ab19-905951c8e635&tx_zjdspaceviewer_viewer%5Baction%5D=showCollectionItems&tx_zjdspaceviewer_viewer%
5Bcontroller%5D=Viewer&cHash=b3a3f7777eae458b655e04a4f0a39cfe (Retrieved: 20.1.2020)
69
3.1.6 Artistic Research: Opportunities and Summary of Relevant Aspects
0 In the previous sections, aspects of artistic research relevant to this thesis were
briefly presented. As indicated at several points, this fledgeling discipline is still
in the discovery phase and is sometimes controversially debated. In any event,
these classifications and reflections can nevertheless be used constructively
to classify and describe one's own approach. The concept of world disclosure
is just as appropriate to this work as is the form of the transported immanent
knowledge. The basic classification of artistic research aspects is undoubtedly a
relevant structuring of one's work steps and components. The idea of an experi-
ment and experimental systems is particularly appealing and descriptive in any way
of working that also designs technical settings. The associated procedural nature
of the artistic work, the focusing and inclusion of the subject in the researching
and exploratory process: these represent essential elements of my work. In the
following chapter, therefore, building on this fundamental state of artistic research, I
would like to illuminate and explain my own methods and procedures in this context.
3.2 Exploratory Approaches in my Composition

0 In considering essential features within the discourse surrounding artistic
research, I have presented some core elements and would now like to link these
to my own artistic practice, in order to highlight parallels and differences; and also,
to use the perspective of artistic research as a starting point to categorize and
subdivide my work processes.
3.2.1 World Disclosure and Changing Perspectives

0 Before I come to concrete subdivisions and characteristics, I would like to
emphasize the concept of world disclosure as an essential goal of artistic research
using aesthetic knowledge. In the context of such work, which deals with changing
perspectives – and opposing worlds – the process of world disclosure is an
obvious element. Using the resources of art, different worlds are to be brought into
connection with each other and, in so doing, compared and contrasted. The aim
is, therefore, not only to depict the world that surrounds us as a singular entity but
to make precisely those of its various inherent modes palpable and representable.
Jens Badura describes artistic research as world disclosure through artistic
practices:
0 [Artistic research is...] world disclosure using artistic practices. The idea is that
0 artistic processes are understood, recognised and articulated accordingly as
0 processes of knowledge....The arts are believed to play a relevant and perhaps even
0 necessary role in the context of our knowledge production.162
162 “[Künstlerische Forschung ist...] Welterschließung durch künstlerische Praktiken. Es geht darum, dass
künstlerische Prozesse als Erkenntnisprozesse verstanden, anerkannt und entsprechend artikuliert werden.
[…] Den Künsten wird zugetraut, im Zusammenhang mit unserer Wissensproduktion eine relevante und vielleicht gar
notwendige Rolle zu spielen.” Badura, Jens and Hedinger, Johannes: ‘Sinn und Sinnlichkeit’
[Sense and Sensibility],in Schweizer Monat [ Swiss Month ]1001 (2012), p.68.
70
0 Of course, there are many texts and theories on the topics of virtuality and post-
digitality which are of great importance (also for the art context). There are also
various musicological texts which consider and analyse pieces in this context.
Last but not least, there are numerous (musical) works of art that deal with this
circumstance. Often these works are created to illustrate, exemplify or comment
on a given situation: a piece is made about a theme. The content transports this
theme (more or less abstractly). In such approaches, communication is always via
a theme and the theme itself – in this case, virtuality and post-digitality – is not
made into a tool or actual object. The difference is whether a topic is described or
directly depicted. In terms of sensual cognition, this is an opportunity to explore
these themes in an immersive, immediate way.
0 It is precisely the interplay of hard and soft facts that can represent an
opportunity to adequately approach this complex. In artistic work, clearly conceived
experimental setups, technical arrangements, and conceptual interaction modes
encounter sensual, immediate experiences and subjective reactions. Using such
a setting, the emotional implications of technological innovation can be accurately
depicted, under certain circumstances, as Jens Badura also notes:
0 A central assertion now expressed in the talk of artistic research is that the modes
0 of insight – sensual or rational – are not to be put into a hierarchical order, but are
0 to be thought of as complementary to one another. An appropriate world disclosure
0 must therefore include "unclear" and "clear" dimensions and related modes of
0 articulation, and adopt the experience of world disclosure as an interplay between
0 undefined (such as artistic-creative) and conceptual (such as scientific-theoretical)
0 forms of articulation as a productive dynamic.163
0 Thus, the interaction of these modes can be regarded as an artistic tool, enabling
a knowledge acquisition in the form of experiential insight. It is perhaps also in
the postdigital nature and virtual thematic complex that this dichotomy is implied.
Moreover, it is not only the interplay but also the abrupt change between these
working modes, which in itself also represents a thematization of the thematic
complex. The choice of means here already reflects the object under investigation.
0 Due to my training as a computer scientist (with a focus on the cognitive area) and
my musical education, the meeting of these two worlds is deeply anchored within
me and, to a large degree, mirrors my intuitive way of working. Anke Haarmann
describes artistic research as a new dispositive, within which art is challenged to
163 “Eine zentrale Behauptung nun, die in der Rede von der künstlerischen Forschung zum Ausdruck kommt, lautet
nun: die Erkenntnismodi – sinnlich oder rational – sind nicht in eine hierarchische Ordnung zu bringen, sondern
als komplementär zueinander zu denken. Eine angemessene Welterschließung muss somit „unklare“ und „klare“
Dimensionen und an diese anknüpfende Artikulationsmodi umfassen und die Erfahrungen der Welterschließung
als ein Wechselspiel zwischen unbegrifflichen (wie künstlerisch-kreativen) und begrifflichen (wie wissenschaftlich-
theoretischen) Artikulationsformen als eine produktive Dynamik annehmen.”
Badura, Jens and Hedinger, Johannes: ‘Sinn und Sinnlichkeit’ [Sense and Sensibility], in Schweizer Monat
[Swiss Month] 1001 (2012), p.68.
71
intervene in the exploration of the present.164 I find this view very motivating – it
precisely describes my desire to use artistic tools to explore and understand a
contemporary domain of the present. In this way, I feel that music is a tool with
which I can achieve this goal. In my opinion, this viewpoint does not necessarily
represent a degradation of musical independence and that this is especially true
when art does not speak about a theme, but rather when the theme speaks directly
through art.
0 In the following sections, I would like to elaborate on some specifics of my work,
concerning artistic research, which have already been mentioned above. First to
be discussed will be the production of tools and their role in the process and in
achieving the artistic result. Subsequently, I will outline the use of experimental set-
ups, and then go on to discuss aspects of research using art and the relationship
between subject and object in artistic research. I would also like to discuss different
methods of validation in the working process (i.e. development and verification of
working methods) and suggest different approaches to documenting works and
knowledge.
3.2.2 Tools, Interfaces and Research for the Arts

0 The development of tools, methods, programs and approaches for artistic project
implementation can be an essential part of the artistic research process. In terms
of the category "research for the arts" (see Chapter 3.1.3), this refers to the steps
and developments necessary to produce and develop a work of art. It is therefore
also possible to discuss how strongly this process or achievement represents the
actual research achievement or how elementary it is for the resulting work. The
developed approaches and tools can take many forms: software, hardware or
methodical procedures – and of course their combination.
0 The development of software solutions for the realization of a project is an
essential part of my artistic work. In working with live electronics, interaction and
the synchronization of several media, a certain amount of programming has become
standard. However, there is a difference between primarily manual implementations
and the successive development of a non-standard software solution. In this text, I
would like to concentrate on the latter. Furthermore, it can be distinguished whether
the programming process is primarily aimed at realizing a general program or a
concrete tool for the development of a singular piece. In the first case, the soft-
ware as a product is brought to the fore; and exemplary pieces are realised with
it, or it is used as a decisive tool for an artist's entire creative period. Examples of
this are Georg Hajdu's "Quintet.net" 165 Diemo Schwarz’s (at IRCAM) "CataRT"166 ,
164 Haarmann, Anke: ‘Transformationen der Wissensordnung’, in: Künstlerische Forschung. Ein Handbuch
[ ‘Transformation of Knowledge Regulation’, in:Artistic Research.A Manual ],Jens Badura; Selma Dubach;
Anke Haarmann; Dieter Mersch; Anton Rey; Christoph Schenker and Germán Toro Pérez,
Zürich, Berlin: Diaphanes, 2015, p.99.
165 Hajdu, Georg: ‘Quintet.net - A Quintet on the Internet’, in: Proceedings of the International Computer Music
Conference 29 (2003), pp. 315-318.
166 Schwarz, Diemo & Beller, Grégory & Verbrugghe, Bruno & Britton, Sam: ‘Real-Time Corpus-Based Concatenative
Synthesis with CataRT’, in:Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Digital Audio Effects (2006). p.91.
72
Daniele Ghisis' "dada Library" 167, Maximilian Marcoll's "Qunice" 168 or Karlheinz
Essl's "Real Time Composition Library" (RTC-lib) 169 . In these cases, besides the
programmers' own compositional work, the intention is clearly evident that these
tools also be used by a (preferably broad) public. A contrasting approach is one in
which the programming is primarily aimed at a work's concrete execution. In their
concrete implementation, these solutions are often less generally applicable in their
scope of use and in their user guidance. Consequently, the transfer capacity of
these solutions is not directly related to their distribution. Nevertheless, the ideas,
approaches and specifics of these software solutions are easily adoptable and
adaptable by other artists. The transfer of a specific idea is usually still present here,
even if the distribution is not directly made (by an accessible software). The fact
that an approach in itself can be used elsewhere is also the primary focus of such
an endeavour's scientific orientation. Examples of such implementations are the
software solutions developed for the implementation of Stefan Prins' "Generation
Kill" , Maximilian Marcoll's "Amprofications", Hannes Seidel's "Mehr als die Hälfte"
[More than Half], Johannes Kreidler's "Product Placements" or Michael Beil's video
compositions.
0 I can place my work predominantly within the second category170: the software
solutions I have developed have always been tied to specific projects. However,
within the series of works (sensor, light, community and VR pieces) there were also
continuities where I continued to use and develop modules and algorithms. In this
fashion, an internal software library is built up. At present, I have not published
these results as a self-contained distribution. This is mainly due to the fact that,
although I have focused on content issues (physicality, post-digitality and virtuality)
over the past ten years, I have researched them with varying technical means. I
was less interested in developing a technical solution capable of distribution than
in using a range of approaches to illuminate a topic from different perspectives.
Nevertheless, I do try to support the exchange and dissemination of my (technical
and compositional) work (see also Chapter 3.2.4).
0 The software programs171 written for the realization of my works fall into three
major classes:
0 1. Programs for sensor interaction

0 2. Programs for lighting control
0 3. Website development
167 Ghisi, Daniele und Agon, Carlos: ‘Real-Time Corpus-Based Concatenative Synthesis for Symbolic Notation’,
in: Proceedings of the TENOR conference, 2016, p.1.
168 Quince 1.2.2019. online: http://quince.marcoll.de (Retrieved: 1.10.2019).
169 Essl, Karheinz and Günther, Bernhard: ‘Realtime Composition: Musik diesseits der Schrift’,
in: Positionen. Beiträge zur neuen Musik [‘Realtime Composition: Music on this side of Writing’,
in: Positions.Articles on New Music] 36, 1998, pp.4–9.
170 Exceptions are a Max/MSP timeline object and a notation inversion software (based on the piece Black Out BRD):
http://www.alexanderschubert.net/works/Blackout-Software.php
171 I do not include programs here that simply implement live electronics or video processing.
73
0 Several (partly commercial) software solutions already exist in these three areas.
In truth, no new forms of programming have been developed here but the programs
have been designed to allow new functionality and expression. Regarding sensor
compositions, it is basically not new to control electronic sounds with hardware
sensors: examples being the programs of the STEIM Institute, the works of Michel
Waisvisz, Sensorband, Atau Tanaku, Alex Nowitz, Max Mathews, Chikashi Miyama,
Tomomi Adachi, Georges Aperghis, Jon Rose, David Rokeby, Franziska Baumann or
Biomuse. The form of linking and programming can however certainly be reinvented
and explored. A specific form of control and mapping (i.e. the assignment of
input and output signals) challenges a performer's specific interaction and
communication. The mapping form also directly says something about causality,
logic and interaction and, in this sense, is not only a technical assignment but
also a content metaphor. These statements are, to a not inconsiderable extent,
already fixed in the programming itself, where it is already decided whether the
control (and thus, the implicit statements of the piece) is, for example, artificial, ex-
pressive, virtuoso, hierarchical, technical, sensual, distanced, physical or chaotic.
The development of the software modules significantly determines the character
of the work with which it is realized. In my compositions, I first tried to enable and
challenge the most expressive control possible. For example, the programming
in "Laplace Tiger" is intentionally designed in such a way that it requires a strong
physical and powerful interaction. In the development process, I adapted the
modules specifically for this and tested them with video documentation. "Point
Ones", on the other hand, pursues an interaction concept combining this approach
with a control flexible in time and content, in order to navigate through a score. Here,
too, expressiveness and score-following are placed in the foreground. "Your Fox's,
A Dirty Gold" and "Serious Smile" extend this aspect by the targeted inclusion of
virtual links – i.e. an increasing alienation between gesture and sound or light result.
The causality of action and the sonic result are partially brought into focus here.
0 The situation is similar in light programming. Of course, numerous commercial

solutions already exist for the control of all kinds of spotlights. There are
already approaches also in the artistic context, in which light is controlled by
self-written software. Some examples of different approaches would be Robert
Henke's "Lumière" , Marko Ciciliani's "Alias", Jacob Sello's "Hexenkessel", Pierre
Jodlowski's "Mad Max", Uwe Schneider and Robin Fox's "Double Vision", Adam
Basanta's "Music for Lamps", Michael Vorfeld's "Glühlampenmusik" [lightbulb
music], Frank Bretschneider's "circle in the round", Thierry de Mey's "Light Music"
or Simon Löffler's "b". Of the light control concepts I have developed, the main
focus is primarily characterized by very fast and synchronic timing to tonal and
performative events. This is a use of light that cannot be realized with conventional
lighting consoles and the associated programs without detours. The millisecond-
precise interlocking of choreography and sound is the basis for all my light-based
pieces. Light is therefore no longer used here as a mood or basic lighting, but as a
scanning instrument (see also Chapter 2.1.1). This aspect is reinforced by the fact
that the moving heads in the pieces are also precisely animated and synchronized.
The scanning consequently takes place at a certain time and place. This process is
74
technically not very common in this form. The objective here is the two-dimensional
digital representation of the person on stage (following the concept of the post-
digital). In the program for "Codec Error", the interconnection of synchronized
moving heads is used to create lighting effects that simulate a video error in a stage
situation.
0 Special website solutions as a sub form of software development were
developed for the pieces "Wiki-Piano.Net" and "Control". A detailed classification
of this programming work can be found in section 4.8.3, and the "Control" website
is described in more detail in section 3.2.3.1.
0 The development of technical hardware solutions follows a similar principle to the
design of the software described above. Hardware development is, on the one hand,
necessary for the realization of the compositions, and, on the other, an elementary
part of the work. Here too, many established solutions and realizations already
exist, from institutional developments like IRCAM172 , STEIM173 , MIT 174 or CCRMA175 ,
to commercial products like the „K-Bow“176 , „dada machines“177 , x-OSC 178 to DIY
solutions using the Arduino boards. An overview of existing hardware approaches
can be found here.179 180 181
0 I have prepared video eyewear with cameras and audio intercom circuits for
numerous pieces. The goal of these VR-like devices is to transfer one's own visual
and auditory perception to another person – and, in some pieces, also to receive
foreign perception at the same time. A detailed description of these hardware
approaches and their classification in the research field can be found in Chapter
4.7.2. In the works involving such eyewear, it was possible to fall back on existing
consumer technology to a large extent, so that the devices did not have to be
manufactured from scratch. However, finding robust and continuously running
wireless solutions was a very complex process. Nevertheless, technology was
used here which can be bought as a consumer product in its individual parts. The
combination and arrangement of the elements, as well as their linkage, makes
them innovative. For the piece "Control", I constructed the original setup with a
clear goal; but in fact, the interface radiates such a wealth of implications and
application methods that my subsequent works almost imposed themselves in the
rehearsal process. The production of this device in itself was a powerful generator
of further ideas and approaches. It soon became clear that the spectrum of forms
172 IRCAM online: http://ircam.fr (Retrieved: 4.4.2020).
173 STEIM online: https://steim.org (Retrieved: 4.4.2020).
174 MIT online: https://mta.mit.edu/music (Retrieved: 4.4.2020).
175 CCRMA online: https://ccrma.stanford.edu/ (Retrieved: 4.4.2020).
176 Keith Mc Millen, online: https://www.keithmcmillen.com/labs/k-bow/ (Retrieved: 4.4.2020).
177 Dada Machines, online: https://dadamachines.com/ (Retrieved: 4.4.2020).
178 X-IO, online: https://x-io.co.uk/x-osc/ (Retrieved: 4.4.2020).
179 Miranda, Eduardo Reck and Wanderley, Marcelo M.: New Digital Musical Instruments:
Control and Interactions Beyond the Keyboard, Middleton: A-R Editions Inc, 2006.
180 Tanaka, Atau: ‘Musical Performance Practice on Sensor based Instruments’,
in: Trends in Gestural Control of Music, Miranda Wanderley and Marcelo Battier, Paris: IRCAM, 2000, CD-ROM.
181 Collins, Nicolas:Handmade Electronic Music, New York: Routledge, 2006.
75
of interaction, narration and communication was so broad that they could not be
reproduced in a single work. This is certainly also due to this approach being a
very general one, for example, more general than a sensor bow for a violin.
0 The construction of the video eyewear is a classic example of tool design and
piece development overlapping and intertwining. Both are difficult to separate,
and one causes the other. On the one hand, the developments described above
have been carried out purposefully towards an implementation of a work; on the
other, some of these tools and interfaces develop such a strong driving force that
parts of the piece or the setting arise directly from them. Viewed in this way, the
composition is then an application of the research results.
0 From a programming point of view, some parts are complex in sum and complex
in the result – but the innovation lies here not in a new programming paradigm, but
a new combination of existing components. Here, development follows an existing
course, adopting ideas that have been worked on throughout the twentieth century.
The objective of my work challenges the use of the tools in a new way so that their
adaptation and further development is virtually inevitable. The development of these
technical strategies is inseparable from the development/conception of the pieces.
Without them, the works would not exist, but without the conception of the works,
the technology would also be irrelevant.
3.2.3 Experimental Designs

0 Hardly any approach represents scientific research so well as the controlled
or planned experiment and associated hypotheses genesis and testing. At first
glance, the creation of a structure – as sterile as possible, and uncoupled from
external influences in order to test a thesis – represents the opposite of an artistic,
intuitive creative process. That this dividing line is less sharp, however, is evident, in
disciplines of design, for example, in which the systematic exploration of materials
takes place precisely at the interface between scientific and aesthetic research.182
But in other artistic disciplines, too, this approach is conceivable, desirable and
already common practice. It can be observed that this way of thinking is increasingly
gaining interest and – as Gabriele Gramelsberger, for example, has noted – is
reflected in different currents:
0 Artistic research, the world as a laboratory, the experimenting society, “art as

0 epistemological engine”, and other concepts point to a tendency, similar to the
0 sciences, towards wanting to systematically open up the world, develop coherent
0 world views and anchor these in social consciousness.183
182 Borgdorff, Henk: ‘Forschungstypen im Vergleich’, in:Künstlerische Forschung. Ein Handbuch

[‘Research Types in Comparison’, in: Artistic Research.A Manual.], Jens Badura; Selma Dubach; Anke Haarmann;
Dieter Mersch; Anton Rey; Christoph Schenker and Germán Toro Pérez, Zürich, Berlin: Diaphanes, 2015, pp.69–76.
183 “Künstlerische Forschung, die Welt als Labor, die Experimentiergesellschaft, ‘art as epistemological engine’ und
andere Konzepte deuten auf eine Tendenz hin, ähnlich den Wissenschaften, Welt systematisch erschließen,
kohärente Weltbilder entwickeln und diese im gesellschaftlichen Bewusstsein verankern zu wollen.”
Gramelsberger, Gabriele: ‘Epistemische Praktiken des Forschens im Zeitalter des Computers’, in:Kunst des
Forschens [‘Epistemic practices of research in the age of the computer’, in:The Art of Research],
Elke Bippus, Zürich: Diaphanes, 2012, pp.91–108.
76
0 Music always has within itself an experimental, searching and playful character.
Even if the borderline here is fluid, it can be stated that, beyond the omnipresent
artistic practice, a concrete orientation towards scientific methods can be observed.
Henk Borgdorff describes this in a comparison of research types as follows:
0 In this case, the empirical cycle of observation, theory and development of hypotheses,
0 prediction and verification, as well as the model of the controlled experiment, serve
0 as an ideal type in the often arbitrary context of artistic discovery (just as such
0 principles are often applied in empirical social science research). Values inherent
0 in scientific justifications – including reliability, validity, reproducibility and
0 falsifiability – are also relevant in artistic research, provided that they are inspired
0 by the scientific model.184
0 The declared goal of a systematically achieved production of knowledge (of

varying degrees) represents here a trend, according to which scientific research
approaches in the arts are gaining in relevance. This research can either be carried
out by a single person or be realized with the aid of cooperation across different
fields of work, i.e. in cooperation with scientists from non-artistic disciplines185 .
0 In this frame of reference, Hans-Jörg Rheinberger inserts the concept of the
experimental system in the context of artistic research to shed light on the
experimental setups in the art context186 187 188 . In this regard, for him, epistemology
interacts with the technical object. He notes on this point:
0 The experiment is, if one likes, a search engine, but with a strange structure: it creates
0 things of which one can only ever say afterwards that one should have looked for them.
0 In this respect, Bernard is absolutely right when he categorically states: “Knowledge is
184 “In diesem Fall dienen der empirische Zyklus von Beobachtung, Theorie und Entwicklung von Hypothesen,
Vorhersage und Überprüfung sowie das Modell des kontrollierten Experiments als ein idealer Typus in den häufig
willkürlichen Kontext der künstlerischen Entdeckung (so wie die derartigen Prinzipien oft auch in der empirischen
sozialwissenschaftlichen Forschung angewandt werden). Werte, die den naturwissenschaftlichen Rechtfertigungen
innewohnen - darunter Reliabilität, Validität, Reproduzierbarkeit und Falsifizierbarkeit -, sind auch in der künst-
lerischen Forschung relevant, sofern sie von dem naturwissenschaftlichen Modell inspiriert sind.”
Borgdorff, Henk: ‘Forschungstypen im Vergleich’, in: Künstlerische Forschung. Ein Handbuch
[‘Research Types in Comparison’, in:Artistic Research.A Manual.], Jens Badura; Selma Dubach; Anke Haarmann;
Dieter Mersch; Anton Rey; Christoph Schenker and Germán Toro Pérez, Zürich, Berlin: Diaphanes, 2015, p.74.
185 Wilson, Stephen: Information arts, Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2003.
186 Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg: ‘Experiment, Forschung, Kunst’,[ Experiment,Research,Art ] in: Jahreskonferenz der
Dramaturgischen Gesellschaft [Dramaturgical Society Annual Conference], Oldenburg, 2012.
187 Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg: ‘Experiment, Forschung, Kunst’, [ Experiment,Research,Art ] in: Kongress Experimentelle
Ästhetik [Experimental Aesthetics Conference], Düsseldorf, 2011.
188 Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg: Experimentalsysteme und epistemische Dinge [Experimental Systems and Epistemic
Things], Heidelberg: Springer, 2014, p.221.
77
0 always something a posteriori.” Or, to quote Christoph Georg Lichtenberg: “You have
0 to do something new in order to see something new.” 189
0 Within the scope of my work, I have used the approach of experimentation in two
different ways. By this, I do not mean simple trial and error, rehearsing and testing,
which is part of every creative process. Hardly any work is completely conceived
from the outset and written down and then performed only in that form. The working
process of a piece's development always includes searching, trying, experimenting
and checking. But I do not mean these forms of elementary piece development: I
am attempting here to show the aspects which differ from them in my work. This
procedure can be divided into two different classes:
0 1. Experimental setting as the objective of a work

0 2. Piece development as an experimental research process
0 In both approaches, I follow procedures that are oriented towards experimental

designs, even if these do not completely satisfy the strict procedures of a scientific
experiment. In my opinion, working methods may be profitably adapted and used,
without having to be complete replications of classical scientific designs.
3.2.3.1 Composition as an Experimental Trial Setup

0 First, I would like to introduce those works in which the objective is the develop-
ment of an experimental setting. Each performance can be seen as a small experi-
ment, in which certain assumptions and expectations may or may not come true. In
the approaches to be described, however, this does not mean the examination and
readjustment of artistic ideas and implementations: rather, it is about the creation
of a setting in which a question is to be explicitly explored and analysed by artistic
means. This means that although there are hypotheses, concepts and expectations,
the outcome of the proceedings is not predetermined and the result is, therefore,
an essential part of the piece. Consequently, the parameters for the experiment
are defined and adjusted as clearly as possible during the development process,
to conclude with observations and statements that are as enlightening as possible,
as occurs in scientific research.
The work process for these projects can roughly be divided into the following steps:
0 1. Conception/Hypothesis/research topic
0 2. Development of tools and setting
189 “Das Experiment ist, wenn man so will, eine Suchmaschine, aber von merkwürdiger Struktur: Sie erzeugt Dinge, von
denen man immer nur nachträglich sagen kann, dass man sie hätte gesucht haben müssen. Insofern hat Bernard
völlig recht, wenn er einmal kategorisch feststellt: „Die Erkenntnis ist immer etwas a posteriori.“10 Oder um es
mit Christoph Georg Lichtenberg zu sagen: „Man muss etwas Neues machen, um etwas Neues zu sehen.”
Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg: ‘Experiment, Forschung, Kunst’, in: Kongress Experimentelle Ästhetik
[‘Experiment,Research,Art’, in: Experimental Aesthetics Conference], Düsseldorf, 2011, p.10.
78
0 3. Testing and adaptation
0 4. Execution (concert/performance)
0 5. Documentation and evaluation
0 Initially, the idea and the desire arise to investigate a certain aspect and, with
the help of an artwork, to fathom it. In my work, the themes are usually found in
the context of the relationship between body and emotion on the one hand and
between technology and digitality on the other. In most cases, the focus is on the
consequences, possibilities, and critical points of dealing with digital techniques;
examples would be the digital representation of humans and the resulting
implications for communication, interaction and collaboration. The concept of
uncoupling (between cause and effect, or body and representation) is a recurrent
theme in these works. These objectives of a given setting are thus more abstract
in nature, becoming more concrete in the following step.
0 The implementation of an experimental setup is closely linked to the creation of
the technical tools. In this working method, the development of adapted software
and hardware solutions (as described in 3.2.2), as well as the design of a suitable
environment (whether physical-spatial or virtual-digital), are among the relevant
steps of piece development. It is important to note that, in this case, these tools
are not developed with the concrete goal of implementing a content, a piece or a
performance, but to permit interaction, engagement or sensation. Consequently,
these are tools that allow an action, but do not explicitly presuppose it.
0 In the following phase, the setups are tried out, adapted and readjusted with a
test audience. In this process, both technical and performative details can be
adjusted, the audience's leeway for reaction can be observed and, if necessary,
the hypothesis adapted. This includes simple interface testing but also checking
the interaction of the test participants regarding their perception and emotions. I
understand it less as a rehearsal, but rather as a validation phase or study, aiming
at developing the setting.
0 The execution – meaning in the musical context the concert/performance/
installation – then constitutes the actual work. Without execution, these pieces
do not exist. Music, in general, is sometimes said to do this – that it only exists in
the fleeting moment. Nevertheless, most of the pieces can be regarded as a score
and can be understood mentally with imagination and expertise. This is especially
true for very conceptual pieces, where the performance is, in many cases, only a
side effect of the work. In the cases described here, the piece is only a container
for the actual content. It exists as an experimental arrangement, which in itself
can be interesting. But then, the actual cognitive value of the piece takes place
almost exclusively in its execution: in experiencing, observing, feeling, interacting
and communicating. The actual content of the piece is the questioning of how the
audience and participants behave and feel in the setting. An experimental setting
does not have a clear outcome – it is knowingly designed to be so open, within a
fixed framework, that even opposing events can occur, which are neither clearly
anticipated nor planned in advance. The focus of these works is the observation of
their execution – and this corresponds to its experimental character. The audience
or the participants are the objects to be examined within this experimental arrangement.
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0 Examples of this approach are the VR-based pieces "Control", "Unity Switch",
"A Perfect Circle", and the online composition project "Wiki-Piano.Net". These
VR-based pieces use video eyewear and cameras to transmit the first-person
perspective to other performers, thus creating situations for the evocation of
separation of digitally mediated physique representation and emotional interaction.
In "Control", people in control rooms see via video transmission through the eyes
of other participants and control their movements through a building with spoken
commands (this setup is described in detail in Chapter 4. 7.2). The focus here is
on the relationship between the participants in controlling and implementing roles;
as such, dealing primarily with the question of external control, and consequently
investigating predominantly hierarchy and cooperation. In "Unity Switch" and "A
Perfect Circle", this technical approach is used to exchange perspectives between
participants and thus change body perception (a detailed description is found in
Chapter 4.7). In both pieces, the participants interact with each other in a very
intimate and physical way, even when sometimes perceiving another person as their
counterpart via the video eyewear, illuminating the relationship between intimacy
and distance, in connection with medial uncoupling and physical interaction. The
exact setups and results will be discussed in more detail in the following chapters.
The online composition project "Wiki-Piano.Net" (described in detail in Chapter
4.8.3) is also, as per content, initially an empty setting, in which website users
can work online on a piano piece, which is then performed live by a pianist in
various concerts.190 The online platform started without actual content and does not
represent a platform to change or adapt a work, but rather, enables a controlled
creation process for an internationally scattered online community. Here, too, there
is an uncoupling from the digital work process and the on-site physical performance.
The outcome and course of this project could not be predicted concretely in
advance – and it was not the goal to achieve a specific result with this tool, but to
depict and reflect cooperation, destruction and creative processes on the Internet
and to enable an interface to the real world of the concert hall.
0 It can accordingly be established that, in these cases, the pieces would not exist
without the participants and would remain empty in content. These are setups that
are intended to make interaction in certain technical settings palpable, perceptible,
observable and analysable. The outcome of the pieces is deliberately chosen to
be open. In fact, different perceptions of different visitors can sometimes vary
considerably. Nevertheless, generalized observations can also be established.
Consequently, an essential aspect of these works, apart from direct experience
(and, ideally, sensual insight), is the documentation of process and results. This
provides a special opportunity for this type of piece, often going beyond mere
documentation in the form of a concert recording. Statistical information can
be collected, testimonies used or sensually experienceable material (such as
recordings of first-person perspectives and communications) made accessible. A
more detailed list of documentation forms can be found in Chapter 3.2.4.
190 Compare also with the composition project "Silent Post".
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3.2.3.2 Piece Development as an Experimental Research Process
0 The previous section has described how an experimental design can function as
a final work form, in that the experiment with an open outcome constitutes the
finished work. In contrast, the following section describes a working method that
uses an experimental setting to develop a piece, to ultimately generate a self-
contained work. This form of work genesis provides a concrete and clearly defined
setting (or experimental arrangement), in which the piece's development takes
place. Of course, all creative work takes place within given limits (e.g. requirements
regarding length, material, instrumentation, etc.). Whether they are internal or
external, limitations are always found in the manufacturing process. However,
these are often either pragmatic conditions (casting, type of commission…) or
deliberately conceptual reductions (e.g. minimalist, aesthetic, theoretical...). In this
case, however, limitations refer more to the design of an experimental process or
scenario, which describes the framework of the piece's development, and not an
aesthetic orientation. These two aspects cannot be completely separated, but this
approach places its emphasis more upon setting rules within which the piece then
develops. This is possible if the experimentation process is not simply a necessary
step en route to a result, but becomes the actual content.
0 In this approach, the object to be observed is therefore no longer the audience,
as described above, but the composer (and/or the participating performers). What
remains common here is the fact that a framework, a structure or a directive is
created, which lies at the intersection of the analogue and digital worlds. The
subject then addresses this setting – and the documentation of this process is
the resulting work. What is important is that here too, the experiment is set up in
such a way as to make the outcome uncertain. This may sound paradoxical, since,
strictly speaking, one cannot surprise oneself and could therefore assume that the
outcome of a self-determined experiment with oneself is already known. However,
one can create a setting in which the way one will relate to it is not entirely clear –
and what reactions this will trigger on a subjective, emotional, psychological level.
It is accordingly possible to provide a structure and thus evoke one's own reaction
together with its unconscious part. This method can be helpful to summon up
immanent knowledge and experiences and to let them flow into the genesis of the
work. Within a defined framework, one can then absolutely surprise oneself with
the content which is first revealed, unfiltered and unreflected. The access to direct
and intuitive activity allows an expressive form, which can contain and transport
knowledge not previously fixed in the experiment's configuration, nor verbalized
in advance. In contrast to a completely free way of working, in which everything
is allowed, such a framing already provides a kind of questioning, theme or focus.
In this procedure, therefore, freedom within a fixed frame is used, particularly with
specified tools or technologies. This method suggests itself since the objects
of investigation in many of my works are the explicitly emotional and sensually
experienceable implications of technological and digital practices. They allow
access to the subjective by observing and documenting it within the piece. In
this process-oriented perspective of a work, the progression and analysis of the
process are of central relevance to the piece's meaning (see Chapter 3.1.4).
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0 Examples of this working method would be "f1" and, in particular, "Acceptance".
In the work "Acceptance", a clearly defined setting is sketched out, followed,
observed and documented. In this performance work, a performer is called upon
to spend five days in the wilderness on her own, and during this time to construct
six large wooden sculptures and subsequently erect them. During this time, she
communicates with no‑one.191 This physically very challenging task can also be
perceived by the performer as emotionally demanding and as a process of self-
awareness. The piece consequently centres on the performer's confrontation with
the situation.
0 The genre of the work is “documentary piece”. Based on the defined initial
setting, the piece consists of the documentation of the events that follow. In the
course of preparing, performing and evaluating the piece, both the performer and
I observed our experience within this setting in a relatively unfiltered way, and then
verbalized it. In terms of content, the themes of self-abandonment, loss, distancing
and projection were incisive. Central to this is the relationship between myself – the
initiator of the project – the action carried out, and the erection of the sculptures.
They are meant to symbolize the coming to terms with a loss – and they also find
current equivalence in my motivation for the piece. The uncoupling of my person
from the content and the execution of the actions is central in addition to the self-
perception of the performer. My interaction, therefore, took place exclusively on a
cutting, editing and commentary level. Despite the clearly emotional content of the
piece and the physicality of the performance, there is a maximum distance from
the events on my part. The interaction through post-production, virtual rendering
of computer graphics, commenting in a meta-view and the presentation of the
editing tools clearly illustrate this aspect. However, these contents and the form
were not fixed at the beginning and only emerged of their own accord in the
course of the piece. The duration, objective and form of the action to be performed
were described at the beginning in the score, but the further course of the piece
is exclusively a transcription and documentation. The alternation between the
analogue, physical and direct world on the one hand and the computer‑mediated,
distanced and virtual world on the other is very clearly perceptible here.
3.2.4 Documentation
0 In a scientific, researching context, the documentation of the results is an
elementary part of the assignment. The recording, distribution, discussion and
making available of results and observations is an integral goal of the research.
In an artistic context, documentation is also common – and, in the classical form
191 The description of the piece reads in the original text as follows:
The performer stays in nature for five days, without speaking to anybody, and constructs six wooden sculptures.
The performer writes down everything relevant in text form during the process. The work period is documented by a
camera man. The process and the development of the piece are shown and explained in the presentation. This
includes both the actual work phase but also the period leading to these days and the time after. The topic of the
work is just as much about the process, personal factors and constraints of an art context. It deals with the
impossibility of creating a just artwork.
82
of concert recording or studio recording, is suitable when it comes to making the
artistic result accessible. At this point, I take this traditional form of documentation
for granted. I prefer instead to employ other formats of documentation, which
are either more scientific and empirical than traditional ones; or which allow a
creative, artistic approach to the material. This refers to formats which, according
to the respective piece, make the contents artistically palpable, experienceable
and accessible.
0 In analogy to a scientific survey, the documentation of some of my pieces
includes an empirical assessment. In "Wiki-Piano.Net", for example, statistics on
user numbers, forms of interaction, lengths of stay, etc. are collected and made
publicly available. After the concert installation "Control", Gina Emerson conducted
a questionnaire for the ULYSSES Audience Research Blog, to statistically record
the reactions and impressions of the participants.192 This served as a model for
further installation works, in which the subsequent discussion and reappraisal
represent an essential part of the works.
0 On the "Wiki-Piano.Net" page there is also an archive function, in which every
version of the piece can be reconstructed and analysed. The changes (currently
numbering approx. 25.000) can be recorded chronologically. All performances
are centrally archived here, in the same way, to be able to compare versions and
interpretations: the core idea of the piece. A repository is also created in "Silent
Post", allowing access to the work's differing versions and materials. Here, too,
the entire history and the included media contents are made freely accessible
(comparison in Chapter 4.8.4).
0 The documentation of working processes, tools, and piece developments, in the
form of databases accompanying the finalized works, is a further aspect of the
compositions that are currently being developed. For example, tutorial videos for
using the live electronics and sensors are available for most of the pieces; for
others, such as "Codec Error", visualizations and software-capturing of the lighting
control programs exist.
0 On an artistic level, I am increasingly trying to create documentation that not
only captures the piece as a recording or as factual material but also depicts
the content in a form tailored to the work, making it palpable. For "Control", for
example, I designed a website to provide permanent streaming of recorded, first-
person perspectives from the installation, via a web interface. This enables an
interaction that evokes a feeling of immediacy; thereby emulating a component
of the visitors' interactions at the moment of performance. A tool, specifically
developed for this purpose, is made available here to present the content as
directly experienceable as possible. Furthermore, having more than ten hours of
raw material, the database also provides a comprehensive insight into the range of
interactions and communications within the installation. In the documentation for
"A Perfect Circle", recordings from the perspectives of the first-person, the control
room, and a documentary overview are juxtaposed in split-screen-mode. Here, the
192 ‘ULYSSES Audience Research Blog #13 – Alexander Schubert’s installation 'Control' at Ultima Festival (NO)’,
12.11.2019. online: https://project.ulysses-network.eu/event/ulysses-audience-research-blog-13-alexander-
schuberts-control-installation-at-the-ultima-festival-no/ (Retrieved: 12.11.2019).
83
declared objective is to show the different perspectives of the piece in interplay
(personal perspective, supervision and VR view). The juxtaposition of different
perspectives has become a central theme in my recent work, which will here, also
in its reappraisal, be shown and made experienceable. In these cases, content
explaining the situation in a documentary way, and content allowing the situation
to be relived directly, complement each other. Consequently, the documentation
should integrate the immersive subjective as well as the factually tangible. I regard
the artistic processing and presentation of material as an elementary part of the
work, and not merely as a final component of compositional activity. In some cases,
the documentary form can also be explicitly regarded as a work of art in its own
right.
0 The documentation of the light fog installation "Solid State" is, alternatively, a
collection of mobile phone videos. In contrast to documentation from an outside
perspective, the aim here is a collection of various individual perspectives and
experiences. Here too, the goal is the multi-perspective representation of first-
person perspectives and the reproduction of immersive experience.
0 Also artistic, and not at all factual, is a part of the documentation or explanation
of the piece "f1". Fifty pages of supposed hints for its interpretation are provided
in the piece’s secondary literature. Here, the accompanying material extends the
content: the game of illusion and fiction. Therefore, here too, no objective view of
the piece is established, but an immanent perspective maintained. That the book
mainly contains screenshots of the piece's creation is, therefore, a continuation
of the interface view (see Chapters 4.3.2 and 6.1.5) – i.e. the presentation of the
means – of the actual piece. In the book, screen interfaces and the collection of
material are printed in an inherently computer-specific manner. In the context of
postdigital presentation, this form of depiction can also be read as a post-screen
representation.
0 The borderline between documentation and the actual piece is most blurred
in the work "Acceptance", in which it is no longer possible to clearly distinguish
between descriptive documentation and constructed narration. An artistic approach
to aspects of documentation is elementary here (following on from the previous
pieces "HELLO", "Star Me Kitten", and "f1").
0 In summary, it can be said that I follow two categorical approaches to
documentation, which differ significantly from the classical concert recording: the
archival processing of the entire material, or an immanent, sensitive presentation,
which is also oriented towards perceptible emotions. This also includes the special
use of the chosen media (own website, printing). The aim is to find a form for each
piece that can convey the content in a meaningful way (factual or sensory) so that
the work's components are as accessible as possible.
3.2.5 Objective Subjectivity

0 As fundamentally discussed in Chapter 3.1.5, within the context of artistic
research, the object of investigation can be close to – or even exactly the same
as – the subject under investigation. I find this approach particularly interesting
when not exclusively signifying that art tracks emotions and illustrates them; or
84
when it is not about art underscoring with music, illustrating, or representing a
given circumstance. On the contrary – in the sense of an experimental setting –
an artwork can create a framework enabling introspection, emotional interaction
or recollection of memories and inner states. To me, the investigative character
is then recognizable, (and can be used as a tool, in that it carries within it the
chance of gaining insight), when the setting does not have a clearly predictable
recognizable outcome, even for me. In this case, it is more likely that the parameters
are set – and often fixed very technically and rationally. Progressing further, I allow
myself a primarily intuitive, gradually unreflected way of working. This often brings
previously unplanned things to the surface. These contents can then often form
the actual core of a piece – they can be the actual engagement with the technical
setting and its implications. Of course, these two stages of work can never be
separated into black and white: the comparison of both components in the creation
process is often a common procedure. Nevertheless, underlying separation into
two phases is a recurring and central motif in my work.
0 Surprisingly, it has turned out that some pieces, from which I wanted to remove
my individual self completely, reflect the strongest personal references. To some
extent, a central tool in my work is also the process of disclosure, disenchantment
or looking behind the façade. I use this consciously and reflectively. Nevertheless,
this process always opens up access to personal content in my work, so that this
form of introspection – or the circumvention of barriers, walls and curtains – also
works for me. This bypassing of control mechanisms is also supported by working
very quickly. Even if planning, technical design, and many other components are
very detailed and labour-intensive (and sometimes implemented over two-year
periods), there are often phases of an unrestrained, stream-of-consciousness way
of working, based on the principle of “automatic writing”. In this way, I make myself
into an observed object and inevitably become part of the process. The pieces
thus often have a component of self-awareness: in the first stage mostly for me;
in some pieces, afterwards, also for the audience. It is a great challenge to find a
balance between autobiographical, self-referential portrayals on the one hand and
more general, abstract representations on the other. I am not primarily interested
in turning my private life inside-out in an autobiographical sense. Rather, I intend
to extract and aestheticize sensations, experiences and subjective views, and then
to transport them intersubjectively.
0 In the context of this work, such a contrast between a rational setting and a
subjective way of working is often clearly linked to the technical tools and resulting
interaction and communication. It is, therefore, the construction and development
of the technical framework and then its exploratory, explorative utilization. In my
opinion, this procedure method is consequently particularly suitable within the
context of investigating digital, media and virtual implications. Of course, these
theories can be "tested" and verified with larger audiences here. But it is also a
context in which new theories and knowledge can be developed, in the sense that
these previously either did not exist or could not be verbalized or conveyed. New
insights can thus be achieved, or existing, immanent knowledge made accessible.
For one thing, immanent knowledge can be purely personal-emotional; then again,
it can also bring to light immanent, person-related facts. Examples include the
85
unveiling of digital and virtual media use, communication, representation and
physical interaction. Concrete examples of this are forms of proximity and distance
– on the one hand deeply human, and, on the other, mediated, prevented or negated
via the use of digital tools. The settings of the pieces may contribute towards making
these modes of distancing experienceable, comprehensible and understandable.
3.2.6 Concrete Methods and Tools

0 In the previous sections, I have outlined several procedures from my artistic work
within the context of artistic research. These approaches can be described as being
general methods in my work. Finally, I would like to give a brief overview of several
very concrete (non-technical) tools and methods that I use in my compositions.
0 A basic principle is the use of errors and terminations, referring to digital,
technical errors as well as to breaks in narration and presentation. Chapter 6.1
deals with this subject in more detail.
0 A central tool is the principle of (digital) rastering. The process of discretizing
continuous processes – meaning audio and video sampling – selects individual
elements from a sequence and then exposes them. Technical details and their
aesthetic implications are presented in Chapter 2.1.1, and their compositional
application is explained in more detail in Chapter 4.3.
0 A recurring tool in my work is the disclosure of the production environment and
the software used – i.e. the representation of the tools and techniques used – within
the compositions. I have titled this approach "interface view" and will explain it in
more detail in Chapter 4.3.2 using several compositions, whilst more examples can
be found in Chapter 6.1.5.
0 The effects of immersion and an “overwhelming aesthetic” 193 appear regularly in
many of my compositions. The basic aim is to deeply involve the audience in a
setting and to make a reality or perspective experienceable and perceptible. This
creates a mode of perception or perspective which isn’t viewed from the outside, but
which one can adopt oneself for a period of time. For me, this is often a prerequisite
to making the subject matter emotionally palpable, not just theoretically. Some
explanations of this can be found in Chapters 6.3.2 and 6.5.3. It should be noted
that this approach can be understood as the opposite of the production environ-
ment being unveiled, as described earlier. In fact, both approaches initially pursue
a contradictory goal: immersion, using artistic resources, and presentation of the
deceptive methods in the artistic context. In my opinion, however, the disclosure of
deception (and the means used to achieve it) is only ever possible if a functioning
deception and appropriation have already occurred. If the audience becomes
part of the setting, adopting its rules of play and modes of action (as is the case
in an immersive situation), then these mechanisms too can be reflected upon and
addressed in the following step. Last but not least, contrasts between control and
loss of control, between proximity and distance as well as between physicality and
193 The German text uses “Überwältigungsästhetik” to express an aesthetic of overwhelming, overpowerment, e.g.
by the sublime in art.
86
dehumanization are a central theme in many compositions, for which the combi-
nation of these two techniques can be seen as a helpful tool.
3.2.7 Summary and Objectives

0 In the previous sections, I have outlined the aspects of artistic research relevant
to my work (Chapter 3.1). Central to this was the question of the form of (implicit
or explicit) knowledge, the concept of sensual insight, as well as reflections upon
the processual nature of artistic practice. Besides the development of tools for
art, the focus was also on research through art. The rapprochement between the
investigating subject and the object under investigation is of central importance in
this setting.
0 I then related these categories to my work (Chapter 3.2), in which I described
the development of tools and experimental systems and the documentation
forms, an essential component being the self-observation or observation of the
audience within the experimental settings. Following this, I outlined some concrete
approaches and methods regularly used in my compositions. Particularly relevant
are the use of the error, the "interface view“, rasterization and immersion.
0 These described approaches and methods will be used to explore and make
palpable the topics, questions, and hypotheses described in Chapter 2, in which
questions about the effects of digital and virtual factors led to the implications
of a postdigital turn or post-internet state. The question of virtuality, deception
and authenticity are also a central issue. These topics will be explored using the
methods described in Chapter 3.2.
0 The following Chapter 4 sets out and illustrates several concrete implementations.
Different classes of compositions and their objectives within this context will
be examined, and the generally described methods are used as examples and
described in the concrete compositional process.
87
4. POSTDIGITAL CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVE AS COMPOSITION
STRATEGY
0 Do we already speak in everyday life as we do in internet forums? 194 Do children
first learn to swipe pages and not turn them? Do food couriers 195 in the “gig
economy” feel that they are part of a decentralized computer system? Do we see
an “Airbnb” flat as a physical protrusion of a platform capitalist algorithm? Does an
empty office building feel like a scene from a detailed animated computer game?
Do we evaluate the colour gradient of a sky according to resolution criteria of a
graphics card in bit depth? Are we, today, trying to become more like our social
media profile rather than creating an image of ourselves? Do we go offline because
today's normal state is online?
0 To put it more generally: do we see the analogue world with digital eyes or the
analogue with digital eyes? And what role can art take on to reveal and address
these views? How characterized have digital media and technologies become so
that we cannot help but reflect these aspects in art? These questions drive me in
my own perception and my compositional activity. In the following, I would like to
examine these aspects step by step.
0 In Chapter 2, I outlined an inventory that reflects the impact of digitalization on

human perception, communication and media use, and attempts to describe its
manifestation in the physical, analogue world. The central theme was a sensitivity
to the interface between the analogue and digital world, a focus on the interweaving
and permeation of virtual and physical elements. Besides, changing visual and
communicative languages were accompanied by a more differentiated evaluation
of technology.
0 It is the sum of these phenomena and points of friction in terms of content
that motivates me to deal with this thematic field. On the one hand, multimedia
composition or (even more generally speaking) media art is the perfect tool and
means to deal with these themes; on the other, one can also claim that these
themes are so socially and culturally present, and media platforms and techniques
so imprinted by them, that one should not or must not ignore them in the media-
oriented art process.
0 In the following shorter sections, I would like to present how I have dealt with
these themes in my compositional work. To this end, I will begin by proposing
the principle of “changing perspectives” as a basic compositional strategy. This
approach, with its focus on digital content in the analogue world, provides the
framework for my work. It will be asked how media art can be used as an active
tool for reflecting upon the perception of the digital world (Chapter 4.1). I would
then like to explain which options for action generally arise from a post-digital
perspective and to what extent this is now quasi integral to media art (Chapter
4.2). The digital error has been identified as an essential characteristic of the
194 McCulloch, Gretchen: Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language,
New York: Riverhead Books, 2019.
195 Comparison: Jonas Lund - Gallery.Delivery 24.7.2019.
online: https://jonaslund.biz/installationviews/gallery-delivery/ (Retrieved 24.7.2019).
88
postdigital – and also of my practice. How this can be used, purely in terms of
media and content, will be discussed in Chapter 4.4. Subsequently, the principle
of uncoupling (in the virtual) will be discussed (Chapter 4.5), to then derive the
proposal of a “virtual imperative” (Chapter 4.9). The interface has already been
discussed as a central aspect of digitality. Under the heading "Interface View", a
technique will be presented which artistically addresses its presentation and use
(Chapter 4.3.2). In the context of the “post-internet” two artistic practices will be
presented which consciously incorporate the effects and characteristics of the
internet in compositional work (Chapter 4.8). Based on the postdigital implications
and the potential consequences of digital errors, aspects of deception through
digital techniques will then be reconsidered at content level (Chapter 4.6). Finally,
the aspects are brought together once again under the overall theme of the change
of perspective (Chapter 4.9).
0 The techniques and compositional approaches presented in this chapter are also
to be placed in a historical – i.e. current – context. For this purpose, I describe my
techniques more generally in an overview and give examples with several works;
here, the intent is to first present the main ideas of my work. I understand my
compositional work or the exploration of these questions as a process of artistic
research. I try to approach the social-cultural thematic complexes described earlier
(Chapter 2) with concrete compositional approaches, as outlined in this chapter.
This examination is often not only an artistic description or depiction but rather, an
experimental, exploratory process with an open outcome; so that I understand it as
an exploratory working method (Chapter 3). From Chapter 6, these compositional
approaches will be illustrated with concrete examples and further elaborated.
4.1 Composed Refocussing

0 “Sensate Focus” is the name of a sexual therapy in which the participants
gradually readjust their perception and sensitivity. It is a guided programme,
designed to help them to readjust their focus onto specific actions and receptions.
"Sensate Focus" is also the title of my composition for musicians and stroboscopic
lights from 2014, in which the first step was to experience a readjustment of
attention away from the action of making music towards abstract movement, and
from pure sound to the visual. Speaking more generally, it is an attention shift
from the analogue human musicians onstage to a postdigital perspective, in which
the concert situation is rasterized with light into short video-clip-like excerpts
from the continuous performances. Accordingly, this title is to be understood
symptomatically as an orientation towards digital representation in a non-digital
setting. We look at a stage as if we were looking at a screen; we look at the
people as if they were GIF loops. The stage setting corresponds to an editing
software's compositing process. The programme notes for "Sensate Focus" is
also nourished with quotes from a neurobiological publication196 , describing an
196 Cynader, M.; Berman, N. and Hein, A.: ‘Cats reared in stroboscopic illumination: effects on receptive fields in
visual cortex’, in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 70/5,
1973, pp.1353–1354.
89
experiment in which cats were reared in a completely dark environment, illuminated
by a stroboscopic flash only every two seconds. This resulted in the unfortunate
young cats developing almost no perception of the direction and orientation of an
object's movement. For them, the world is a sequence of flat pictures, a collage
with reduced continuity. The two references for the title chosen here are extreme,
slightly provocative examples, intended to highlight the content of the piece and
provide us with an introduction to the theme of the induced perception change.
Symbolically, the two scenarios stand for techniques of sensitization towards a
changed mode of perception and the shaping of our perception by (technical) en-
vironmental influences.
0 In this section, I wish to explain the basic principle of my compositional technique

(which I understand to be the creation of a postdigital setting), which is exposed
from different perspectives in an experimental or immersive context. Particularly
this illumination from different angles and the conscious creation of changes in
perspectives are the focus of my work. I would first like to classify this approach
in general terms. Its sub-aspects will be discussed in more detail in the following
sections from Chapter 4.3 onwards.
4.1.1 Focus in the Art Field

0 Art is fundamentally a possible means of pointing out and representing social
and societal issues and, in any case, bringing about changed perception of such
situations. If the topic to be negotiated is, however, directly linked to perception, it
is possible that the artwork doesn't simply describe or illustrate a circumstance, but
works with the perceptive means itself. For example, whereas an artistic song may
deal with interpersonal relationships quasi from the outside, a media art object can
be not only descriptive but also self-exampled. Examples include "Music for Piano
with Slow Sweep Pure Wave Oscillators" by Alvin Lucier, the "Shepard scale" by
Roger Shepard, "Mehr als die Hälfte" [More than Half] by Hannes Seidl, the "Risset
rhythms" by Jean-Claude Risset, the compositions based on white noise by Peter
Ablinger, or the "Lecture about Bad Music" by Matthew Shlomowitz. In all these
cases, the audience's perception is involved and the piece's object is realized via
the material or medium itself. It accordingly concerns not a description, but rather
an implementation. Furthermore, as Wolfgang Welsch points out, art is particularly
capable of depicting the plurality of an increasingly complex society and making
its contradictions perceptible:
0 Reality-based thinking today has to face up to a reality that ... is characterized by

0 plurality. For this, aesthetic thinking inspired by artistic experience is particularly
0 competent. Because art is an exemplary sphere of plurality. It demonstrates its
0 structure in detail as well as in its entirety, and the catalogue of norms of such a
90
0 plural basic constitution can be read more clearly and more evidently practised here
0 than elsewhere.197
0 In Welsch's postmodernism, the staged comparison of perspectives or the

contrasting representation of perspectives regarding a situation is a fundamentally
established artistic technique (and opportunity). In the twentieth century,
conceptual and perceptually questioning works – such as the futuristic sound
aesthetics of Luigi Russolo, surrealism, the readymades of Marcel Duchamp, pop
art, minimalism or the concentration on silence of John Cage – are examples
of how new framings can be set and perception (in the art context) readjusted.
These works and trends make it possible to pick up on changed perceptions
in society and make them tangible, alongside a progressive understanding of
art. In the further course of the twentieth century, re-contextualisation and re-
mediation198 continued to be used and differentiated as focusing techniques. The
spectrum of approaches is so broad that only a few practices can be mentioned
here as examples. The trend towards self-reflection and perspective comparison
has become firmly established, particularly in contemporary theatre and related
disciplines: the technique of highlighting a situation in differing ways is found in
post-dramatic theatre (for example, in the works of René Pollesch) or in multimedia
music theatre (for example, in the video operas of Michel van der Aa). In both cases,
video technology is used to break up a narrative and to set a technical, factual
antipole as a contrast. Manos Tsangaris regularly stages works (e.g. "Abstract
Pieces") which enable a situation to be experienced from different perspectives:
here, forms of presentation are often juxtaposed, varying the parameter of distance.
Hannes Seidl and Daniel Kötter also create music theatre productions (e.g. "Ingolfs
Oper"), which position and juxtapose a theme's different formats, perspectives and
narratives.
0 If one now looks more specifically at postdigitality, the case in question, it is
characterized by its location at the dividing line between analogue and digital.
Thus, multimedia or intermedia works are ideally suited for the implementation of
themes from this context. In this art form, technical and digital contents and media
are set in relation to an analogue stage situation involving physical musicians or a
human audience. In this way, the friction of the analogue and digital world is already
pre-programmed. Of course, the mere use of media is not enough to classify it as
postdigital. If a video is added, simply as an illustration to an orchestral work, or
if an ensemble accompanies a visual work as a film score, this postdigital effect
may not be present. As soon as the two contents enter into an integral relationship
197 “Wirklichkeitsbezogenes Denken muss sich heute einer Wirklichkeit stellen, die […] durch Pluralität gekennzeichnet
ist. Dafür ist ein durch Kunsterfahrung inspiriertes aisthetisches Denken in besonderer Weise kompetent. Denn die
Kunst ist eine exemplarische Sphäre von Pluralität. Sie demonstriert deren Struktur im einzelnen wie im ganzen, und
an ihr kann man den Normenkatalog einer solch pluralen Grundverfassung deutlicher ablesen und evidenter ein-
üben als anderswo.” Welsch, Wolfgang: Das Ästhetische Denken [Aesthetic Thinking],
Stuttgart: Reclam, 1991, p.111.
198 Kwastek, Katja: ‘How to Be Theorized: A Tediously Academic! Essay on the New Aesthetic’,
in: Postdigital Aesthetics, David M. Berry and Michael Dieter, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, pp. 72–85.
91
going beyond accompaniment, a spectrum of possibilities opens up for thematising
their mutual influence. Since the 2010s, practices have established themselves
in contemporary music taking a multi-perspective view of a technically mediated
setting. The use of media elements in the concert context has successively given
way to coexistence, and the contemplation of the resources and their (cultural and
social) connotations has become increasingly important. For example: in Brigitta
Muntendorf’s piece "iScreen, YouScream!" , the performers are first shown in a
YouTube vlogger perspective, to contrast this view with a presentation of the real
musicians onstage. In "Third Space", Stefan Prins explicitly creates a setting that the
audience can perceive twice in succession: once via a screen, and once directly
surrounded by the musicians. Pierre Jodlowski, on the other hand, combines in
"Outerspace" a physical level, taking place on stage, and a video level, both levels
interlocked by the movement and rotation of the musicians. In the course of the
piece, video recordings of the stage area create a virtual doubling or overlapping.
These pieces are connected by how they create a setting, consisting of space/
video/physicality, and contrast this setting with another perspective during the
course of the work. A trend can be detected in this selection of current examples,
in which the use of electronic means and media follows an altered objective. The
media techniques are used here less as an end unto themselves: instead, the means
and media become the content of the piece. A further explanation of this develop-
ment can be found in a discussion199 by Ian Andrews; containing additionally an
examination of postdigital practice within the context of minimalism and media art,
also in terms of its self-referentiality, on which Kim Cascone comments too:
0 I have always felt that the term minimalism has been misused. It is difficult to create
0 a work which is emptied of content and refers to itself. All artwork references external
0 reality in some way... I find minimalism to be an aesthetic dead end.200
0 From this statement, we can conclude that a postdigital perspective is no longer

solely engaged with its own medium per se. The pure concentration or exclusive use
of the digital has become obsolete at this point. It is the disclosure of the operation
modes and implications beyond the medium itself which can represent the potential
of this approach. The friction of the digital against an external analogue reality is
its point of concentration.
4.1.2 The Focus of my Compositional Work

0 I perceive post-digitality's thematic areas (Chapter 2.2) as a relevant complex
which I try to explore compositionally. I comprehend this as a research process
(Chapter 3.2), the starting point of which being often the establishment of a
199 Andrews, Ian: Post-digital Aesthetics and The Return to Modernism. online: https://ian-andrews.org/texts/postdig.pdf
(Retrieved:12.1.2020)
200 Turner, Jeremy: ‘The Microsound Scene: An Interview with Kim Cascone’,
in: CTHEORY, Arthur and Marilouise Kroker, 2001.
online: http://ctheory.net/ctheory_wp/the-microsound-scene-an-interview-with-kim-cascone/ (Retrieved:12.1.2020)
92
technical setting (Chapter 3.2.3). This can be realized with virtual video settings
(Chapter 4.5 and 4.7), designed with the help of internet solutions (Chapter 4.8),
immersive installations (Chapter 6.4.6 and 6.5.3), video-stage interactions (Chapter
6.2.11), hologram-like body representation (Chapter 6.2.2) or by rastering the stage
situation (Chapter 4.3.3). An essential element is that technology is initially used to
create a digitally mediated or postdigitally influenced setting. In almost all cases,
the refraction, contrasting, or inversion of this setting, and the view established
with it, are then the actual content or focus of the piece. This can be done by clear
breaks within the piece or by a continuous change between two perspectives. I
often realize the interruption of a performance by using a digital error aesthetic,
as introduced in Chapter 2.2.5 in relation to post-digitality. In Chapter 4.4, I
present this approach within the context of my work and in Chapter 6.1, I elaborate
upon it. Here, the error serves both as a (postdigital) media tool and as a means
of bringing about narrative leaps, content-related comparisons and subjective-
rational changes of perspective.
0 To achieve an effect explicitly involving the audience, or which the audience
cannot easily escape, many pieces use an immersive and overwhelming aesthetic.
For me, this approach is a way of making the content actually experienceable, so
that instead of detachedly watching an event on stage, one either becomes a part
of it oneself or, at least, feels physically involved by its intensity (see Chapters 6.3.2
and 6.5.3). It is not uncommon for the setting or the included techniques to be
intensified (Chapter 6.1.8), or scrutiny attempted by way of absurd and humorous
elements (Chapter 6.3.4).
0 These juxtapositions aim to offer comparison and to provide an opportunity to

correlate and question the perspectives. Sometimes evaluations, connotations or
implications already resonate in these contrasts. Nevertheless, the result is more
one of ambivalence than of a clear moral statement (see 6.2.12 and 6.3). I aim to
enable the experiencing of digitality's different aspects and its consequences in
their entirety: in other words, to create a form including both negative and positive
aspects. Such insights are rarely formulated theoretically or even verbalized in
these pieces. They are not narrated or illustrated. I do not want to make art about
this subject, but with the materials themselves. The result should be palpable,
tangible and personal. The artwork's message is not one of abstract academic
conceptual art, but of a process concerning perception. The action mechanism of
the works takes place explicitly at the interaction threshold with the people – be
it the visitors or the performers.
0 These changes of perspective always take place at the dividing line between a
digital and analogue representation or interaction. The view consequently switches
back and forth between the following poles: a non-technical view of the environment
and a representation modelled on a software interface (“Interface View”, Chapter
4.3.2); between a direct view of a human figure and a representation, conveyed
by the media and imprinted by the postdigital (Chapters 4.3.3, 6.2.2 and 6.1.9);
between a fixed location, for example, the concert hall, and the internet's networked
community (Chapter 4.8); between one's own body and a virtually mediated, foreign
body (Chapter 4.5); between performers' physically expressive action mode and
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a superimposed, virtual, invisible interaction space (Chapter 4.5). On the content
level, the perspective jumps between poles such as affirmation and disappointment
(Chapters 4.6 and 6.2.9) or between a surface and the background (Chapter 6.1.5).
In this representation, an ambivalence and duality stand out, seemingly attaining
an increasing presence. In the following chapter, I would like to discuss the extent
to which we can or should yet evade this presence in the artistic context.
4.2 Post-Digital Inevitability

0 Initially, post-digitality in this text has primarily been viewed as a perspective,
an observation (Chapter 2.2). Post-digitality could therefore be understood as
awareness‑raising, concerning the impact of digital factors in our society and
perception. This sensitization could well be seen as a more conscious recognition
of digital factors (Chapter 2.2.6) or as an evaluation of them (Chapter 2.2.4). Post-
digitality is also understood in discourse as an option for action, as a reaction
to the previously described contexts. In the following, I would like to give a brief
overview of possible interpretations of these action options, and then outline my
main focus.
4.2.1 Post-Digital Courses of Action

0 Post-digitality does not describe an age in which digital technologies no longer
exist, but rather have been extensively established and increasingly taken on a
formative character. Nevertheless, numerous protagonists, such as Florian Cramer,
also describe a practice as postdigital when digital technology is deliberately
dispensed with. In this sense, post-digital is then refusal, rejection of digital
perfection, distancing from unconditional progress and, last but not least, turning
away from marketing. 201 As described in Chapter 2.2.3, postdigital practice can
take place without the use of digital technologies – it is the awareness of the digital
level which then makes it relevant. The pure negation of digitality is therefore initially
a divergent position. Cramer states:
0 While a Thoreauvian-Luddite digital withdrawal may seem a tempting option for

0 many, it is fundamentally a naïve position, particularly in an age when even the
0 availability of natural resources depends on global computational logistics, and
0 intelligence agencies such as the NSA intercept paper mail as well as digital
0 communications. In the context of the arts, such a withdrawal seems little more
0 than a rerun of the 19th-century Arts and Crafts movement, with its programme of
0 handmade production as a means of resistance to encroaching industrialisation.202
201 Cramer, Florian: “What Is ‘Post-digital’?”, in:Postdigital Aesthetics. Art, Computation and Design,
David M. Berry and Michael Dieter, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 (= Nr. 24), pp.12–26.
David M. Berry and Michael Dieter, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 (= Nr. 24), p.13f.
94
0 Cramer considers the retreat to analogue or non-digital technology to be naïve
and inherently unproductive. A related mode is offline romanticism, for example,
which likewise carries a strongly escapist flavour. It could perhaps be discussed
whether or not a complete refusal of digital technology can also be seen as a
positive-productive means: but this attitude has also become a popular hipster
phenomenon, a lifestyle or form of individualization. In this context, the postdigital
is reduced to the lowest value. If we again follow Cramer's formula for the use of
“old” media, at least a postdigital contextualization results:
0 Post-digital = ‘old’ media used like ‘new media’ 203
0 The postdigital component is again clearly recognizable in the consideration

of the digital impetus within the use of analogue media. In addition to the return
to old technologies, the trend of emulating analogue techniques through digital
plug-ins can also be observed. 204 Filters and effects are intended to simulate
the (supposedly) warmer aura and the originality of an analogue medium (at the
very least, with the associated characteristics of authenticity). A related current,
implementing a retro-aesthetic with digital means, is the music genre "vaporwave"
(see also 4.8). This style, also strongly influenced by net culture, is initially a homage
to or an adaptation of primarily background, advertising and easy listening music
from the 1980s, realized with plunderphonics techniques. This explicit quotation
of a particular past within a digitally processed context evokes an emotional non-
space or the illusion of a past that did not exist in this form. 205 It is, however, a return
to a past in which the future of digitality already existed. Dylan Kilby describes the
genre as an exploration of soulless shopping malls. 206 Here, in the exploration of
virtual, empty simulations (compare with Chapter 2.4), there is both a parallel to the
new aesthetic, and to the “hauntology” concept of Jacques Derrida 207 208 and later
also Mark Fisher 209 . Originally, Derrida used the term to describe the recurrence
or persistence of a past event (or way of thinking, amongst other ideas) in the
present. In Derrida’s thinking, the term is initially primarily related to Marxism and
its influence upon the Western world. The phenomenon describes a temporal and
ontological separation in which the present is replaced by the difference of a “non-
place” 210 . Since the 2000s, the term has also been discussed in media and cultural
204 Cubbit, Sean: ‘Case Study: Digital aesthetics’,in:Digital Cultures, Glen Creeber and Royston Martin,
Berkshire: Open University Press, 2009, p.27
205 Grafton Tanner wrote about this in his book Babbling Corpse: Vaporwave and the Commodification of Ghosts
206 Disconscious – Hologram Plaza, 7.8.2016.

online: http://sunbleach.net/2016/08/07/disconscious-hologram-plaza/ (Retrieved: 12.11.2019)
207 Derrida, Jacques: Specters of Marx, New York: Routledge, 1993.
208 Lewis, Tom: The Politics of ‘Hauntology’ in Derrida's Specters of Marx, in: Rethinking Marxism 9/3, 1996, pp.19–39.
209 Fisher, Mark:Ghosts of my life: Writings on depression, hauntology and lost futures,
Winchester, U.K: Zero Books, 2014.
210 Gallix, Andrew:Hauntology: A not-so-new critical manifestation,17.6.2011.
online: https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2011/jun/17/hauntology-critical (Retrieved:12.1.2020)
95
studies as a musical phenomenon, initiated by Mark Fisher. These nostalgic music
genres are associated with vaporwave as well as with retro-futurism or the stylistics
of "lost futures.” Central here is a temporal (stylistic) and technical uncoupling.
This art form is not a pure revival of past musical styles. It is not simply copying
or reinterpreting. It is also not a pure refusal of digital technology or the present,
because unmistakable practices of the present time are used. It may reflect a rift
relating to the present. It is a longing for a past that has never existed. It is a past of
the present or a future of the past. In any event, it is the opposite of a cold, digital
sound aesthetic; but in other ways, it is at least as empty, as uncoupled, as free
and meaningless. These practices evoke a “non-place” in their delocalization, by
a further level, of styles belonging to the past’s background music.
0 It can accordingly be concluded that the denial of digital content, languages,
and modes can have very differentiated connotations. One could ask even more
pointedly: is it at all conceivable that digital content not be used without postdigital
connotations? We could also ask whether a naïve use of digital technology – i.e.
freed of its implications – is still possible?
4.2.2 Postdigital Imperative

0 Based on the provocative theory that the digital revolution is already over (see
Chapter 2.2) and that society’s digitalization has progressed so far as to be taken
for granted, I would like to propose the term “postdigital imperative”. In my opinion,
the phasing out or refusal of digital technology should now only be understood
as an active process. Making a film on Super8, writing a novel on a typewriter,
watching feature films on VHS or not having a mobile phone is always a statement:
it is a conscious rejection of a certain form of technology or deliberately nostalgic
escapism.
0 For myself, I even wonder why I should write a piece of music without electronics.
Today, it would seem anachronistic to me to choose a mode of performance that has
its origins and roots in the past. In the same way, I now ask myself why I use this or
that specific acoustic instrument. I search for the role, function or implication of the
acoustic instrument in an extended (technically embedded) setting. A conductor,
for example, offers a gestural interface for digital measurement (Chapter 6.2.1) 211;
a string quintet is a synchronized movement apparatus (Chapter 6.5.1 or 6.3.5) 212;
or speaking roles are actors in a digital experiment (Chapter 4.7.3): so I see an
acoustic instrument as part of a digital age and want to answer for myself the
question: what significance, today, has this instrument’s setting on stage.
0 Of course, even more obvious and central for me is the question of the use of
electronics. The use of electronic tools and representations can no longer be an
end unto itself. Dealing with digital content has influenced our perception in such a
way that ignoring these factors in an artistic work can only be a conscious decision.
In my current working process, which is to be presented in the context of this text, a
sensitivity to the bridge between these views has developed, and the thematization
211 See composition "Point Ones" (2012).

212 See composition "Scanners" (2013).
96
of this perspective change takes on the overriding role. In concrete terms, this
means that currently, digital technology cannot be thought of without including the
accompanying “dis-illusionments” 213 (Chapter 4.6). Surveillance, commercialization,
omnipresence or manipulability of content are each firmly anchored in the collective
consciousness as (not sole) consequences of digitalization. The use of digital
media is therefore always a quotation of such connoted techniques. Of course,
it is allowed, possible and desirable to create music or art that does not require
digital content. But if it does so without the knowledge of the digital world, then it
is naïve, historical or ignorant.
0 The duality or uncoupling between digitality and nostalgia, as described within
the context of hauntology, is also an element in my compositions. The hard, often
aggressive and digitally cold sounds and cutting techniques are often contrasted
with a fragile, “longing” element. At a key moment in the piece "f1", the statement
“Just when you found it, it's gone” is faded in, in front of a green screen; and behind
the digital crash noise in "Codec Error" lies an eternally protracted scream, in a
continuous half-tone glissando. Perhaps this reflects the search as to how we are
now to address our digital life situation, and what this situation does to us. There
is no question for me that it shapes us, it is only a question of how we (artistically)
relate to it.
0 The reflection of the postdigital perspective is a consistent and central element
of my work. An essential principle is that of making digital contents, conventions or
imprints visible. For this, I use settings that allow for the visualization or sounding
of digital effects (Chapter 4.3), often choosing a contrasting representation of
analogue and digital forms of representation. Two examples for the disclosure of
the digital are the revelation of a digital raster (Chapter 4.3.1.3) or a computer inter-
face (Chapter 4.3.2). These processes then also address the disillusionment with
technology, both in the sense of a technical disenchantment and in the evaluative
sense (Chapters 4.6 and 6.2.9), as also, for example, described by Florian Cramer:
0 We could metaphorically describe post-digital cultures as postcolonial practices

0 in a communications world taken over by a military-industrial complex made up
0 of only a handful of global players. More simply, we could describe these cultures
0 as a rejection of such dystopian techno-utopias as Ray Kurzweil’s and Google’s
0 Singularity University, the Quantified Self movement, and sensor-controlled
0 ‘Smart Cities’.214
213 in the German text, the word “Enttäuschung” is used, not only to describe disillusionment but also the revelation
of an illusion.
David M. Berry and Michael Dieter, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 (= Nr. 24), p.24
97
4.3 Postdigitale Praxis als Werkzeug der Sichtbarmachung
0 If art is to be assigned a critical function in the context of digital transition, this
must be sought in the reflection of the perception modes of technical changes.
For if technology and its influences become invisible, then the humanities (and art)
must become active, as Cathy Davidson writes:
0 When technology is accepted, when it becomes invisible, [we] really need to be paying
0 attention. […] The more technology is part of our lives, the less we think about it, the
0 more we need rigorous humanistic thinking that reminds us that our behaviors are
0 not natural but social, cultural, economic, and with consequences for us all.215
0 A decisive function of postdigital art can therefore be to address specifically this

invisibility, to reflect upon it, to question it, and ultimately to disclose it. 216 In this way,
mechanisms can be revealed, visual codes cited or, on the contrary, ways found
to hide things from digitality. A substantial part of postdigital art is thus concerned
with the visibility of technologies. “Disclosure” is meant here in the sense that
it becomes fundamentally – and not just visually – perceptible or palpable. The
invisibility or disappearance in our perception, as described in Chapter 2.2.1, forms
the basis for this. The disclosure of digital contents, logics and programmes is an
artistic practice that has become increasingly differentiated over the past ten years.
4.3.1 Overview of Existing Practices

0 The unveiling of digital gateways and the disclosure of the interface can be
classified within several traditions and ways of thinking. As early as Russian
formalism, writers began to question how literary texts are created and constructed.
Thus, alienation procedures were used to draw the reader's attention to the fact
that the text is constructed, and the auto-reflexive character used to indicate its
construction process. In his essay "Art as a process", Wiktor Schklowski describes
that a literary work is a tool to “de-automate” the habitual patterns of perception
of everyday life:
0 ...precisely to restore the feeling of life, to feel things, to make the stone into stone,
0 there exists that which is called art. Art aims to convey a sense of the object, as
0 seeing, and not as recognizing; the process of art is the process of “alienating” things
0 and the aggravated form process, a process that increases the difficulty and length of
0 perception because in art, the process of perception is an end unto itself, and must be
0 prolonged; art is a means of experiencing the making of something; what is made, on
0 the other hand, is unimportant in art.217
215 Davidson, Cathy: When Technology Is Invisible, Humanists Better Get Busy, 2007. online:
https://www.hastac.org/blogs/cathy-davidson/2007/06/07/when-technology-invisible-humanists-better-get-busy
(Retrieved:23.12.2019).
216 In the German text, the phrase “sichtbar zu machen” is used not only to mean “to make visible” but also to disclose
or reveal.
216 Šklovskij, Viktor: ‘Die Kunst als Verfahren’, in:Russischer Formalismus. Texte zur allgemeinen Literaturtheorie und
zur Theorie der Prosa [‘Art as process’, in: Russian Formalism. Texts on general literary theory and the theory of
prose], Jurij Striedter, 1969, p.15.
98
0 The choice of alienation has a slightly different component here than one of
simply showing or revealing the structures, but the objectives are the same.
0 The unveiling of an artworks’ software environment is additionally comparable
to “breaking through the fourth wall”. Found in all artistic genres from theatre
to literature and film, this technique has a long tradition and has been used in
various eras for both dramatic and comic purposes. The elimination of the invisible
dividing line between the audience and the actors or performers is achieved by
an interruption of the performance, in which the audience is directly confronted
or addressed. A piece of music can interrupt the flow just as well as panning from
the action to a (linguistic) contemplation of the piece. The content and form of the
piece are then commented upon, at a meta-level, and the illusion of the artwork
and fiction is broken. Bertolt Brecht gave this stylistic device the name “alienation
effect”, and it was an elementary component of his epic theatre. Here, too, we can
stay with the concept of disclosure: since, through this process, the inexistent
fourth wall becomes directly perceptible, despite its transparency.
0 The complete presentation of the connected software content and digital
processes equally shows overlap with the concept of information aesthetics. 218
In this view, not only the display of the digital interface gateway is prioritized, but
also the use of digital content, media, and, in particular, access to them. As Artie
Vierkant describes, the networking, indexing and archiving of digital content can
be a decisive criterion:
0 The possibilities for these transformations, alternative methods of viewing

0 “media” which essentially amounts to an arbitrary assemblage of data, has thus
0 far been most thoroughly examined in the field of “information aesthetics,” a field
0 as distanced from Post-Internet art as it is close to design, cartography, and
0 indexing. Its fault is in its attempt to encapsulate large amounts of data—practical
0 information, experience—into an aesthetic and understandable shorthand. In other
0 words, information aesthetics provides in one object both a representation and the
0 components which make up its source in an attempt to illustrate or arrive at
0 knowledge.219
0 Just as this small excerpt illustrates the self-portrayal and auto-reflexive

processes in art history, the revelation of artistic construction structures and
production means was an existing practice long before digitalization. As will be
shown, comparable techniques in postdigital modus can be applied to digital
media. The changes resulting from this transfer should be of particular interest.
Notably different is that, in the postdigital context, the fourth wall does not only
run between artwork and audience but more generally between the analogue and
digital worlds. The metaphorical fourth wall of the postdigital is, if one likes, an
omnipresent phenomenon, which is then taken up in the art context; unlike the
218 Nake, Frieder: ‘Information Aesthetics: An heroic experiment’, in: Journal of Mathematics and the Arts 6/2-3,
2012, pp.65–75.
219 Vierkant, Artie: ‘The Image Object Post-Internet’, 2010.
online: http://jstchillin.org/artie/pdf/The_Image_Object_Post-Internet_us.pdf (Retrieved: 12.1.2020)
99
fourth wall in the theatre, it is not erected only for the artwork. Therefore, it may be
claimed that the disclosure of digital content is not limited to a purely art-specific
context.
4.3.1.1 The Digital Surface in the Physical World

0 One approach is the integration of digital surfaces or content into the physical
world. In "Hello World" 220 , for example, Aram Bartholl places an oversized Google
Maps “pin” in front of the Kunstverein in Kassel. The sculpture, several metres high,
is an object otherwise exclusively located on a digital map, transferred by Bartholl
into the physical world. In so doing, the overlapping of a digital map and the
physical world is thematised and made visible. Scott Kelly and Ben Polkinghorne
take a similar path with their series "You might also like". Here, large signs are
placed in front of landmarks. On one of them are three illustrations under the
title "You might also like", suggesting similar places of interest. This view and
practice of linking content is initially a clear internet phenomenon, as the visual
and interaction habits of a programme are transferred to the physical environment.
In her installation "Brush Stroke", Elisa Giardina Papa created a curved object
covered with a grey-white chequerboard pattern. This pattern corresponds to
the Photoshop code for a transparent – i.e. cut out or exempted – surface. The
placement of this object consequently suggests that a section of reality has been
cut out and that we are looking at the empty area behind it. Here, too, a view of the
physical world is explicitly transformed in such a way as to create the impression
that we are looking at a screen or a program surface.
1 Aram Bartholl: "Hello World"
220 Hello World! video documentation,14.12.2014.

online: https://arambartholl.com/de/blog/tag/helloworld/ (Retrieved:12.11.2019)
100
0 Ruben Wu photographs drones equipped with light fixtures, which fly geometric
shapes outside in the open, for long exposures. 221 The results are bright stripes
of light drawing abstract, minimalist patterns in the air, against an ultra-clear,
realistic background. This gives the impression of seeing a picture that has been
reworked in post-production. It looks as if a digital design has been placed on
the naturalistic photo. I use a comparable technique in my piece „Acceptance“
(comparison Chapter 3.2.3.2). Here, a 3D-rendered form is inserted into the end
of a documentary film in post-production. It is a floating polygon of light, wafting
surreal and unreal over a lake in the Alps.
2 Screenshot "Acceptance"
4.3.1.2 The Digital Surface in Analogue Art

0 Another way is to integrate digital elements into analogue media or works of
art. In his series of works "Word Paintings" , Wayne White creates oil paintings
upon which 3D lettering is placed against naturalistic backgrounds. This meeting
of traditional landscape painting and three-dimensional letters in a digital render
aesthetic creates a disconcerting contrast. In turn, David O'Reilly draws the displays
of classical computer programs with oil in his series "Software Paintings". After
their transfer into the painted form, these programs, with their open, empty, default
documents, radiate their own melancholy. In his work, Arno Beck adopts the 8-bit
aesthetic, transfers it into paintings and also transfers the digital-genuine practice
of ASCII-art into analogue typewriter pictures.
221 Herzig, Ilana: ‘In Reuben Wu’s Photography, a View of Another World’, 1.1.2019.
online: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-reuben-wus-photography-view (Retrieved:23.12.2019).
101
4.3.1.3 Representation of Digital Processes
0 The postdigital aesthetics propagated by Kim Cascone allowed a shift in focus
towards the digital medium and digital processes themselves. The artwork's
subjects increasingly became the digital working method and the revelation of the
digital storage media. A further aspect is the exposure of the digital tool itself. In
"Jennifer in Paradise", Constant Dullaart uses the first sample photo 222 delivered
with Photoshop's first version and creates an exhibition consisting only of this
image, to which the classic, standard Photoshop effects have been applied. This
exhibition thus becomes an exhibition of iconic effects in itself. 223 Referencing Alvin
Lucier's "I Am Sitting In A Room", Patrick Lidell transferred this principle to the
YouTube converter algorithm in his video work "I Am Sitting In A Video Room 1000".
Lidell uploaded a video of himself to YouTube one thousand times in succession,
first uploading, then downloading it, only to upload the result once again. As a result
of the repeated uploading and associated conversion and compression by YouTube,
the video contained increasingly more artefacts. These artefacts are described
for the codec and processing on the video platform. Consequently, the original
video becomes increasingly unrecognizable, and as the iteration progresses, the
converter artefacts are the leftovers. Similar work is also available with Facebook
and Instagram image coders. Hannes Seidl chooses a similar way to visualize
the algorithm in his composition "Mehr als Die Hälfte" [More than Half], in which
he applies an inverse MP3 encoding process to audio material. In this way, only
those parts are made audible that would otherwise be omitted in MP3 encoding.
Processes of data moshing 224 or applying software operations to another medium
(e.g. applying audio effects to image material) also fall into this category.
4.3.1.4 Closure
0 An opposing practice regarding visibility is the active process of “making-
invisible”. This refers to activist processes that pursue the goal of breaking through
digital visibility. In this case, it also includes processes of digital tracking, face
recognition, computer vision in general, data protection and personal rights in
digital space. It is not about the previously mentioned exit from digital society
(“going off-grid”) or the simple fading out of digitality, but about actions which, in
full awareness of the technology, actively deal with it and boycott, satirize or illust-
rate it.
0 Meanwhile, there are multitudinous technical and artistic realizations with which
to circumvent face‑tracking. The Bentel Brothers’ "Anti-Face-Recognition-Glasses"
combine this objective with fashion design, for example, but various semi-trans-
222 ‘Jennifer in paradise: the story of the first Photoshopped image’,13.6.2014.

online: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/photography-blog/2014/jun/13/photoshop-first-image-jennifer-
in-paradise-photography-artefact-knoll-dullaart (Retrieved:23.12.2019).
223 Dörig, Raffael: ‘Constant Dullaart, Jennifer in Paradise’, 2018.
online: https://www.artlog.net/de/art/constant-dullaart-jennifer-paradise (Retrieved:23.12.2019).
224 zu Hüningen, James: ‘Lexikon der Filmbegriffe - datamoshing’ [Dictionary of Film Terms - datamoshing], 30.01.2012.
online: https://filmlexikon.uni-kiel.de/index.php?action=lexikon&tag=det&id=7458 (Retrieved:23.12.2019).
102
parent masks or headgear with beamer devices also exist that have a similar
function. 225 In her video work "How Not to be Seen: A Fucking Didactic Educational.
MOV File", Hito Steyerl has specifically dealt with masking techniques. This work
functions quasi as a tutorial video. It lies precisely at the analogue-digital border
in its design and blends opposing aesthetics into a new whole. In her work, Styeyl
engages with digital images as a whole, with their function and value in a digital,
capitalist and globally networked system. The disclosure of the inherent properties
of digital images (beyond their actual representation) is a recurring theme. 226
0 The network-based works "I know where your cat lives"227 by Owen Mundy or
"Please Rob Me"228 by Barry Borsboom introduce the themes of data protection
and GPS localization. Both projects visualize publicly accessible photos or Twitter
posts and then present them collectively on a map. As a result, attention is drawn to
the fact that this content has not been provided by users with sufficient restrictions
to access rights. These artistic works find their equivalent on questionable web-
sites, which likewise bundle open content. At the very least, these pursue the goal
of illegal use rather than any goal of raising awareness of the issue. 229
0 In postdigital practice, Josephine Bosma emphasizes the aspect of the post-
screen as an action or perspective. She sees a post-screen perspective as a
necessary strategy for making essential aspects (of a work of art, of a social
phenomenon or a phenomenon through a work of art) visible rather than remaining
superficial:
0 Not only does the screen get overvalued. What is not directly visible is also less
0 likely to get noticed. Additional problems for art in the context of digital media
0 seem to be the visual impermeability or the spatial dispersion of specific works
0 and practices. What I mean with visual impermeability is the presence of somehow
0 ‘hidden’ structures, like network technologies, code and software processes, and
0 even indirect influences of the Internet or of computer technology, in specific works
0 of art. Spatial dispersion on the other hand points to works in which the various
0 elements of a work are out of reach physically, hiding them in another way.230
225 Holmes, Aaron: “These clothes use outlandish designs to trick facial recognition software into thinking you’re not
a human”, in: Business Insider, 2019. online:
https://www.businessinsider.de/international/clothes-accessories-that-outsmart-facial-recognition-tech-2019-10-3/
(Retrieved:12.1.2020).
226 Steyerl, Hito:The wretched of the screen, Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2012.
227 Mundy, Owen:I Know Where Your Cat Lives, 2.4.2020,

online: https://iknowwhereyourcatlives.com/cat/d893c13226 (Retrieved:23.12.2019).
228 Please Rob Me, 2.3.2020. online: http://pleaserobme.com/ (Retrieved:23.12.2019).
229 IP cameras: Russian Federation, 23.12.2019. online: https://www.insecam.org/en/bycountry/RU/

(Retrieved:23.12.2019).
230 Papadopoulos, Georgios: ‘Post-Digital is Post-Screen – Shaping a New Visuality – Josephine Bosma’,
in: post-digital-research, 2013. online: http://post-digital.projects.cavi.au.dk/?p=580 (Retrieved: 23.12.2019).
103
4.3.2 Interface View
0 The active thematization of the screen and the interface runs through most of my
work. In this section, I would like to talk primarily about interfaces realized via a
screen. The use of sensor interfaces and their active thematization will be discussed
in Chapter 4.5.2. I would suggest the term “interface view” for this approach, whose
objective is to achieve an artistic procedure that reveals the interface. This reflects
the medial production process of the artwork's content and therefore refers on the
one hand to the manipulability and fiction of digitally mediated content and, on the
other hand, heightens awareness of a general perception shaped by digital inter-
faces. Consequently, it also deals with the change in perception of the surface and
the content and technical processes hidden behind it, as David Berry also writes:
0 Here I am thinking not just of the surfaces created in and through the digital,
0 but, moreover, of the kinds of logics that this inspires more broadly across society
0 and culture.231
0 A recurring resource that I use is the establishment of a piece with the help of a
stage situation and a video projection. A connection is usually established in terms
of content, communication or interaction between the two elements. Increasingly
often, I draw attention during the progression of these pieces to their creation
process and the programs used (Chapter 6.2.8). First, an intact setting is established
in which the video/screen is used conventionally and a coherent, non-disruptive
form is created. The fracture of a software representation is at this point to be
understood as a computer error (comparison Chapter 4.4), whereby the focus is
hence directed to the medium itself. However, it may equally well be a cut motivated
by content; a cut that views the content in a detached, non-dramatic way. In any
event, the constructive element of the artwork is made clear. It becomes apparent
that the content is fiction, a partially conscious deception or manipulation. It also
illustrates the more general digital condition: any content is invariably editable
and any content can be interacted with. There is no intact structure, nor any final,
self-contained documents in these works. This demonstrates that something can
be changed or deleted at any time. Moreover, in the pieces "Star Me Kitten" and
"f1", new content is always added in some passages in each concert, so that the
pieces are never really identical. This underlines the demanding character of the
digital contents. The theme: that no digital surface can be trusted (Chapter 6.2).
0 Of course, the personality of the composer also shines through. In the process,
I too become visible, as a formative instance behind the façade of the piece.
This has an element of disenchantment, but also something of self-portrayal and
self-reflection. In social networks, most people have now become more or less
experienced digital self-promoters. Sometimes self-deprecating, these works take
this too into account.
online: http://www.aprja.net/what-is-post-digital/?pdf=1318 (Retrieved:20.07.2019).
104
0 In "Star Me Kitten" and "Hello", the audience and/or the ensemble is also directly
addressed. Video interview formats or Skype calls are used for this. The screen
doubles here as a communicative interface between author and recipient (Chapter
6.2.11). This procedure also illustrates a currently typical observation: that content
is rarely received uninterruptedly, and in one piece, but is extended or interrupted
by other programs or a second screen.
0 In the compositions, some programming processes involved in their realization
are reproduced in parallel with the piece's content, in a small window at the edge
of the screen. The piece hereby becomes a kind of tutorial video of itself. I have
called this aspect “Tutorial World” in lectures and texts (Chapter 6.2.10).
0 In addition to the use of the editing tools, some pieces, such as "f1", also embed
the research process of the contents in a tutorial format. In this manner, it is
intermittently shown how image content was searched for on the internet, on which
page it was found and how it was then released and manipulated.
0 The use of the artistic technique “interface view” is therefore postdigital, in the
sense that it uses digital media, focuses on the media itself and thereby addresses
its effects, connotations and implications. It is, therefore, as described in Chapter
2.2.4, a view that includes digitality's (negative) consequences in the use of digital
content. These pieces are accordingly realized with an awareness of digital works
and their social use. However, postdigital practice does not necessarily have to
use digital means, but can also implement the manifestations of digitalization in an
analogue setting, as will be shown in the following section.
4.3.3 Composite-View and Analogue Discretization

0 The omnipresent permeation of the analogue world by the digital world leaves, as
already discussed, consequences in human perception and interaction (Chapter
2.2.2). This also explicitly means a perception of the analogue world according to
the standards of the digital world. In a series of light-based compositions, I try to
bring this circumstance to a head and make it palpable using stroboscopic flashes.
In this case, “interface view” means a representation of the physical stage space
without video technology, but which nevertheless evokes the visual language of a
computer interface and a digital representation.
0 At the discretization level, this aspect can be found in the visual arts as well as
in art music. Gerhard Richter has found transference to the analogue world with
his "Richter Window" in the Cologne Cathedral at the pixel level, and with the "11
Glass Panes" at the temporal frame level. In both works, we experience the digital
world's rasterization in an explicitly non-computer-related context. In his series
of works "Amprofication", Maximilian Marcoll rasters already existing (classical)
pieces by scanning them with a digital envelope in the concert context, in real-time,
at millisecond speed, as atomic samples. 232 Here, too, an analogue setting (the
232 ‘Amproprification #6.1’, 21.7.2019. online: http://www.marcoll.de/archives/pieces/amproprification6-1

105
classical concert format) is looked at from a different digital perspective. Ricardo
Eizerik takes a comparable approach in his composition "in steps" , in that he trans-
fers a vocal ensemble into an additive synthesizer or an analogue drum machine. 233
In his series of works "Between Me and Myself", Andreas Eduardo Frank uses light
and projection to grid the stage space in an analogue way. 234 Such visual rastering
techniques can be seen in the contemporary dance works of Klaus Obermaier (e.g.
"Vivisector") or Ula Sickle (e.g. "Atomic 5.1").
0 In my pieces „Sensate Focus“, „Scanners“, and „Codec Error“, I use short light
pulses to spotlight musicians on a black stage for short periods of time. The per-
formers consequently appear in a dark setting only for a moment, during which they
usually perform an action (6.1.9 and 6.2.2). Thus, only short segments – i.e. samples
– are ever taken out of a continuous whole and displayed. This process corresponds
to a discretization of the analogue stage situation with analogue means. Even if
the process itself is quasi non-digital, the representation of the figures onstage is
very digital and technically artificial. Although controlled by a digital computer, the
process could theoretically also be realized with an analogue device. It is the look
that has a digital quality. As a result, the musicians onstage are no longer perceived
as people, but appear more like a video snippet, a GIF-loop or a film frame. A
temporal reduction to a sample takes place, which then stands on its own and is
temporally detached. This representation finds its counterpart in a digital editing
program, in which video and sound elements can be placed, selected, arranged
and transformed next to each other against a black background. The black box
of the stage becomes the black box of a computer programme. Consequently, the
view of the stage from above corresponds to the prospect of a digital arranging
surface: therefore, I suggest the term "composite view“. In contrast to the "interface
view“ the focus here is on the reduction of human musicians to a digital image and
their placement in an empty (black) setting. The process hence includes the two
steps of analogue discretization and the subsequent representation in a composite
representation ("composite view"). 235
0 We take a computer interface as a gateway to a black box, as a self-contained
surface. It offers the foreseen modes of interaction, thereby creating an affordance;
but it is bound to a fixed GUI with clear user actions. The disclosure and fracturing
of this logic can be effectively brought about by the method of digital error, with a
glitch, as Hugh Manon also points out:
0 A computer interface, by contrast, is immersive—we cannot help but misperceive

0 skeumorphic user interfaces such as buttons, drop-down menus and browser
0 windows as bearing a real physicality. We do not expect two windows to become
0 entangled or intertwined. When glitches manifest, they are a sudden phenomeno-
233 ‘in steps’ by Ricardo Eizirik, 21.7.2019.

online: ”http://microphonesandloudspeakers.com/2019/05/16/in-steps-ricardo-eizirik/(Retrieved:21.7.2019).
234 ‘Between Me and Myself – II’, 21.7.2019.
online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB41pbo8uI0 (Retrieved:21.7.2019).
235 This presentation also deals with the digital representation of bodies (Chapter 6.2.4, 6.1.9 and 6.3.5) and
hologram-like represention (Chapter 6.2.2).
106
0 logical intrusion, a break in the order of logic. The shock comes because when we
0 work with the machine we are contained by it. A glitch ruptures this immersive
0 environment, undercutting the sovereignty of the digital by revealing its
0 pervasiveness.236
0 Digital error usage for this very purpose will be examined in the following section.
How can the immersive, closed, opaque digital surface be broken through – and
what characteristics can be revealed?
4.4 The Digital Error as a Visibility Tool

0 The concept of the digital error is integrally linked to the original definition of the
postdigital and can be seen as an essential tool, enabling or even provoking a
self-referential engagement with the medium and its technologies. In this text and
my work, I like to understand the glitch aesthetic and the digital error primarily as
tools that make technical surfaces, codes and conventions visible.
0 Almost without exception, we perceive digital images as analogue images – as a
smooth, consistent surface and not as discrete digital parts. An error or a glitch
disturbs the data behind a digital representation in such a way that the analogue
simulation can no longer remain hidden. That which otherwise would have been
passively received – such as a video feed, an online photo or a music recording
– is now corrupted, digitally imprinted and distorted. Whether intentionally or
accidentally, a disruption suddenly destroys the communication platforms upon
which we depend as subjects of digital culture, and which we take for granted. 237
0 An error can be seen as an “antidote to standardized systems” 238 . In such cases,
they represent a deviation from a system, directing attention to the system itself. In
a technical context, this system can refer to aspects such as network connections,
algorithmic computability or digital representation and storage. Since errors lead
not only to complete system failures, the error can also show operative and intrinsic
operating logic. 239 The gateway to the human being is also directly influenced by
the internal digital modes, manifesting itself in requests for action (“affordances" –
see also Chapter 2.2.2) and limitations, as Mark Nunes also postulates:
0 Errors can reveal distinct and overlapping aspects of the technologies that mediate
0 our lives and the designers of those technologies. First, and perhaps most
236 Manon, Hugh S. and Temkin, Daniel: ‘Notes on Glitch’, in:world picture 6, 2011.
online: http://worldpicturejournal.com/WP_6/Manon.html (Retrieved: 23.12.2019).
238 Ingold, Felix Philipp and Sánchez, Yvette (Hg.): Fehler im System: Irrtum, Defizit und Katastrophe als Faktoren
kultureller Produktivität [Error in the System: Error, Deficit and Disaster as Factors of cultural Productivity],
Göttingen: Wallstein-Verl., 2008, p.12.
239 Nunes, Mark: ‘Error, Noise and Potential: The Outside of Purpose’, in: Error, Mark Nunes,
New York: Continuum, 2011, p 3.
107
0 fundamentally, errors can reveal the affordances and constraints of technology
0 that are often invisible to users. Through these affordances and constraints, techno-
0 logies make it easier to do some things, rather than others, and either easier or
0 more difficult to communicate certain messages. Errors can help reveal these hidden
0 constraints and the power that technology imposes.240
0 The glitch's manifestation occurs at the interconnection of the analogue

and digital. It can be argued (see above) that the glitch destroys the analogue
appearance of digital content. The inclusion of the raw and erroneous in a clean
digital representation could also be interpreted as analogue. But the manner of
glitch is in itself completely digital and occurs in explicit awareness of the digital,
as Hugh Manon states:
0 Although it brings together analog and digital modes, glitch is a not at all a refusal
0 of that binary. Glitch is very much a practice situated within digital culture, and
0 with full knowledge of its difference from analog. Glitch is combinatory, but (self-
0 evidently) not a blending or dissolution of the two signal types.241
0 Furthermore, Nunes also describes the error as a corrective in society and the
economy. It can be understood here both as an activistic, artistic corrective, which
questions a controlled system. Paradoxically, however, the error function is also a
component of system optimization and not automatically subversive and critical in
every case:
0 In effect, in the growing dominance of “the network” as social space, we are

0 witnessing the transcendence of a social and cultural system that must suppress at
0 all costs the failure to communicate. This system operates within a paradoxical
0 moment of maximum flow and maximum control. Error, in effect, serves its purpose
0 as a corrective—what keeps purpose on purpose and tasks on goal.242
0 Benjamin Hill then derives from this an explicit mandate for activists (and artists).
Hill describes that the task now is to make technology and its properties visible,
exposing the black box and revealing the intentions of the people who created the
digital system:
online: http://worldpicturejournal.com/WP_6/Manon.html (Retrieved:23.12.2019).
242 Nunes, Mark: ‘Error, Noise and Potential: The Outside of Purpose’,
in:Error, Mark Nunes, New York: Continuum, 2011, p 5 ff.
108
0 Scholars and activists must do more than contextualize and describe technology.
0 They must first render invisible technologies visible. […] These errors can reveal
0 several important features of technologies connected to the power that it, and its
0 designers, have over users. In particular, these examples can speak to the power
0 of technological affordance constraints, technologies that act as intermediaries,
0 and the technology that uses “black boxes” in explicit attempts to hide the
0 technology in question. In all three cases, errors can also reveal the values of the
0 technologies’ designers.243
4.4.1 Glitch Art

0 The influences of “glitch art” can be traced back to the Futurists and Luigi
Russolo's manifesto "L'arte dei Rumori" at the beginning of the twentieth century.
The use of mechanical noise apparatus found its origin here. Faulty technology was
then repeatedly used by artists throughout the twentieth century. Examples include
Bruno Munari ("Movimento d'Arta Concreta"), Franz Walther, Christian Marcley,
Nicolas Colins and Yasunao Tone. “Glitch art” as a digital software phenomenon
is specifically influenced by the history and mindset of hardware-circuit bending,
which was introduced by Reed Ghazala in the 1960s. Artists explored the sonic
qualities of electronic noise by modifying guitar effect pedals and electronic
children's toys, building new instruments from electronic waste and using existing
equipment in unexpected ways. These approaches were used increasingly in the
late 1990s and early 2000s in the software VJ context. The transition to software
modification took place through the use of digital storage media (e.g. CD edits by
Markus Popp under the alias "Oval"). Instead of manipulating toys and consumer
devices, programs were now edited and used contrary to their intended purpose.
With edited programs or their unconventional combination, glitch artists could, for
example, manipulate an image file in such a way that a digital inscription was burned
onto a photo's flawless surface and the numerical structure of the file became
obvious. 244
0 A wide range of soft ware -based approaches to glitch art has become
established: prominent among these is the technique of data moshing, where false
formats are loaded into programs; for instance, photos edited in sound editors,
music edited in Photoshop, an album of data recorded as sound, video files edited
in text editors. The post-media turn is also indirectly noticeable here, according to
which digitalization is said to make differing media more similar by their reduction
244 Manon, Hugh S. und Temkin, Daniel: ‘Notes on Glitch’, in: world picture 6, 2011.
109
to numerical representation. 245 246 Digital software levels the difference between
traditional media formats 247 and these techniques exploit this phenomenon. Artistic
use according to the “generation loss” principle is one technique that likewise
exposes program structures. This term refers to the qualitative loss arising from
repeated use of a process or storage medium ("Video Room 1000", "Sitting In
Stagram").
0 Other examples include operating systems with glitches ("Satromizer OS" by Ben
Syverson and Jon Satrom), glitched fonts (Antonio Roberts' "Dataface"), a glitch
programming language (Daniel Temkin’s „Entropy“ ), glitched wikis and a variety
of tools, from the handy "n0tepad" (Jeff Donaldson and Daniel Temkin) to Anton
Marini's automated tools that create glitch-like visuals for live performance. 248
245 “In der allgemeinen Digitalisierung von Nachrichten und Kanälen verschwinden die Unterschiede zwischen einzel-
nen Medien. Nur noch als Oberflächeneffekt, wie er unterm schönen Namen Interface bei Konsumenten ankommt,
gibt es Ton und Bild, Stimme und Text. Blendwerk werden die Sinne und der Sinn. Ihr Glamour, wie Medien ihn
erzeugt haben, überdauert für eine Zwischenzeit als Abfallprodukt strategischer Programme. In den Computern
selbst dagegen ist alles Zahl: bild-, ton - und wortlose Quantität. Und wenn die Verkabelung bislang getrennte
Datenflüsse alle auf eine digital standardisierte Zahlenfolge bringt, kann jedes Medium in jedes andere übergehen.
Mit Zahlen ist nichts unmöglich. Modulation, Transformation, Synchronisation; Verzögerung, Speicherung, Um-
tastung; Scrambling, Scanning, Mapping - ein totaler Medienverbund auf Digital basis wird den Begriff Medium
selber kassieren. Statt Techniken an Leute anzuschließen, läuft das absolute Wissen als Endlosschleife.“
[In the general digitalization of news and channels, the differences between individual media are disappearing.
Sound and image, voice and text are now only available as surface effects, as they are known to consumers under
the beautiful name Interface. The senses and the sense become dazzling. Their glamour, as created by the media,
survives for an interim period as a waste product of strategic programmes. In the computers themselves, however,
everything is number: image-, sound- and wordless quantity. And if the cabling of previously separated data streams
brings them all together in a digitally standardised sequence of numbers, each medium can merge into any other.
Nothing is impossible with numbers. Modulation, transformation, synchronization; delay, storage, keying; scrambling,
scanning, mapping - a total media network on a digital basis will take the term medium itself. Instead of connecting
techniques to people, absolute knowledge will run as an endless loop.]
Kittler, Friedrich: Grammophon, Film, Typewriter, Berlin: Brinkmann & Bose, 1986, pp. 1-2.
246 “No single medium is dominant any longer; instead, all of the different media influence and determine each other."
This condition is portrayed as the conciliatory climax of a struggle spanning the history of arts and sciences ever
since the ancient Greece.”
Weibel, Peter : ‘The Post-Media Condition’, in: Metamute (2006).
online: http://www.metamute.org/editorial/lab/post-media-condition (Retrieved:20.7.2019)
247 “A possible explanation is the so-called post-medium condition. Most computer softwares use elements from
traditional media as a graphic user interface: the design of word editing programs is derived from typewriters, digital
audio workstations from tape machines, video editors from analog film editors, etc. Underneath this representational
layer, however, all medium-specific elements which the interfaces still suggest exist have dissolved. From a technical
point of view, all information looks the same and is interchangeable at the data level. With a few simple tricks I can
import a sound file into a photo editing program and look at it as a visual representation of the same data, or – vice
versa – I can listen to the noise my favorite cat photos produce when I import them into a sound editor.”
Ciciliani, Marko: ‘Music in the Expanded Field – On Recent Approaches to Interdisciplinary Composition’,
in Darmstädter Beiträge zur Neuen Musik 23 [Darmstadt Articles on New Music],
Michael Rebhahn and Thomas Schäfer, 2017, p.24.
110
Several other examples, such as Helmut Smit, David O'Reilly, Arno Beck and
Google Map glitches, can be found in Chapter 6.1.
0 Within the context of music, a glitch is certainly most prominent in experimental
electronics. Entire labels, such as Mille Plateaux, Scape~, 12K or Raster Noton, and
artists like Ryoji Ikeda, Alva Noto, Kit Klayton, Oval, Kim Cascone, Pole or Pan Sonic
have been established around this genre. A clearly identifiable sound language was
formed here, with overlaps to genres like “clicks'n'cuts”, “glitch hop”, and “noise”.
This style has also found its way into contemporary composition and can be found
more and more regularly in the generation of younger composers. This language
asserts itself similarly to Helmut Lachenmann's "musique concrète instrumentale"
playing techniques and has to endure the same questions of relevance and impact
in the process. Prominent representatives from contemporary music include Stefan
Prins; in his piece "Generation Kill" musicians are projected onto semi-transparent
gauze in a glitch aesthetic. Matthias Kranebitter, Martin Schüttler, Kaj Duncan
David, Andreas Eduardo Frank and Marko Ciciliani also make use of this style.
0 This aesthetic has a long tradition, and it can be asked what its prospects are
and to what extent this method is still relevant. A fundamental development can be
recorded in that the playful DIY character of the glitch from the circuit bending scene
has changed. This practice often had something anarchic, but also infantile about
it. Although the modification of children's toys can be understood as a criticism
of consume-obsessed capitalism, it always had something of an amateurish aura.
The transfer to the digital software space does not change anything fundamental
about this at first. Here too, a glitch, e.g. as a jump in a lo-fi bit representation,
can be more like a reduction to something naïve. A nostalgic moment sometimes
resonates here, too. As described in Chapter 2.2, however, the use and presence
of digital content and media have changed fundamentally, and so the devices in
which a fault occurs are also of a different relevance. Most people today are able
to grasp the direct and personal impact from errors in computers, mobile phones,
ATMs, bank servers or data centres. By now we can imagine the influence these
malfunctions have on our personal lives. Additionally, the devices have taken on
a new closeness and intimacy, more connected to the world we live in. So it is
conceivable that perhaps only now – in advanced post-digital age – the digital error
is relevant. This can be refuted by the assumption that this technology's consistent
development and introduction into the mainstream will lead to a habituation effect.
If glitch becomes a quote, a hipster aesthetic or a standard effect, then the power
of such disruption is naturally lost a little in the process. If, however, glitch is
understood not so much as a visual or sonic effect, but as a means of breaking with
content, then it is possible, even or especially today, to argue for an application of
this aesthetic. Hugh Manon says about this characteristically:
0 Glitch art does not ―dirty up a text, but instead undermines its basic structure.
0 Glitch damage is integral, even when its effects manifest at the surface.249
249 Manon, Hugh S. and Temkin, Daniel: ‘Notes on Glitch’ in: world picture 6, 2011.
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4.4.2 Analogue Glitch Art and Surface Error
0 In my compositional practice, the digital error, the glitch aesthetic and the inter-
ruption of a setting play a central role. Regarding this, I would like to present here
two of my basic approaches. One is the transfer of a digital error into an analogue
(and thus postdigital) situation, the other is the use of the error as a compositional
tool of interruption and for viewing behind the surface layer.
0 I was already being socialized with this music as a teenager, and it is one of my
musical origins. Ever since I began making music with computers, my work method
has been characterized by cutting, copying and pasting procedures. Working
with hard cuts, digital artefacts and the emphasis on "clicks" and "cuts" was an
almost natural language for me. This was also the result of a very studio – or
music production-oriented – policy, which had a decisive influence on my musical
procedure in the first years. For me, it was never about simply recording acoustic
pieces or producing naturalistic mixes or illustrations. The artificial digital product
had always been my focus from the beginning. The contrasting of field recordings
with digitally emulated soundscapes was a common practice of mine. From early
on, I always let the fact that it was an artificial production shimmer through in the
pieces, albeit mostly by intuition. Tracks were suddenly switched or broken off, or
sounds looped in a clearly recognizably digital form. As already mentioned, the
glitch aesthetic has become more and more mainstream since that time (the mid-
1990s). In many programmes, it is already a standard effect which can be used
for embellishment. I still enjoy this tonal language – perhaps almost with nostalgia
– but for me, the reason for its further use is actually more like a tool, and not so
much as a sonic-visual stylistic device.
0 The postdigital use of the error first focused on the digital medium, revealing its
structure, storage characteristics and nature. An interpretation of the postdigital
perspective is, as described, also the application of digital operations and modes to
the analogue world. An artistic approach I derive from this is the simulation of digital
errors in a physical, non-digital context. This method could therefore also be called
“post-post-digital”, as it detaches the digital medium's self-reflection from itself, il-
lustrating it in the analogue. In "Sensate Focus", the performers' artificial playing
movements are spotlit in short intervals to give them a machine-like, defective
representation. They resemble digitally cut, arranged, defective versions of a
human being. This approach is further exaggerated in the composition "Codec
Error", where too, onstage musicians are lit up by flashes of light. In this case, the
musicians are illuminated from different directions with varying colours in very
brief intervals. As a result, the light captures them from changing angles during
the progression of a movement and with alternating colours. If, for example, the
arm is moved quickly from top to bottom, the result may be that, in its uppermost
position, the arm is illuminated red from behind, a few milliseconds later green from
the left, and then blue from the right. As with frames in video editing and colour
planes in image processing, the movement is broken down into its individual parts.
Of course, this impression is basically familiar from stroboscopes – but not in the
colour shift, the lighting angles and the millisecond timing. This effect analogously
emulates video glitch processing by suggesting RGB frame offsets. (The technical
procedure is described in more detail in Chapter 6.1.9.) This effect is actually a
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clearly technical one and inevitably bound to a screen and a video signal. It is,
therefore, a visual language, which is normally communicated via a computer. The
transfer to an analogue stage situation makes this visual language now palpable
in analogue and, in so doing, comments on the increasing presence of digital
codes and aesthetics in our visual habits. This process can be understood as
an intensification. Taken to the extreme is a trend in which representations and
perception are increasingly influenced by digital languages. A circumstance we
might otherwise experience unconsciously or unreflectively is made perceptible
and experienceable. The intensity, urgency and aggression of this representation
can also be understood as a reference to the vehement assertiveness of the digital
in society. Further explanations of this approach can be found in Chapter 6.1.9.
0 The second basic use of the digital error in my compositions is to be seen as

a tool for interrupting, cutting and breaking through a surface. It is therefore also
a function in terms of content, structure or form. Nevertheless, the error is always
conveyed in a technical-medial way. So: there is no exclusively musical, theatrical
or narrative break or error; but rather, a digital setting is always used and, with the
help of digital platforms and tools, a content error always brought about. Most of
the applications in my work have a common overlaying theme in allowing a look
behind the façade or surface. There are a number of examples, which I would now
like to cite.
0 The error leads to the termination of a program view or program interface. This
means, for example, that a PowerPoint presentation breaks off and the system
switches from the presentation view to the editing view. Here, the integrity of a
presentation is suspended and sovereignty relinquished. A supposedly inviolable
surface (and thus also assertion) becomes porous for the view of what is behind it.
It is now shown that this content is also constructed and that it can be edited and
changed. It also gives an insight into a less ordered, less clean version of what is
shown, and has connotations of injury. The unintentional disclosure of content is
initially associated with fear. A similar approach is used by pieces that quit and
interrupt a coherent video projection, referring here to the interruption of a media
setting established in a concert.
0 Another recurring element is the use of green screens and the sudden disclosure
of the procedure, caused by errors. By definition, the green screen is intended to be
hidden, and its appearance, or the artefacts of faulty colour-keying, are inevitably
interpreted as a defect. The appearance of a green screen is a process visually
connoted as an error, inadvertently revealing the production method and fiction
of the scene. Thus, this process has something of a sense of “dis-illusionment"
in that an illusion is removed (Chapter 4.6). A view of an empty, virtual world is
consequently opened up, in addition to showing the scene's composite mode. The
green screen room is the modern technical implementation of a “nothing“. Like
the grey and white chequered background of an empty Photoshop document, it
is the postdigitally visualized symbol of a “non-space“, a place where nothing is
located. It is a place where people, objects and scenes can be collaged and put
together at will. Along with the analogue "composite view" (Chapter 4.3.3), this is
a representation using the actual digital means themselves.
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3 Video-Still "f1"
0 In some pieces, the interface of digital terminals itself is also deconstructed and
broken down into its components. In "f1", a mobile phone is shown, but in course,
its display is proven to be retouched. At this point, the physical mobile phone in the
video recording and the video retouched on the surface (with the interface of the
mobile phone) are separated from each other. A complete uncoupling of physical
and digital object underlines the device's black box character. The simple separation
of the screen content from the object makes clear how much interaction with the
technical interface is limited to the surface, and how little access we have to the
black box behind it. In "Star Me Kitten", a similar process is executed with a desk-
top computer. Here too, the screen content and the mouse cursor are separated
from the physical object of the screen. A similar effect is thus achieved. Both pieces
embed these processes in dreamlike, unconscious or overwhelming narratives. On
the one hand, this creates a metaphor of obscurity and misunderstanding – but
it also constructs a space in which everything is theoretically possible. Here, the
subjective narrative strand is also partly a metaphor for a digital technology, which
is precisely what makes it so distinctive: it is only visible to us on the surface
and is potentially omnipotent. The nightmarish sequences of these pieces also
allow a critical reading of this situation. However, the connection between content
and technique in these pieces is by no means unidirectional: the techniques are
certainly used to the same extent as a metaphor, to implement the subjective and
emotional narratives. It is therefore a fusion and interpenetration of these two
aspects. This vanishing border between the worlds is the subtext of the pieces and
should be experienced as an intoxicating effect.
0 I see the relevance of the digital error's usage consequently in its ability to be
used as a tool for disclosure. 250 I do not (only) use it as a digital sound or video
effect, but try to use it both to illustrate the digital imprinting of visual habits in the
analogue world and as an editing tool, to create a disclosure between two opposing
worlds. These worlds are initially the analogue and digital, but in the next step, an
250 The German word “Sichtbarmachung” [making visible] is translated here, as elsewhere, to not only refer to
visualisation but also to revelation of content.
114
entire subsequent series emerges of implicitly and explicitly contradictory pairings.
I would like to choose the paraphrases “virtuality“, “uncoupling” and “deception” as
generic terms for these antagonists and discuss them in more detail in the following
sections.
4.5 Virtuality and Uncoupling

0 This text has addressed the permeation of the digital and analogue in the post-
digital context in various ways. Technology's visibility and invisibility in the physical
world was also explored, and, peripherally, the themes of disillusionment, reality
and virtuality touched upon. These terms will now be discussed in detail within the
postdigital context and in the approach of making visible and perceptible.
0 The previously discussed permeation of digital and analogue is not to be
understood as equating or levelling their differences. It does not mean that
analogue and digital are transformed into one – only that the interconnection
increases. Figuratively speaking, one could talk about two levels which are brought
together and from which we perceive or hide different aspects. In many cases,
there are two coupled systems which are made to overlap in this fashion. This
is done, for example, through interfaces, GPS coordinates, motion tracking, face
tracking, “internet of things”, and computer-based tools. The further this (technical)
development progresses, the more integral the linking and the accuracy of it should
become. This overlapping then affects the aspects of virtuality and simulation under
discussion.
0 I have introduced the visualization of digital content as a postdigital tool. This
approach can be varied and specified in terms of the label’s virtuality, simulation
and reality. The uncoupling of the analogue and technically mediated world can be
understood as an (artistic) practice that separates the processes of overlapping
and connecting again and consequently makes them tangible and criticisable.
0 In a technical development which seems to pursue a goal of increased coupling,
the concept of uncoupling must also be understood within the already introduced
context of error. The coupling's breakdown fulfils the already presented criteria of
a reflection of the underlying system.
0 Very concretely and referring to my compositional practice, I would like to discuss
the topic of uncoupling in three contexts: first, fundamentally concerning reality
and authenticity; then, on the one hand, concerning the uncoupling of instruments
from gestures; and, on the other, dealing with the uncoupling of physical forms in
VR settings.
0 As intriguing as this thematic complex is, its standpoints, historical and
philosophical connotations, and implications are extensive. Given the danger of
simplification and definitive incompletion, I would nevertheless like to position this
complex of themes relative to my artistic practice and refer to further literature on
the specific subjects.
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4.5.1 Fundamental Terms
A. (Plurality of) Reality
0 In discussing what is true, real or authentic in a digitally mediated world, we
are picking up on a philosophical discussion which has already discussed these
issues intensively even before technical progress was made. The wide range of
philosophical and scientific standpoints shows how difficult it is, even without
digital media, to find a general definition and to give binding names to the essential
aspects of the construction of a reality.
0 By "true“, philosophy generally refers to the totality of all that which, as a given,
can be perceived and experienced by us at all, or which can become the object
of our reflection. In contrast, “real” describes something that is the existence of a
thing, its real mode of being. 251 It can, however, certainly be stated that – perhaps
in different specifics – even before virtualization and technical permeation, the
concept of "pure" reality, without constructivist, psychological, biological, social
imprints and influences, had served its time, as too, Wolfgang Welsch observed:
0 Reality was virtual to begin with252
0 The real can thus be understood as a layering of different levels of imprinting and
influence, which may complement or even contradict each other:
0 ‘Reality’ – where traits like naturalness and reliability are prominent – has proven
0 basically to be a depth effect. It implies a variety of layers, and it is the inclusion of
0 sedimentations of various kinds (bodily, emotional, semantic, conceptual, etc.) that
0 creates the effect ‘real’.253
0 The metaphorical image of the layered levels can be important for the
consideration here because reality and virtuality should not so much be seen as
two opposites, but in the postdigital sense, rather as components “lying within each
other.” Paradoxically, the relationship or hierarchy of construction and reality can
now be read in both directions:
0 So construction, on the one hand, precedes and, on the other hand, follows reality.
– Therefore we had better expect a complex instead of a simplistic architecture of
0 things.254
0 Since a more profound explanation here would go beyond the scope of the
presentation, I would like to refer to the essay "Wirklich" by Wolfgang Welsch,
252 Welsch, Wolfgang: ‘Virtual to Begin With’, in: Subjektivität und Öffentlichkeit [Subjectivity and Publicity],
Mike Sandbothe and Winfried Marotzki, Cologne: von Halem Verlag, 2000, p.16.
254 Welsch, Wolfgang: ‘Virtual to Begin With’, in: Subjektivität und Öffentlichkeit [ Subjectivity and Publicity],
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which can provide a good overview of variants of meaning and models of reality. 255
Here, the idea of truth in its basic meaning is spoken of as a “total of being, which,
independent of interpretations, underlies everything” – thus, the virtual and the
trivial is also included. The non-existent, faked, simulated, untrue, and inauthentic
things are cited as counterparts. Benjamin Jorissen 256 sees art as a cultural form
of experience which, on the one hand, can only function based on the distinction
“real vs. unreal”, while, on the other hand, the experiences of reality and the non-
reality (in the sense of illusion, fiction, appearance) are related to each other. Thus,
the borderline is fluid and the fictional is inscribed in the “really” experienced. For
art, it can be deduced from this that, beyond the discourses specific to art, it is in
a multi-layered and multi-perspective starting position, which can be its chance
to depict or reflect:
0 (Art as a model sphere for plurality) is not the effect of a fashion, but an expression
0 of the normative constitution of a reality that has become plural.257
0 ... Ambivalence is the least that can be expected in the present world conditions 258
0 The concept of reality will now be examined in the context of virtuality. 259
B. (Independence of) Virtuality

0 Whether the virtual is the opposite of the real or a part of it, or whether virtual
objects are to be perceived categorically differently, is likewise the subject of
different perspectives and is undergoing historical change. The genesis of the
concept of virtuality and its perception over time can be summarized as follows 260 :
for a long time, there was only one use: the virtual was understood as the potential,
thus it belonged to the same order as the real. This characteristic goes back to the
ontology of Aristotle and extends through the Middle Ages to Leibniz’s extension of
the model to epistemology. However, the limitation of this property is obvious. The
virtual, if we understand it as potential, has no value of its own; its only destiny is
to be realized and thus disappear as virtual. This is an imperative that is inherent
in traditional ontology and epistemology: being and cognition should be perfectly
255 Welsch, Wolfgang: ‘Wirklich’ in: Medien, Computer, Realität [‘True’ in: Media,Computer,Reality],
Sybille Krämer, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 2003, p.169 ff.
256 Jörissen, Benjamin: ‘Beobachtungen der Realität: Die Frage nach der Wirklichkeit im Zeitalter der Neuen Medien’
[Observations of Reality: The Question of Truth in the Age of New Media], Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2007, p.17.
257 Welsch, Wolfgang: Ästhetisches Denken [Aesthetic Thinking], Stuttgart: Reclam, 1991, p.112.
258 “[Kunst als Modellsphäre für Pluralität] ist nicht Effekt einer Mode, sondern Ausdruck der normativen Verfassung
einer plural gewordenen Wirklichkeit. […] Ambivalenz ist das mindeste, womit man bei den gegenwärtigen
Weltverhältnissen rechnen muss.”
Welsch, Wolfgang: Ästhetisches Denken [Aesthetic Thinking], Stuttgart: Reclam, 1991, p.192.
259 Since the discussion will focus mainly on this aspect, for an overview of the literature of the concept of reality in
relation to media I recommend the essay by Benjamin Jorissen ‘Beobachtungen der Realität: Die Frage nach der
Wirklichkeit im Zeitalter der Neuen Medien’
[Observations of Reality: The Question of Truth in the Age of New Media], Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2007,p.13f.
260 Welsch, Wolfgang: ‘Virtual to Begin With’ in: Subjektivität und Öffentlichkeit [Subjectivity and Publicity],
Mike Sandbothe and Winfried Marotzki, Cologne: von Halem, 2000, p.6.
117
realized, potentiality should be transferred into reality as completely as possible.
0 It was only later that a different understanding emerged, distinguishing the idea
of a status of the virtual from the order of the real. This understanding, prepared
by Kant, was significantly further developed by Bergson. However, Bergson did
not turn from simple monism to simple dualism but also dealt with the connections
between the virtual and the real. Although the real is superimposed on the virtual,
a separation remains fundamental.
0 Welsch concludes that the following orientation can be derived from this
historical overview: the relationship between the virtual and the real is a complex
relationship that cannot be reduced to a traditional, realistic or postmodern virtual
monism. Therefore, he recommends that a differentiation – taking into account
both interdependence and distinction – should prevail. In contrast to this, or in
an escalation of such understood virtuality, it is worth looking at the concept of
simulation.
C. (Complete) Simulation / Hyper-reality

0 Simulation theory is a central element in Jean Baudrillard's work. The principle of
simulation is also generally known in everyday language as a model or as a computer-
aided imitation. In a time that generates signs and images to a high degree, the
question arises as to what extent these change from having a simulating to having a
replacing, integral character. It is based on this question that Baudrillard describes
the age of simulation – the world in such an advanced state of visualization that it
becomes increasingly impossible to determine the difference between image and
reality at all. “The principle of simulation overcomes the principle of reality.”261
0 If there is a (technical) artificial exaggeration or intensification of the “true”, the
“real”, one speaks of hyperrealism. Here, either reality and simulation are no
longer distinguishable or, in the art form of the same name, exaggerated to such
an extent that the natural becomes unreal. As can be read from historical and
aesthetic experience, reproduction technology in art and mass culture has equally
become an efficient technology for the reproduction of the “ever-same” in the field
of social imaginary. 262 Jean Baudrillard saw in this a destruction of reality through
the hyperrealism of electronic image media, which would exactly duplicate the
real; the visual media being in a continuous cycle of reproduction, in which copies
are continuously made, from one medium to the next. This process leads not only
to the destruction of reality but even to the dissolution of the real itself. It would
become tangible and communicable for us only through its similarity to itself. But
the “resemblance of the real to itself” is hallucinatory and consequently nothing
else but its “unreality”: a suspension of the real. 263 In the simulacrum, the real is
261 Strehle, Samuel:Zur Aktualität von Jean Baudrillard: Einleitung in sein Werk [On the Actuality of Jean Baudrilard:
Introduction to his Work], Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2012, p.98.
262 Schweppenhäuser, Gerhard: Ästhetik: Philosophische Grundlagen und Schlüsselbegriffe
[Aesthetics: Philosophical Fundamentals and Key Terms], Frankfurt am Main: Campus Verlag, 2007, p.182.
263 Schweppenhäuser, Gerhard:Ästhetik: Philosophische Grundlagen und Schlüsselbegriffe
118
then lost completely, since it consists of a simulation or the original without reality.
A detailed history of the concepts of simulation, simulacrum and fiction can be
found in Samuel Strehle. 264
0 For Baudrillard, the concept of simulation serves above all as a cypher for the
present age and its crisis of representation, and he describes this with four levels
of simulation – and the increasing uncoupling from reality265 :
0 1. it is a reflex of a deeper reality

0 2. it masks and denatures a deeper reality
0 3. it masks an absence of a deeper reality
0 4. it refers to no reality: it is its own simulacrum
0 So a shift is observed from the signs (or images) that dissimulate something to
the signs that dissimulate that there is nothing.
0 Contrary to Welsch's proposal, Baudrillard describes a very absolute version of
the simulation's intensification and with it a thoroughly black variant of postmodern
diagnosis. For him, this also implies that the end of history has already come to
pass – and that now, in the hereafter, there is an indifference to and irrelevance
of all oppositions and findings. Regarding the information society, in which reality
is created by information, he concludes that it has become difficult or impossible
to distinguish reality from appearance. Baudrillard assumes that virtuality has an
absolutist character:
0 Virtuality aims only for prostitution, for the extinction of the real by its double.266
0 Whether the simulation will completely replace and erase the real may yet be
questioned at this point in time. Nevertheless, the influence of the digital world on
the shaping of the physical world is clearly noticeable. Algorithmic services of the
gig economy, GPS maps, the organization of goods and rental services significantly
shape our environment. Perhaps it is not that the hyper-real takes the place of the
real; perhaps the analogue is so very permeated that it is infiltrated and transformed.
In Elena Esposito's formulation, virtuality pursues even more far-reaching goals
than simulation: it does not want to create false true objects, but true virtual objects.
0 For them, the question of real reality is completely indifferent.267
264 Strehle, Samuel: Zur Aktualität von Jean Baudrillard: Einleitung in sein Werk [On the Actuality of Jean Baudrilard:
265 “es ist Reflex einer tieferliegenden Realität”, “es maskiert und denaturiert eine tieferliegende Realität”, “es maskiert
eine Abwesenheit einer tieferliegenden Realität”, “es verweist auf keine Realität: es ist sein eigenes Simulakrum”
Strehle, Samuel: Zur Aktualität von Jean Baudrillard: Einleitung in sein Werk [On the Actuality of Jean Baudrilard:
266 Baudrillard, Jean: ‘Illusion, Desillusion, Ästhetik’ in:Illusion und Simulation. Begegnung mit der Realität
[‘Illusion, Dissillusion, Aesthetics’ in: Illusion and Simulation.Encountering Reality],
Stefan Iglhaut, Florian Rötzer and Elisabeth Schweeger, Ostfildern: Cantz, 1995, pp.90-101.
267 “Für sie ist die Frage der realen Realität ganz und gar gleichgültig.”
119
0 This intensification raises the question of hierarchy: which object is given
priority and which view and imprint will prevail in the digital context. A call
to action can be read from this, to deal artistically with this area of conflict.
4.5.2 Uncoupling of the Tools

0 Using digital tools and forms of presentation, maximum uncoupling on several
levels has become possible. Digital content can be freely linked or transferred to
one another, gestures and actions can be combined with any causal outcomes
and media results. Time and space can be bridged (at least more easily and
comprehensively with the digital). This uncoupling – based on the calculability of all
digital content – represents the basis for the increased occurrence of virtualization.
The digital is quasi predestined for the virtual – for the possible, the alternative and
the simulative. First, I would like to consider this aspect in relation to digital inter-
faces in general and in the musical context in particular. The musical context can be
seen here as the use case of a generally valid circumstance in which progressive
virtualisation can be observed via digital tools.
0 The importance of the virtual in the (musical) production process is increasing.
Virtual studios, instruments, interfaces can be observed, and there is a trend
towards free assignability and linkage. 268 This aspect becomes particularly clear
in the basic definition of a digital musical instrument: in a digital instrument, there
is a completely freely definable mapping level between the input level (interface)
and the output level (sound production). 269 The freedom, capriciousness and
expressivism of this layer can be seen as a metaphor for all linkage levels of digital
implementations. In this digital context, there are consequently only virtual settings,
an aspect which can be obscured when software emulates or replicates analogue
devices. 270 In some cases, analogue devices are completely digitally emulated – and
completely simulated; in others, the surfaces merely simulate a pseudo-analogue
interface. However, completely digital programs and technologies also exist (e.g.
granular synthesis) which no longer have any analogue equivalents. In any case,
the correlation between surface/interface/GUI/gestural i.e. control and the sonic
result is a freely definable one – and consequently optional and arbitrary. For this
reason, I have suggested the term "virtual imperative”(Chapter 4.9), to emphasize
268 Michael Harenberg: “Reicht das ‘Neue’ in der Neuen Musik nicht mehr aus, um zu beschreiben, was derzeit am
‘Neuesten’ passiert? Angesichts der Virtualisierung von musikalischen Produktionsprozessen bin ich geneigt, die
Frage mit ‘Ja’ zu beantworten.“ [ Is the ‘Neue’ in new music no longer sufficient to describe what is currently
happening in the ‘latest’? In view of the virtualization of musical production processes, I am inclined to answer the
question with ‘Yes.’] in Harenberg, Michael: ‘Die Rationalisierung des Virtuellen in der Musik’,
in: Konfigurationen [‘The Rationalization of Virtuality in Music’, in: Configurations],
Sigrid Schade and Georg Christoph Tholen, Munich: Fink, 1999, pp.160–175.
269 Mirando, Eduardo Reck and Wanderley, Marcelo M.: New Digital Musical Instruments:
Control and Interactions Beyond the Keyboard, Middleton: A-R Editions Inc, 2006, p.3.
270 Harenberg, Michael: Virtuelle Instrumente im akustischen Cyberspace: Zur musikalischen Ästhetik des digitalen
Zeitalters [Virtual Instruments in acoustic Cyberspace: On musical Aesthetics in the Digital Age],
Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2014, p.79ff.
120
that the examination of this (consciously or unconsciously) made interconnection
is an elementary part of every digital implementation (and thus, of multimedia art).
In taking this point seriously – i.e. the arbitrary nature of the interconnection – we
may view this virtualization as a postdigital perspective. The focus is explicitly upon
the type of connection – or rather, the fact of the connection: then it is no longer
a mere use of the digital tool but addresses its role and connotation. One could
conclude from this that it can be artistically meaningful to develop new concepts
of embodiment and composition taking this postdigital situation into account. 271
0 In my compositional work, I have dealt with sensor-based interfaces in a series of

pieces. In these works, I use motion sensors to couple gestures with media content.
Within the context of a postdigital perspective, I consider the free linkage (mapping)
of the input and output levels of a digital (musical) program to be an essential
aspect. This virtual connection of input and output assumes a central role once
the pure use of the digital instrument has become the standard. The reflection of
this virtuality plays a decisive role in the postdigital context. Here too, I would like
to propose the compositional approach as a postdigital tool that can contribute to
elaboration and disclosure: in this case, concretely, it is uncoupling; in other words,
an untangling or detachment of two levels that were previously coupled and which
have permeated each other. In these compositions, this means in precise terms
that an uncoupling takes place between the performative, gestural controlling level
of the performers' actions on the one hand and the resulting sonic (and visual)
results on the other.
0 This uncoupling of the two levels is, however, not only of a technical nature but
also representative of the content transported with it. As a result, a link between
cause and effect establishes a logic – even if this logic is freely selectable. In
this way, a truth is asserted and, at the same time, a setting established, naturally
creating a mental connection (coupling) between an action (a signifier) and what
it stands for according to this attribution (signifier). A structure is defined – an
assignment; and this coupling's randomness – and that it can be easily manipulated
in the digital world – is then the object of uncoupling.
0 The first step in these works is to establish a connection or coupling between
gestures and results. First, the recognition of playing movements and their tonal
271 Jin Hyun Kim: “So wurde es notwendig, sich mit relevanten Körper-Konzepten, die im Kontext der kulturwissen-
schaftlichen und medientheoretischen Körperdiskurse diskutiert werden, auseinanderzusetzen. Es konnte
konstatiert werden, dass in den meist diskutierten Körper-Konzepten wie als Ding vs. Konstrukt die Idee der
Trennung der materiellen von der nicht-materiellen Substanz aufrechterhalten bleibt, so dass die Exploration mit
einem alternativen Konzept des embodiment unabdingbar wird.” [Thus, it became necessary to deal with relevant
body concepts discussed in the context of cultural studies and media theory body discourses. It could be stated
that in the most discussed body concepts, such as thing vs. construct, the idea of separating the material from the
non-material substance is maintained, so that the exploration with an alternative concept of embodiment becomes
indispensable.]in: Kim, Jin Hyun: "Embodiment" in interaktiven Musik- und Medienperformances,
in: Osnabrücker Beiträge zur systematischen Musikwissenschaft [‘"Embodiment "in interactive Music and Media
Performances’, in: Osnabrück Articles on systematic Musical Analysis], Bernd Enders,
Osnabrück: epOs-Verlag Osnabrück, 2012 (= Nr. 21), p.346.
121
translation takes place. In the next step, the movement is separated from the
instrumental playing and the actions are transferred into an artificial action space:
from this point on, there is no longer any physical equivalence of movement. In
"Laplace Tiger", for example, the playing movement moves progressively away from
the drums. Nevertheless, a type of rule system or logic is initially retained, even if it
no longer concerns natural playing movements. We understand that sensor-based
control is involved. Although the linkage is initially a black box – it is nevertheless
intuitively comprehensible and understandable. The aim is therefore to establish a
setting in which a mapping is more or less assumed; hence, initially an affirmative
use of digitality, and we can adopt this virtual setting as such.
0 The uncoupling of these established settings accordingly takes place on two
levels: technically and in content. Technical uncoupling means a dissolution
(caused by errors) of the connectivity rules. Uncoupling in terms of content means
that the established convention of the action character is abandoned and rewritten.
0 Technical uncoupling takes place, for example, in "Point Ones". Here, from one
point in the piece onwards, the gestures are temporally decoupled from the tonal
results. An increasing latency gradually removes the coupling between gesture
and result. What is initially perceived as a small offset then leads to the complete
separation of the two events. Similarly, some of the conductor's gestures suddenly
no longer trigger sonic events, although this connection was clearly defined at the
beginning. The setting's arbitrariness and artificiality are successively demonstrated
using the error principle (Chapter 4.4). Whilst previously, the audience's attention
was perhaps focused more upon the (electronically supported) gestures' impetus
and expressiveness, this section leads to a reorientation and rethinking of the setting.
Of further relevance for this aspect is, in this piece, the conductor’s changing focus.
His conducting movements alternately apply to the ensemble or the computer, thus
continuously alternating between a virtual and a physically present ensemble. At
times, both levels are additionally completely intermixed. Within this context, the
permeation of both layers and the separation of the two levels are of interest.
0 I have extended these approaches in later pieces such as "Your Fox's, A Dirty
Gold", or "Serious Smile". Here, the gestural repertoire plays an even more decisive
role, and the combination of gesture and digital connection becomes more relevant.
In "Your Fox's, A Dirty Gold", for a singer with an electric guitar and sensors, a
catalogue of gestures is constructed, feeding off the hardcore and pop context.
The strong, expressive movements support the powerful impetus of the piece and
define one of the singer's roles. In the course of the piece, however, the autonomous
character of the performance is contrasted and broken. The electric guitar, used
in the piece only as a control interface and not as a sound generator, is used as
the controller for an electric guitar solo and a feedback passage. In the solo, pitch
and fingering position are completely uncoupled from each other, resulting in a
feeling of inconsistency. Virtual control level and physical-performative level no
longer coincide. This circumstance is less easily understood by the audience in the
feedback sequence, but nevertheless, the once anarchic act of uncontrolled noise
– epitomizing a musical revolt taking place in the here and now – is transformed
into a virtual counterpart. The detached relic of the electric guitar degenerates into
a controller and, deprived of its actual function, is held over the singer's head. It
122
is a demonstration of the actual loss of function. It is a representation of the inter-
connection level and the simulation. This image begins with the simulation of the
real process and then becomes increasingly alienated from the real.
0 The successive distancing from the simulated performance mode becomes
particularly tangible in its characteristics in the passage in which the singer takes
a slow‑motion bow, like a marionette facing the audience. A dominant and powerful
performance turns here into a strangely artificial passage. While once technology
obeyed man, here man seems to become the tool of the digital. Speaking on the
simulation levels: the simulation of an original hardcore performance moves away,
bit by bit, and loses its connection to a real origin. At some point, it suffices itself
and abandons the connection. I subsequently understand the contrasting of these
perspectives in the piece as an active process of visualization: the demonstration
of any digital link and the different modes of simulation. 272 The mutual influence of
the virtual and the real is also described by Wolfgang Welsch, who also emphasizes
the mutual condition:
0 Likewise when dealing with what is obviously real, we should (at a reflective level
0 at least) be aware of the degree of virtuality entailed by the various sedimentations
0 on which this reality is based. We should recognize – and might even admire – that
0 both age old as well as more recent cultural, and perhaps even specifically personal,
0 fictions are, as it were, frozen in this reality, and that this is how the apparent
0 solidity of this reality comes about. So there is intertwinement between the virtual
0 and the real. They are largely coextensive. Reality is the result of the clotting of
0 virtuality; it is frozen virtuality. If we consider the various degrees of virtuality
0 which are built in reality of every kind, then we may very well say – and this is
0 how I answer the question raised in the heading of this essay – that reality was
0 already virtual to begin with.273
0 The aspect of simulation is further intensified in the composition „Serious Smile“,

in which three musicians and a conductor are equipped with sensors. The piece
begins and ends with a very dense and loud interweaving of acoustic and sound
events, piloted and achieved purely by extreme gestures. Two aspects from the
piece’s progressive course are to be emphasized here. Firstly, the arbitrariness of
the combination of gesture and sound is increasingly taken ad absurdum. Gestures
trigger almost any sound effects that depart from the musical stage context and
are explicitly selected from Sound FX libraries. Access to a digital sound archive is
taking place, quasi within the performance process. Above all, however, the focus
shifts at this moment to the possibility of virtually any interconnection. In some
cases, the playing movements simulate the appropriate action to the sound, while
in other cases the opposite is true.
272 This reflection naturally also touches on the question of the authenticity of the performance and the established
persona of the singer. This aspect will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 4.6.
123
0 The second aspect of the composition is the increasing elimination of acoustic
playing actions in its middle section. Instrumental parts disappear completely,
leaving only a virtual simulation space controlled by sensors. The previously
coupled acoustic and digital levels are, at this point, completely separated from
each other, and a strangely empty interaction space remains, in which the musicians
control merely virtual sound sources. This process robs the previously energetic
setting of its power and dynamics. Strangely enough, the emptier the piece, the
more soulless the sound and the more physically irrelevant the movements, the more
touching the work becomes. It cannot be said that this transition to virtualization or
simulation must necessarily be seen as negative. Perhaps something is allowed in
this space that, because of its wear and tear, no longer feels allowed in the physical
space. Perhaps it is possible to feel something real in this apparently unreal space?
0 The comparison of physically experienceable – and thus perceived as “real” –
interactions and communications with simulated, virtual content is a continuous
theme of my work. Here the question arises as to what is “real” or “true” in this
context, and which parts are “faked” or “simulated”. Against the background that
digital technologies are allowing deception, manipulation and simulation to a new
extent, this question is worth further attention.
4.6 Truth and Dis-Illusionment 274
0 The reflection and thematization of forms of creation and representation altered

by technology in terms of authenticity and reality is an opportunity for post-
digital aesthetics. Here, too, a postdigital practice can be understood as a tool of
disclosure, revealing 275 the complex construction of "true" or "authentic" content
in a media context. A work of art can establish a logic or a view and is, therefore,
a suitable tool with which to illustrate the mechanisms and processes of digital
reality generation. In continuation of the concept of reality and simulation (Chapter
4.5), this chapter will discuss the extent to which the topic of authenticity and reality
can be addressed by digital means. As previously described, truth and reality
had become a complex and inconsistent concept with constructivist components
long before digitalization. The role of the media in the postdigital disillusioned
age suggests that this approach should be examined once again in a topical way.
It can be assumed that digital media contribute another level to the construction
of reality and deception. A work of art realized with digital means now already
contains these technical elements within itself by definition and thus has a digital-
constructivist character. With this, it establishes (within the artwork) a reality. In an
auto-reflexive approach, such a work of art can now use these aspects of truths,
logics and identities and make them critically experienceable. 276
274 Here, as elsewhere, the German word “Enttäuschung”[disappointment/disentchantment] has been translated as
“dis-illusionment“, in order to express the removal of an illusion.
275 The German word “Sichtbarmachen” [ Making Visible] has here, as elsewhere, been translated as “disclose“, in
order to emphasise revelation.
276 Rusch, Gebhard and Schmidt, Siegfried J. (Ed.): Konstruktivismus in der Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaft
[Constructivism in Media and Communication Sciences], Berlin: Suhrkamp, 1997.
124
0 As already discussed in Chapter 3.2.3, I create settings in my compositions that
always initiate a certain assertion, which is then questioned, abandoned, destroyed
or satirized. These are always technically mediated contents, which often thematise
the form of representation and interaction itself (Chapter 4.3) and thus respond
to postdigital codes. If postdigital is not interpreted in the sense of an analogue
approach to the digital, then the term refers to a perspective that is conscious
of and critical of the digital. This position therefore often negotiates the negative
connotations of digitalization. Among many other topics in my work, this includes
primarily the (conscious) deception and manipulation with digital means: here
meaning processes of digital and media techniques which can lead to a conviction,
a sense of reality or the impression of authenticity. I would like to discuss these
aspects against the background of the concept of reality, as briefly discussed earlier
on, and consider them in relation to a postmodern, poststructuralist perspective;
according to which, sign and image functions are subject to a – technologically
intensified – change.
4.6.1 Deception
0 Essential aspects of my video-based compositions are pseudo-narratives, with a
mixture of personal, surreal and partly formal (compositionally structural) elements.
These formats always make assertions or create a form of logical progression or
convincing façade. The materials here include a wide variety of digital documents,
techniques and media such as:
0 – FaceTime-Messages
0 – Skype-Calls
0 – Websites
0 – Social Media-Profiles
0 – YouTube-Uploads
0 – Browser-Views
0 – PowerPoint-Presentations
0 – Video-Tutorials
0 – Desktop-Screen-Sharing
0 – Online-Advertising
0 Using digital techniques, settings are created that are mediated by media and
transport a (supposed) content. In these representations, it is possible to observe
a constant alternation between – on the one hand – the establishment of a claimed
truth or authenticity and – on the other – a presentation of the content's production
process; for example, jumps from lecture-performances, horror film sequences,
interviews, documentary sequences, conducting videos and dream passages to
software views and all the digital formats described above. I use what I call “inter-
face view”(Chapter 4.3.2) to illustrate this process. This aspect reveals the digital
tools and directs the eye towards the digital techniques themselves. But it is also a
game with fiction and reality beyond the technical. The constant jumping between
the two perspectives leads to a constant balancing of the other. Thus, for one thing,
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the claimed narration is devalued or cancelled; it is exposed as something fictitious,
constructed. For when we see how the material has been cut together, it loses its
original authenticity. Then again, however, the stylization of the annulment process
and the production tools' aesthetic use open up yet another form of meta-narrative
level, which, in itself, becomes functional and stirring. Through its aestheticization
and staging it becomes a narrative of its own and, in a way, similarly credible or
convincing. The process of deception, manipulation and construction is equally a
part of the whole and not just a negative counterexample. It is consequently not a
black and white juxtaposition of two points of view, such as real and fake and true or
untrue. They are different modes of construction and/or presentation of reality, and
it is not necessarily said that one is better than the other. Rather, attention is drawn
to the levels' interpenetration and influence upon one another. It can therefore be
understood as a representation of the concept of reality in the postdigital age, as
Gerhard Schweppenhäuser also summarizes:
0 The real is therefore not in its death throes, but in a state of transformation. The
0 direction of this transformation has been taken over by the (highly real) simulation
0 technology of computer-aided reality production.277
0 The media content used in the pieces oscillates between different levels of
function or simulation. If we look again at the levels of simulation in Baudrillard's
work (Chapter 4.5.1), we find four (simplified) levels: 1) reflection of reality, 2)
masking of reality, 3) masking of the absence of a deeper reality and 4) reference
to no reality. In these four steps, we can observe an increasing distance from the
“real”. As the simulation increases, it distances itself further and further from reality.
This can also happen in iterative loops; for example, when the stylized social media
image of a person becomes a more realistic object than the person himself and then,
subsequently, the person imitates his online profile. It is not necessarily essential
to go through these steps successively. They can influence and also merge into
each other. In the pieces discussed, what I wish to present is the interplay between
these levels as something that can be experienced. There is no clear level of
simulation or drawing/image function used, but the change between them. In the
compositions, I try to let these components appear next to each other and thereby
create uncertainty about the form of abstraction or uncoupling one is dealing with.
In many places, it should remain unclear whether something real is depicted, is
veiled or is completely arbitrary and detached. What can be concluded from this
or what does it then mean? “Anything goes” and thus the abandonment of any
statement? In a sense, yes and no.
277 “Das Reale befindet sich demnach nicht im Todeskampf, sondern im Zustand der Transformation. Deren Regie hat
die (höchst reale) Simulationstechnik der computergestützten Realitätsproduktion übernommen.”
Schweppenhäuser, Gerhard: Ästhetik: Philosophische Grundlagen und Schlüsselbegriffe
126
4.6.2 Nullification
0 First, this leads to a postmodern statement according to which, in the words of
Lyotard, the decisive moment is the pull towards reflection. Traditional art had relied
on a truth that it could reproduce, exaggerate or embellish. In contrast, postmodern
art no longer does so. As Wolfgang Welsch sums it up, it is based on a veritable
nihilism:
0 She has recognized that there is no such thing as truth and that painting consequently
0 must not start out from reality but from itself, that it must proceed reflexively, in
0 other words: it must constantly search for the rules of its actions and always carry
0 out new rule experiments. The dramatic experience of a “broken reality” [is] the
0 starting point for the artistic experiments. The bursting of truth was its initial spark.
0 If [postmodern] painting refers to the truth once again, it is precisely to show “how
0 little true truth is;” to put it another way: to carry Nietzsche's lesson of the fictional
0 character of everything true to its extreme consequences.278
0 In my work, the constant constructing and deconstructing and the urgency of

this process can definitely be read as nullification. It is a mosaic of elements,
effectively strung together, which, despite fragmentation, manage to establish a
contemporary narration. “Anything goes” however, perhaps does not mean here
that anything is possible in a composition but rather, that means and techniques are
exemplified which show “anything is possible” and that any truth can be constructed
(and deconstructed). With digital media “anything is possible”, and postdigital
representation takes this to the extreme to question this social circumstance and
its influence upon our perception of authenticity. It is an emptying of the meaning
of signs, which in my case, however, evoke direct reactions as strong stimuli and, in
their urgency, reach the audience personally and emotionally. It is not an abstract,
theoretical battle of images that can be coolly reflected upon. Loaded content and
signs are used, then collaged.
0 However, it would be too easy to say that these pieces are completely nullified
in their intention. I think their statement (and also their origin) can be described
more aptly with ambivalence. The quoted contents, some of which even having
personal reference, are not only material with which to illustrate the previously
described situation. It is not only about composing the swan song of a truth. The
search for an authentic form of expression can nevertheless be found in this pile
of broken fragments. One could understand it as a search to find a form of serious
278 “Sie hat erkannt, dass es mit der Wirklichkeit nichts ist und dass die Malerei folglich nicht von einer Realität,
sondern von sich selbst ausgehen, mithin reflexiv verfahren muss, will sagen: sich je auf die Suche nach der Regel
ihres Tuns begeben und immer neue Regel-Experimente durchführen muss. [Sie bildet] die dramatische Erfahrung
einer ‘geborstenen Realität’ den Ausgangspunkt der künstlerischen Experimente [ab]. Das Zerplatzen der Wirklich-
keit war deren Initialzündung. Wenn die [postmoderne] Malerei sich noch einmal auf Wirklichkeit bezieht, dann
gerade, um zu zeigen, ‘wie wenig wirklich die Wirklichkeit ist’, andersgesagt: um Nietzsches Lektion vom
Fiktions-Charakter alles Wirklichen bis in ihre äußersten Konsequenzen auszutragen.”
Welsch, Wolfgang: Ästhetisches Denken [Aesthetic Thinking], Stuttgart: Reclam, 1991, p.87f.
127
communication in the given setting (from the dissolved reality of devalued signs).
Umberto Eco describes the postmodern handling of quotations as an opportunity
– whilst aware that signs and forms of expression are used up – but as a form of
expression and, as such, the chance to find a serious message, one which is not
already devalued by its history:
0 Two ideas [could] be finally clarified. Firstly, that the plot could also be rediscovered
0 in the form of quotations of other plots, and secondly, that a quotation might then be
0 less well-behaved and conciliatory than the plot itself…populating the dreams of the
0 readers does not necessarily mean appeasing them, comforting them with conciliatory
0 images. It can also mean to startle them: with nightmares, obsessions.279
0 Eco describes, for example, that a confession of love can be freed from
hollowness caused by overuse if it is formulated and contextualized as a quotation.
In this double masking or irony, according to Eco, such a statement can be
reformulated and to a certain extent freed from its legacy (through reflection). This
is also how I experience the content I use, often ironically (or humorously), and
it is never quite clear how the content should be read, whether directly, ironically
postmodern or simply as an exemplary sign for the implementation of theoretical
content. In this game with authenticity, I try first to reveal the fiction of authenticity,
but I also take it upon myself to transport my own personal content with the same
means – and/or to illustrate a process in which I am nevertheless looking for a post-
postmodern form of serious expression. On the one hand, this can be understood
as a postmodern search for authenticity, as Andreas Kilb describes it:
0 The question of authenticity thus becomes the touchstone of postmodern aesthetics.

0 Postmodern works of art can only be cleared of the accusation of being epigonal
0 if their structure does not reflect previous patterns, but reflects the state of epi-
0 gonal alienation itself, in which the present consciousness is located in relation to
0 all conventions and tenets of past art epochs. Postmodernism as art ex negatione
0 is not capable of a genuine creation of form; the epigonal is its essential principle.
0 Authenticity is granted to it only as a paradox, in the contortion of distortions, with
0 which the alienated subjectivity of the museum forms' marble landscape imprints
0 its traces.280
279 “Zwei Gedanken [ließen sich] endgültig klären. Erstens, dass man die Handlung auch in Gestalt von Zitaten anderer
Handlungen wiederentdecken konnte, und zweitens, dass ein Zitat dann womöglich weniger brav und versöhn-
lich sein würde als die zitierte Handlung selbst. […] die Träume der Leser zu bevölkern nicht unbedingt heißen
muss, sie zu besänftigen, mit versöhnlichen Bildern zu trösten. Es kann auch heißen sie aufzuschrecken: Mit
Albträumen, Obsessionen.” Eco, Umberto: Nachschrift zum Namen der Rose [Afterword to The Name of the Rose],
Frankfurt a.M.: Büchergilde Gutenberg, 1984, p.77ff.
280 “Zum Prüfstein postmoderner Ästhetik wird so die Frage nach dem Authentischen. Vom Vorwurf der Epigonalität
sind postmoderne Kunstwerke nur dann freizusprechen, wenn sie in ihrer Struktur nicht vorgängige Muster abbilden,
sondern den Stand epigonaler Entfremdung selbst reflektieren, in dem sich das gegenwärtige Bewusstsein gegen-
über allen Konventionen und Gehalten vergangener Kunstepochen befindet. Die Postmoderne ist als Kunst ex
negatione zu keiner genuinen Formschöpfung fähig; das Epigonale ist ihr Wesensprinzip. Authentizität wird ihr nur
als paradoxe zuteil, im Zerrbild der Distorsionen, mit denen die entfremdete Subjektivität der Marmorland-
schaft musealer Formen ihre Spuren einprägt.” Kilb, Andreas: “Die allegorische Phantasie. Zur Ästhetik der Post-
moderne”, in: Postmoderne: Alltag, Allegorie und Avantgarde [“The Allegorical Fantasy.On Postmodern Aesthetics”],
in: Postmodernism: The Everyday,Allegory and Avantgarde ],Christa and Peter Bürger,
Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1988, pp.84–113.
128
0 This paraphrase captures a characteristic aspect of my pieces. It reflects the
alienation and paradox of the authentic. But I am looking for something honest in
my process. And this honesty is perhaps most likely the inability to communicate
content. Therefore, for me, the ambivalence depicted is not merely theoretical, but
then, in its entirety, a personal expression. My theme is perhaps most likely to be
the search for an expression, the search for authenticity in a time in which signs,
functions and media have lost their reliability and unbrokenness. It is becoming
apparent that the vocabulary of digital techniques is encumbered and has lost
its directness and innocence. These pieces are, therefore, at best, experiments
(comparison Chapter 3.2.3), wishing to explore this state of affairs; and this, on
a subversively subjective level: and not as a theoretical conceptual experiment.
Lyotard describes this stepping out of romanticism as follows:
0 At the same time, the avant-garde leads the way out of romantic longing, because they
0 seek to represent the non-representable not as a lost origin or purpose in the distance
0 in the subject of the painting, but in proximity, in the conditions of artistic work itself...
0 [They] devote themselves ...to the task of experimenting.281
0 I want to comprehend these settings as experimental starting situations, both

in the postdigital research context and in the sense of introspection. In these
compositions, I often use means of immersion and overwhelming aesthetics to
implement the experimental character and generally to establish a drop height. This
often involves an exacerbation of the stimulus density – both in its intensity and in
its quantity. Most works are characterized by a high density of images, sounds and
information. The audience is deliberately exposed to an intoxicating maelstrom, a
“stream of consciousness” or an oversupply of information. This makes it difficult
for listeners to escape the flow of the piece. At first one is quasi run over by
the content: at the beginning, there is no pausing within the piece, which could
provide an opportunity to reflect on the content. The transported content always
evokes a certain logic or a (supposed) statement. This can be structural (type and
progression of the piece) or emotionally personal (narrative plot lines). The intensity
of the audio-visual stimuli can have a similar effect or support these points. This
strategy always happens together with the establishment of a media setting. This
can consist of video, sensors, light, stage design or gesture repertoire and is
always technically mediated. Overall, a setting is asserted and rigorously executed
in this way. The intensity of this assertion provokes correspondingly contradictory
reactions in the audience – from joyful surrender to outraged horror. This assertion
of a logic, a narration, or a truth is always counteracted in the pieces by a break,
a mistake or a disconnection. This process should then reflect and thematise the
reception of the foregoing information overload. Only by virtue of the immersive
281 “Zugleich führen die Avantgarden aus der romantischen Sehnsucht heraus, denn sie suchen das Undarstellbare
nicht als einen verlorenen Ursprung oder Zweck in der Ferne im Sujet des Gemäldes zu repräsentieren, sondern in
der Nähe, in den Bedingungen künstlerischer Arbeit selbst. [… Sie] widmen sich […] der Aufgabe des
Experimentierens.” Lyotard, Jean-François: Immaterialität und Postmoderne [Immateriality and the Postmodern],
Berlin: Merve-Verl.,1985, p.99..
129
effect of the pieces is it even possible to establish a real setting that can then be
broken: it is a tool, with which a situation that is accepted by the audience and
difficult to reject is created; because only that which has been credibly constructed
can be torn down afterwards. As it is not intended to be a theoretical treatise, but
rather to make this phenomenon perceptible, it is essential to first construct the
façade credibly before looking behind it.
0 The contents, even if deconstructed, still have something “sublime” or “romantic”
about them. They are strongly connoted with emotional and personal content (love,
loss, death, disappointment, fear), but in the pieces, the role of this content and its
sublime character is continuously questioned, and Wolfgang Welsch summarizes
this as a postmodern technique:
0 So does the sublime…become the motor of an incalculable series of experiments in

0 possibility and reality. This version of the sublime – its transformation into a series of
0 experiments – is critically opposed to any assertion of finality, to the positivism of the
0 real, to all overt or covert claims to absoluteness.282
0 In this context, I would like to cite as an example the piece "f1", in which there is a
constant alternation between an overloaded narrative and green screen exposures.
This issue is also addressed here in the central text passages of the piece itself:
0 It’s amazing what devices, you will synthesize
0 This is a clear reference to the fascination of media constructs. At this point, the
piece is consequently auto-reflexive. At another place in the piece it says:
0 Just when you found it, it’s gone. Now that you feel it, you don’t
0 Here too – parallel to the construction of the piece – the same thing is transferred
to the subjective level. The alternation between the desire to feel and express
something on the one hand and the inability to do so on the other here reflects
a more emotional disruption. The loaded and striving for the "sublime" is always
perceptible here. How can something so seemingly anachronistic be regarded in
this context? According to Wolfgang Welsch, Lyotard describes the sublime in a
post-modern context in this way:
0 Lyotard does not want the sublime to be understood as edifying, but…experimental…

0 Lyotard does not represent a metaphysics of transcendence but an ontology of
0 incalculable possibilities and the sublime is not to be declined vertically but
0 horizontally and gains critical function precisely through this. For in the diversity
282 “So wird das Erhabene […] zum Motor einer unabsehbaren Reihe von Möglichkeits- und Wirklichkeitsexperimenten.
Diese Version des Erhabenen – seine Transformation in eine Serie von Experimenten – wendet sich kritisch gegen
jegliche Endgültigkeitsbehauptung, gegen den Positivismus des Realen, gegen alle offenen oder verdeckten
Absolutheitsanmaßungen.” Welsch, Wolfgang: Ästhetisches Denken [Aesthetic Thinking],
Stuttgart: Reclam, 1991, p.92.
130
0 of realizations applies: no work of art is the work of art, no style the style, no approach
0 the approach. Rather, all design moves on a “floor" of nihilism and in a room of
0 unlocked potentiality…This and nothing else means the sublime in the postmodern
0 sense. It is not retrograde, but critical and experimental.283
0 And so too ends the piece "f1" as a space of potential possibilities, as options, as
a juxtaposition of elements that allow several levels of interpretation. The piece
ends with two sentences that fold the narrative space up again and make the
audience into confidants in an illusion:
0 If you tell somebody else about this piece, then you are lying! Just forget anything
0 you just heard!
4.7 Uncoupling the Body

0 A digital setting can – as described for example in Chapter 4.5. – be used to
create a connection between an input and an output. This virtual link can be used
for simulating purposes and can couple analogue and digital levels or components
with each other. As an active artistic postdigital tool, this coupling can then be
reflected or uncoupled, thus making the essence of this connection tangible. To
what extent real and virtual aspects influence and are also necessary for each
other, Wolfgang Welsch presents:
0 But something similar also holds for virtual phenomena – where artificiality is
0 the prominent trait. The perception of something virtual is not independent of our
0 capacities to experience something real. It is not only by contrast that the horizon
0 of the latter is co-present (with the traits of artificiality taking shape in contrast to
0 comparatively more `natural' characteristics.) But some of the features and schemes
0 that comprise the real are also an active part of experiencing the virtual – think of
0 such features as space, or time, or bodies.284
0 The roles of body and space were also relevant in the analysis of the virtual
tools and will now be brought into focus. Related to this is the question as to
which real components we need to grasp something artificial and which degree of
virtualization can help to make something real, tangible.
283 “Lyotard will das Erhabene nicht erbaulich verstanden wissen, sondern […] experimentell. […] Lyotard vertritt
keine Metaphysik der Transzendenz, sondern eine Ontologie der unabsehbaren Möglichkeiten, und das Erhabene
ist nicht vertikal, sondern horizontal zu deklinieren und gewinnt genau dadurch kritische Funktion. Denn in der Viel-
falt der Realisationen gilt: Kein Kunstwerk ist das Kunstwerk, kein Stil der Stil, kein Ansatz der Ansatz. Alle Ge-
staltung bewegt sich vielmehr auf einem „Boden" von Nihilismus und in einem Raum unabschließbarer Potentialität.
[…] Dies und nichts anderes meint das Erhabene im postmodernen Sinn. Es ist nicht retrograd, sondern kritisch und
experimentell.” Welsch, Wolfgang: Ästhetisches Denken [Aesthetic Thinking], Stuttgart: Reclam, 1991, p.91.
284 Welsch, Wolfgang: “Virtual to Begin With”, in: Subjektivität und Öffentlichkeit [Subjectivity and Publicity],
131
0 In this section, I would like to discuss techniques dealing with the
virtualization of the body and propose this procedure as a post-digital tool for
changing perspectives. In these approaches, people wearing video glasses are
enabled to adopt the perspective (and with it the body) of another person. These
tools of virtualization are then to be extended by an additional component: in this
subsequent technique, the user switches between perspectives, the 1:1 circuit is
abandoned and contrasting perspectives are embedded. From this stage onwards,
the setting becomes a tool allowing the comparison of different digitally mediated
perspectives. This coupling and subsequent deliberate uncoupling will be presented
here in the context of the disclosure 285 of digital techniques.
0 In the following interactive and participatory compositions and artistic
approaches, “virtual reality” settings are established, in which visitors perceive
their surroundings, their bodies and the bodies of interacting partners through
video transmissions. Scenarios are created that have similarities to computer
games, simulators and VR environments. Central to this is the virtual – and with it
the question of distance, proximity, intimacy, control, interaction and responsibility.
In setups that establish an uncoupling between the body and visual perception, a
coupling of participants with each other takes place instead. A freely assignable
circuit can be observed between the individual visitors inside these installations.
This results in directly changing (medially mediated) patterns of vision and inter-
action. They discover a constructed reality to which they have to relate. The
participants, therefore, compare real and virtual body sensations and modes of
interaction with each other, this comparison being the postdigital moment of this
compositional approach.
4.7.1 References
0 In recent years, numerous settings, experiments and artworks have been
realized in research and art, which I would like to introduce briefly as a precursor
and inspiration for my work in this context. Psychological experiments from the
context of the “body transfer illusion” are considered important areas of research.
The body transfer illusion is the illusion that one believes to own either part of, or
a whole, foreign body which is not one's own, which is why research literature
also refers to “body ownership”. This illusion can be induced experimentally by
manipulating the visual perspective of the test person and also by providing visual
and sensory signals that correlate with the test person's body. A well-known
example is the rubber hand illusion. In this setting, a hand made of rubber is placed
in such a way that, by positioning a mirror, one perceives it as one's own. Following
mirror usage, the employment of virtual reality settings has become increasingly
established. It is important in these settings that, in addition to the visual deception,
tactile stimuli are presented which support or dispel the illusion. In the recent past,
virtual settings have also been used for other psychological tasks, such as re-
285 The German word “Sichtbarmachung” [making visible] has here, as in elsewhere, been interpreted to emphasize
revelation.
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enactments of traumatic experiences. Harun Farocki has artistically implemented
the processing of war traumas through VR therapy in his documentary video work
"Serious Games iii". Not only in the area of documentaries, but also in research, art
is increasingly actively involved in the exploration of this context. In the 1990s Paul
Sermon conceived "Telematic Dreaming", a piece about telepresence and sleep,
in which human figures are spatially separated by video transmission. The artists'
group CREW has experimented with perspective changes between different users
in a series of works such as "HeadSwap" or "C.A.P.E." Here, one person's point
of view was transferred to another. The artists' group The Constitute developed a
helmet called "EYEsect", with two camera eyes, which were attached to two cables
and could be moved freely, thus allowing unnatural perspectives. The artists' group
BeAnotherLab used the “body swap” approaches from psychology in an artistic
context, to explore artistic aspects of empathy. These concepts were also adopted
in new music and were thematised for example by Stefan Prins in his composition
"Mirror Box Extensions".
4.7.2 Virtual Control Mechanisms

0 In the participatory installation "Control", the audience, equipped with head-
mounted cameras, moves through an immersive setting in an empty building. Using
the cameras and an intercom circuit, their audio-visual perception is transmitted
to a control room, where it can be received on a screen and a headset. From
these control rooms, the participants in the empty building receive instructions via
headphones. In the control rooms, the visitors' actions can be followed by a camera
from the first-person perspective and the control instructions transmitted. There are
also visitors in the control rooms who have already passed through the first phase
of the installation. The audience meets twenty performers within the immersive
installation who are distributed
in various rooms. Each room
enables certain interactions and
thematises aspects of control
in different forms. Within this
s et t ing , severa l fac tor s dea l
w i t h s ur veilla nc e, v ir tua li t y,
c ont rol , int imacy, ins ecuri t y
and physicality. Many of these
components are based on inter-
actions between the participating
guests (amongst themselves and
with the performers).
0 Each visitor stays in the first
immersive phase of the installation
for thirty minutes, before moving
on to a control room in the next
step. From here, the person
then guides a new visitor with 4 Schematic overview of the installation "Control"
133
instructions and advice. In the third phase of the piece, all participants gather in a
large room. This phase allows a real-time view of all the video and audio circuits.
All the perspectives flow together in this supervision room. Consequently, the piece
is designed as a thirty-minute loop, which each visitor passes through in three
different phases, one after the other. Metaphorically speaking, the audience works
its way continuously up the hierarchy and gains an increasingly better overview of
what is happening. Accordingly, a search for logic in this system can be observed.
The setting is deliberately chosen in such a way that the audience participates
without prior information and has to discover the set of rules and mechanisms for
themselves. This means that they alone must also decide how they each behave
in this setting, and what priorities they set.
0 The focus here is again on the change in perspective between real and virtual
experiences. In the three phases of the installation, every visitor has the opportunity
to experience the same setting from a different perspective. In the first step, he/she
moves directly through the setting and receives instructions. During the second
step, he/she sees only the video transmission of another participant and is himself/
herself in the position to give instructions. In the third phase, the person can passively
observe the setting from a bird's eye view. Consequently, a concrete comparison
can be made here of how a situation is perceived in a real immersive manner – or,
in contrast, virtually. Furthermore, this circuit offers a coupling between two people.
To what extent the foreign body perception has been adopted and which modes
of cooperation and hierarchy are established in each case: these belong to the
piece's core questions.
0 On the one hand, the piece can be seen as a mirror for control modes. On the
other, it functions – using a virtual standpoint – as the implementation of a computer
game or VR concept with analogue video means. An experience space is depicted
here, one which typically obeys the rules of an FPV computer game. 286 In this setting,
however, there is no concrete task, no backstory and there are no characters. It
is a clean and sterile setting, but one in which interactions, decisions and moral
positioning are necessary. However, these parameters are implemented in an
artificial setting, so in the end, it is always about the decision, perception and
evaluation of the participants. In this sense, it is more of an experimental setup to
which the audience has to respond.
0 Basically, a lifeless and opaque world is established with an empty set of rules.
The confrontation with this inherently virtual place leads again and again to a
comparison of real, direct perception and virtual representation.
0 This is underscored by the very artificial and computer-like performance modes
of the participating musicians. It is a continuous alternation between real intimacy
and connectedness on the one hand and a confrontation with a real world's reduced
image on the other. As a result, deeply digital representations, interactions and body
286 In the first-person-view in a computer game, you direct a character through a level from the first-person perspective.
In the original versions this was often a labyrinth.
134
images were once again transferred into a real setting. The continuous comparison
and change of perspective represent the potential experience value of the setting.
5 Overview of the different settings within the installation "Control"
4.7.3 Synchronized Community

0 As in "Control", a kind of experimental arrangement is established in the concert
installation "A Perfect Circle" – but with a different intention. Here too, timing
and synchronization play a central role. However, in this context, the aim is not
distancing, opacity or hierarchy, but a rhythmically guided group exercise – and
here too, perception is guided by action instructions.
0 "A Perfect Circle" is an installation

that enables the change of
perspective and body perceptions.
This approach establishes a kind of
virtual reality and focuses on body
awareness, emotions and identity.
Using guided, simple movement
instructions, the participants per-
form exercises. The use of video
glasses and cameras leads to a
perspective change and enables
the visitors to see themselves and
each other in a new way.
0 The immersive installation piece
lasts just under an hour and is
6 Schematic representation of the video circuitry in
designed for forty participants per "A Perfect Circle"
135
cycle. The audience is divided into two groups of twenty participants each. In each
room, the audience is positioned in pairs. Each visitor wears video glasses so that
each participant can experience the environment exclusively through a screen in
front of his/her own eyes.
0 In the first room, the video glasses also have attached cameras. The image from
the cameras is then transferred, unaltered, to the video glasses' screen so that an
almost identical angle of vision is captured. But by transferring it to a screen, the
environment is directly perceived as virtual, distant and alien. Furthermore, the
resolution, angle and colour scheme differ from the eye's natural visual impression.
In this room, the audience is thus seeing a video representation of the real space
surrounding them. In the second room, however, all participants are receiving the
video signals from the first room; consequently, there are 20 video lines between
the two rooms. Therefore: the visitors in the second room see through the eyes of
the person they are connected to.
7 Technical overview from "A Perfect Circle"
0 The session is moderated and directed by the performing ensemble. The per-
formers give instructions regarding interaction with the respective partners. For
example, the audience is asked to move their heads in different directions but in
time, or to touch each other’s hands in a steady rhythm. The temporal setting and
timing here aim to synchronize the individual bodies with each other, especially
between the two rooms: this allows the participants in the second (virtual) room to
copy very precisely the movement and posture of their connected partners from
within the first room. In this way, it is possible to assume the view of another person
in a very concrete way and to interpret the other’s body, perceived through the
video glasses, as one's own. Furthermore, it allows a structured interaction between
136
the participants. The aim is to establish as coherent a synchronization as possible
between one's own movement and the received video signal.
The session provides a framework

that incorporates therapeutic
elements and implements them
on an artistic level. Being
poetic in form, it offers the
opportunity to approach
and evaluate physical inter-
actions and relationships from
a different perspective. These
exercises deal with embodiment,
body perception, the connection
8 Ego-video-perspectives in "A Perfect Circle"
between feeling and body,
change of perspective, acceptance, distance and virtuality. The experience is
designed to be emotional and intense – first to facilitate a positive perspective
change and create closeness between people who are directly or virtually
present. It is therefore a tool for creating empathy. However, it also deals with
alienation, control and self-abandonment. The basic message is perceived as
positive and helpful, whereas the connotations are ambivalent.
0 In this case, rhythmic setting and synchronization are helpful tools in the
implementation of the discussed strategies. The session is centrally guided,
and, since emotional and interpersonal themes are also incorporated during the
piece, the question of an imposed order arises here. Whether these instructions,
intended as aids, are understood as a control instrument differs from participant to
participant. Many of the participants perceived them as helpful or supportive. But
the trade-off between commonality and conformity cannot be completely ignored.
0 Besides offering a change in perspective, the piece also creates a decidedly

virtual setting. It additionally deals with the question of how interchangeable a
body or an individual is. A setup is created here in which one sees with unknown
eyes or touches another person's body while watching someone else in the video.
This questions the role we ourselves play, how replaceable our body is – and to
what extent the two are connected. While in „Control“ there was a clear division of
tasks, here the focus is on the adoption of the body's feeling and synchronization.
Additionally, the participants are compared to see in which form they can combine
their emotional sensation, the haptic experience in space and a different video
perspective into a coherent picture. The question is thus asked: to what extent do
these aspects influence and presuppose each other?
0 The setting touches on the relationship between closeness and distance which
runs through many of my works in technically mediated settings. On the one hand,
the scenario described leads to an intimate situation and facilitates close inter-
action. On the other, spatial and visual separation is a process of alienation and
distancing. It is not possible here to make a final judgement on the degree to which
the technical setting is to be seen more critically or optimistically: it fulfils both
137
functions – and depending on the audience, the encounter is also experienced
differently. Of importance is that, during the pieces, the perspective changes and
the different modes of intimacy and communication are contrasted and made
comparable.
9 Overview of all video-perspectives in "A Perfect Circle"
0 In the composition "Unity Switch", the setting of "A Perfect Circle" is expanded in
that each participant is equipped with both video glasses and an attached camera.
As a result, the fields of vision of the eight participants can be completely freely
interconnected. Each participant can consequently look through the eyes of the
other seven participants. Here also, the focus is on synchronizing the audience,
seated opposite each other at tables in four rooms. In this setting, however, it
becomes increasingly unclear who follows and/or leads whom. The boundaries
between control and passivity blur, as does the threshold between one’s own body
and someone else’s. A strong process of the aforementioned “body ownership” sets
in. In the course of the piece and this setting, the perspectives can be changed
at one-second intervals, counter-cut with pre-produced material or contrasted
with a view of oneself as seen through the eyes of a person sitting opposite. This
intensification of jumps in perspective change is intended to serve as a starting
point for comprehensive approaches and compositional concepts.
4.7.4 Changing Perspectives

0 As already discussed, the juxtaposition of perspectives in a digital context is the
essential element of my compositional practice. In each of the pieces described
above, settings are developed which establish a virtual setting using digital techno-
logy. Not only is the construction of this setting relevant, but also the comparison of
138
the perception modes within this setting. The postdigital moment of this approach
lies in the juxtaposition of these views and their implications.
0 Drawing on the question of how virtual or constructivist our sense of reality
already is, it is worth examining in this context the degree to which these settings
are initially perceived as “real” or “authentic”. The immersion is sometimes very
intense, and a strong engagement develops in which the participants partially
forget time, space and themselves. Even though the technique is anything but a
perfect simulation of the natural world, it is very much accepted. It is particularly
interesting that, compared with a setting not transmitted by video, the virtual setting
is sometimes perceived as more intense and nearer. In "Control", for example, it
is possible to lie next to a performer in a tent during the first phase – i.e. in an
immersive setting. This situation, in itself very intimate, is surprisingly more intense
and emotional for some participants when perceived from the perspective of the
installation's second stage, i.e. via screen and headset. In "A Perfect Circle", inter-
action via video glasses sometimes allows for bolder and less inhibited interactions.
In this instance, the interaction also takes place directly physically, with the person
sitting opposite, but the relaying of the visuals through video transmission leads to
a mixture of anonymity, security and self-distance. Here, the simulation is in part
no longer a weak reflection of reality, but an alternative level, allowing for an inter-
action that is not experienced any less intensely nor real. It is partially difficult to say
whether this process reinforces elements of reality, masks them or can even open
a space that has no real equivalent in reality. The mixing of real bodily interaction
and the adoption of other people's perspectives makes it almost impossible to make
a conclusive statement on this. Again, it is more the spectrum of possibilities and
the juxtaposition of these options that is achieved with these pieces.
0 At the end of the piece "A Perfect Circle", when the video glasses are removed
and the participants look into each other's eyes for several minutes, without
media mediation, and perform a final task together, the previous virtual situation
is compared once again with the analogous physical situation. At this moment, it
becomes clear that these settings may not only address the use of digital tools but,
as Wolfgang Welsch also notes, can trigger a reflection of our analogue world:
0 Experiencing and discussing virtual electronic worlds has, in my view, a useful and
0 even enlightening impact on our understanding of reality. Thanks to the influence
0 of the electronic virtual, we are becoming increasingly aware of the constructivist
0 character of all types of reality.287
287 Welsch continues: “Once we experience that the same objects are accessible through different modes of
experience – say a standard everyday and an electronic-virtual one – then we become aware of the specifities as
well as the limits of each of these modes. And if some things turn out to be accessible only through one mode or
another – as one’s sleepiness in the morning can be recognized only through direct, personal experience; the
existence of quarks, however, only through the theory and experiments of physics; and the angelic potential of the
human mind only through electronic technology – then one may begin to comprehend that no kind of reality is ever
an immediate given, but is bound to a specific framework of access, conceptual means, and pragmatic features.
Reality of whatever kind arises only within a related set of conditions.”
In Welsch, Wolfgang: ‘Virtual to Begin With’, in: Subjektivität und Öffentlichkeit [Subjectivity and Publicity],
Mike Sandbothe and Winfried Marotzki, Cologne: von Halem, 2000, p.12
139
4.8 Post Internet
0 The influence of the internet on art production and compositional approaches
will be briefly presented in this chapter to outline the basic characteristics of
“post-internet art”. After an overview of existing approaches, I wish to explain this
practice in the context of my work, again as a tool of disclosure.
0 Due to the broad integration of the internet, far-reaching aspects of cultural and
social life have been so decisively impacted that the term “post-internet” was
proposed, to describe an age in which the internet has become indispensable.
This term thus describes a condition according to which the use of platforms,
communication tools and media archives is so established that it fundamentally
influences our lives in the online and offline world. By this, we mean a sensitization
to modes changed by the internet, as discussed in Chapter 2.3. Assuming that this
factor is an integral part of cultural life, it is also possible (or even necessary) to deal
with this complex of issues in an artistic way. The art movement that has emerged
from this situation bears the generic term “post-internet art” (Chapter 2.3.2). It
differs from its predecessor net.art and telematic art in that, although it implements
and critically reflects the implications of the internet, it does not necessarily have
to be realized exclusively in this medium. The focus is rather upon an awareness
of the consequences and changed modes that have been created by the internet.
This sensitization can have explicit effects in offline space and, as Gene McHugh
postulates, be reflected in art:
0 Acknowledge is key here. It’s not that all contemporary artists must immediately
0 start making hypertext poetry and cat memes, but somewhere in the basic
0 conceptual framework of the work, an understanding of what the Internet is doing
0 to their work—how it distributes the work, how it devalues the work and revalues
0 it—must be acknowledged in a way that one, such as the market, would acknowledge.
0 It is what Guthrie Lonergan called Internet Aware.288
0 In this chapter, I would like to give a short overview of possible approaches to

art under the premise of “post-internet”. As previously explained, this refers to
approaches which either critically reflect the internet and its structures or trans-
fer online modes into the analogue world (and thus address the influence of the
internet on the offline world). Essentially, I see three possible approaches for a
“post-internet art”:
0 1. Illustration of online functions in offline space

0 2. Critically reflected use of internet technology
0 3. Use of internet-specific aesthetics
0 These three approaches are of course not exclusive and can overlap and also
be combined with other styles and concepts. There is perhaps no art that can be
described as pure “post-internet art”. In contemporary media-oriented art, however,
288 McHugh, Gene: ‘Post-Internet’, in: #mm Net Art—Internet Art in the Virtual and Physical Space of Its Presentation,
Marie Meixnerová, Brescia: PAF + Link Editions, 2019, p.146.
140
it is becoming increasingly difficult to find works that completely exclude any
awareness of the internet's implications.
0 Diverse characteristics of a possible post-internet perspective were already
presented in Chapter 2.3, some of which are derived directly from postdigital
implications. Fundamental to post-internet art is a distancing from the medium
itself. By this is meant that not the use of internet-specific services and platforms
is central, but rather their function and impact that becomes decisive. Examples
of this would be internet-specific effects:
– Continuous development and re-versioning of content. This can occur in the

0 form of websites (e.g. wikis) or repositories set up specifically for this purpose
0 (e.g. GitHub).
– A constant change and transformation of ideas and concepts (such as memes,
0 TikTok videos). Approaches that spread and diversif y rapidly become
0 established here.
– The question of originality and authorship changes in a mesh of iterative
0 development. Particularly with rapidly distributed and easily produced content,
0 the author moves into the background (or is often not even mentioned). 289
– Meta-views and commentary levels are widely used. For example, computer
0 games are played and commented on by YouTube gamers. Some content is
0 increasingly only received in this way and, in doubtful cases, commented upon
0 in additional commentary levels. A gradual distancing from the original content
0 takes place.
– Tutorials establish themselves as a widespread format, partly with a scholastic
0 character, but also partly as a personal narrative form.
– Private individuals become celebrities on the internet (“influencers”, “bloggers”).
0 New forms of idols emerge and the authenticity of “sponsored content” is duly
0 used capitalistically by large companies for product placement.
– User content increasingly replaces professionally generated content and,
0 together with personal data, becomes an economically highly relevant currency.
– Knowledge and software access become easier. Nationwide access to relevant
0 content (at least for that part of the population having access to the technical
0 possibilities) is expanded.
– Monitoring, tracking and access to personal data through internet-based services
0 becomes an increasingly serious social issue.
– “Open source”, “creative commons”, and “freeware” movements as anti-capitalist,
0 cooperative counter-designs of net communities.
289 “These are conditions endemic to Post-Internet society, allowing for a ubiquitous authorship which challenges
notions of the ‘definitive history’ or the ‘original copy’. Just as Barthes' proclamation of the ‘death of the author’ is
in fact a celebration of the ‘birth of the reader’ and the ‘overthrow[ing of] the myth’, culture Post- Internet is made
up of reader-authors who by necessity must regard all cultural output as an idea or work in progress able to be
taken up and continued by any of its viewers.” in Vierkant, Artie: ‘The Image Object Post-Internet’ 2010.
online: http://jstchillin.org/artie/pdf/The_Image_Object_Post-Internet_us.pdf. (Retrieved:12.12.2019)
141
– Artists' working modes are increasingly characterized by research on the net,
0 compiling content and collaging found objects. Comprehensive access to data
0 puts artists in a different position, where curating and selection become more
0 important.
– Extensive sampling and citing of material from the internet become more widely
0 accepted methods, both legally and artistically. The demand for a genuinely
0 creative process is less present and gives way to openness to the assemblage of
0 existing content.
– Online communities and sub-groups of social and political minorities become
0 more differentiated on the internet. This process not only depicts pluralities in a
0 positive sense but can also lead to radicalization.
– Media consumption becomes increasingly fragmented and parallel due to
0 internet-based forms of reception. Contents are presented side by side. News,
0 art, humour and other contents are presented and received side by side on inter-
0 net pages – or in different windows.
– Internet users determine their time behaviour in media use. Users decide
0 themselves on content choice, duration and combination.
– Internet self-promotion and marketing become progressively more relevant and,
0 due to their easy availability, a more frequent practice.
– Previously idealistic and utopian approaches from the internet's founding period
0 give way to an economically tapped network, one increasingly characterized by
0 sell-out and capitalist orientation.
0 A whole range of interaction, creation and communication forms can therefore

be observed, which have either been significantly influenced by the internet or
have explicitly originated there. This is also where explicitly proprietary formats,
bringing with them their aesthetics and codes, have emerged. These also rub off
on offline life in their essential form, structure and language. The expression “inter-
net aware” indicates that this art was created in this context, in the knowledge of
these changes and innovations, or, as Jennifer Walshe puts it:
0 I would say that there's a texture to it […] and I don't even necessarily mean the
0 sounds. It could be the text that's used, the images that are used, the fact that,
0 maybe, the body's involved. But there's something that makes me think, this wouldn't
0 have been written until this point in history.290
4.8.1 Overview of Post-Internet Artworks

0 Similarly, individual styles have also evolved directly on the internet, such as
the ASMR tutorials with a specific exception and listening mode or the already
discussed vaporwave aesthetics. In the following, using selected examples, I intend
to give a brief overview of the wide range of other artworks and compositions that
can be classified as post-internet.
290 Barry, Robert: ‘So What Is Post-Internet Music, Anyway?’ 2015.

online: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qkakzw/so-what-is-post-internet-music-anyway (Retrieved:12.12.2019).
142
0 More and more often, artists are additionally using forms of presentation and
formats that are influenced by the internet. In "Magenta Boy", Walter Sallinen
uses a video projection to stage (in a concert hall) the YouTube channel of a
homosexual young man, making homophobia a central theme. This is an offline
representation of an online format. In "Feminism is a Browser", Charlotte Eifler uses
a desktop and browser display and collages elements on the theme of feminism
in a contemporary way, thus underlining the network character of the activists
involved. Ryan Trecartin's films – such as "I-Be-Area film" or "Center Jenny –" are
characterized through and through by modes of communication and self-portrayal
that have their origins on the internet. With "The Total Mountain", Jennifer Walshe
depicts the internet's information overload. In the series "Public Privacy", Brigitta
Muntendorf reflects the intimacy of amateur YouTube musicians. A whole range
of artists such as Laurel Halo, Holly Herndon, Blank Banshee, or James Ferraro,
for example, shape a style of presentation with an internet affinity and interweave
vaporwave elements with internet interfaces and communication tools.
0 The forms of researching and compiling artworks have also become a formative
influence on art. For "Party Pills", for example, Drew Daniel collects all content
with the hashtag “Party” and combines it into a composition. In "Up Next", Dylan
Richards uses the YouTube algorithm which suggests the next video. On this basis,
he determines the sequence of the material of his video composition. Neo Hülcker
uses ASMR techniques to approach new music under altered listening conditions.
0 Michael Mandiberg, for example, bridges the gap to the physical world with his
project "Print Out Wikipedia", in which he has Wikipedia's entire inventory printed
and exhibited as books. With "Dead Pixel", Helmut Smit creates an equivalent of a
dead (black) pixel in Google Earth perspective by blackening a square on a lawn.
In "Working on My Novel", Cory Arcangel collects numerous Twitter posts from
users who are currently writing a novel. Their compilation in a physically tangible
book makes the internet procrastination of budding authors ad absurdum.
0 Artists also deal with surveillance and tracking: In "I know where your cat lives",
geodata is extracted from photos and publicly placed on a website map. Simon
Weckert creates a fictitious traffic jam on the map service Google Maps with multiple
mobile phones. Similarly, artists draw pictures utilizing their GPS tracking on online
maps via their movement profile. Alternatively, the project "9-eyes.com" displays
selected Google street view images. The photographs, at times bizarre, sad and
beautiful, have their own pictorial language and a special flair, due to the absence
of a photographer and the randomness of the moment. Jonas Lund has written
a browser extension which makes the browsing history accessible to the public.
Vladimir Abikh creates internet-related, digital relics from an excavation of the future
in his fictional exhibition "An Exhibition for Future Generations". Through the eyes of
a fictitious viewer from the future, current internet practices appear as a historical
(and traditional) document.
0 This approach, in seeing internet objects of the present time through the eyes of
a future anthropologist, as offered by Vladimir Abikh, allows distancing from the
complexity and topicality of the content. The temporal distance hence renders
obvious or concise things, that we would otherwise take for granted, as self-evident.
This work of art takes the objects' internet-related properties out of their self-evident
143
nature, thus enabling a change in perspective to a more critical view. I feel that
this stage in reorientation towards digitally mediated content is the essential core
feature of post-internet art, and now wish to present my work, within this context,
under this premise.
4.8.2 Sensitization and Disclosure

0 The alternative wording “internet aware”, instead of “post-internet”, already
directs the focus towards sensitization to certain internet characteristics. For me
too, raising awareness and disclosure is an essential approach in this context.
0 The use of the internet for artistic purposes has long been rooted in my work.
When I began learning to program around 1997, my first projects were interactive
websites with HTML and Flash content. From 2000 onwards, these pages were
available online under various names. On these pages, one could find online music
programs, collaborative poetry pages and dada-like HTML link labyrinths; herein,
the visitors could change contents and change the sounds themselves. In 2001, I
initiated a project in which musicians worldwide could compose pieces based on
approximately ten samples, which were then all made collectively accessible. From
2001, I hosted a radio show and published the recordings on the site. From 2004
on, I built a series of sub-websites, on which nine of my music videos were played
randomly, in parallel, on a split-screen, so that ever-new overlays were created. All
these works fall into the net.art category on the one hand, but on the other, they
already touch on emerging “Web 2.0” content. I produced them non-commercially,
outside an established art context. The majority of the sites are now no longer on-
line: in the mid-2000s, I changed my focus and these projects became less relevant
to me. Additionally, parts of these practices became mainstream, so that it was
no longer necessary to personally develop solutions (Soundcloud, MySpace, Wiki
pages,…).
10 Website screenshots Tangarten.de (2005)
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11 Website screenshot Sinebag.de (2003)
0 In the further course of my work, the topic of the internet only reappeared in
my compositions around 2013, under the changing omens of “post-internet”. The
foundation stone for an intensified examination of this topic was the piece "HELLO",
which I wrote during 2013 and which premiered in early 2014. In my work, I pursue
two approaches to post-internet art: the use of internet-specific methods at the
interface of online and offline space for one thing, and the representation of internet
specifics and aesthetics in the composition process for another. The compositions
"Hello", "Star Me Kitten", and "f1" are works that do not take place on the inter-
net, nor involve the internet in performance. However, the visual language and
the contents used are significantly influenced by the internet and reflect various
aspects of it. Basically, these pieces are works that reflect and depict practices
and modes of internet representation in aesthetic language, and the use of media
and tools. This is obvious when using the programs and user interfaces (as already
discussed in Chapter 4.3.2). Programs and services such as Skype, FaceTime,
YouTube, Facebook or Google are used here. On the one hand, the production
process is shown (compare with Chapter 3.2), and the constructivism of the
composition process is explained (Chapter 4.5). On the other hand, online profiles
and fake identities are equally included, thus also addressing self-representation,
manipulation and authenticity (Chapter 4.6). Furthermore, the form of the material's
presentation is certainly worth mentioning. The contents are combined and re-
combined, in such a way that similarity to material collection in social networks is
obvious. In addition, the research and search process are often included, clarifying
from which sites and by which means the content was taken. Presentation speed
and media usage are equally reflected in the tempo and structure of the pieces.
Various passages are explicitly timed by mouse-click actions, thereby reflecting
internet usage behaviour. Furthermore, the compositions are put directly into the
context in which they will actually exist, via upload processes on YouTube, for
example. The compositions are performed, recorded, then distributed on YouTube
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and discussed on the net. "Hello", for example, embeds these elements directly
into the process and the piece itself. However, this is an illustration, a description
and an offline theming of this particular situation. Internet content presentation and
reflection is the one approach I wanted to present. In contrast, another category
of my pieces explicitly uses these internet processes and does not merely depict
them.
4.8.3 Wiki-Cooperation
0 My work series "Community Pieces" has the defined goal of focusing on the co-
operation and interaction of a larger user community. It involves a growing number of
pieces of different sizes. Each piece provides a web-based interface through which
the respective composition can be created. The composition process in these works
is largely limited to finding a collaborative approach, through which content can
be organized and edited flexibly and collaboratively. In the second step, a suitable
interface is created, enabling the most expedient interaction and cooperation. The
central pieces in the series are (currently) "Wiki-Piano.Net" and "Silent Post". Under
the generic term “public domain” there is another series of smaller pieces, each of
which focuses on a specific social media platform.
0 "Wiki-Piano.Net" is a piano composition, the score of which can be accessed and

edited at any time on the homonymous website. To perform the work, the website
is opened and the current version played in concert. The website score can be
changed at any time by any internet user and is therefore subject to continuous
changes. Every visitor to the website can add, delete, change and move content.
The structure of the piece is modular. The approximately thirty modules all have
individual functions and contents: for example, they can display notations, images,
video, text, sound clips or actions. There is, therefore, a repertoire of possible
modules, but they can be edited completely at will. The sequence of the modules
is also freely changeable – and modules can also be deactivated. Of course, there
have also been freely designable compositions in the past. The unique feature, in
this case, is that the arrangements of the piece can be decided by a very large
group in a quasi-democratic way. The access hurdles were kept low on purpose
(so that no registration with a real name or e-mail address is necessary).
0 Historically, the precursors of this work are fluxus, random, and collective
compositions. With his "Piano Etudes", Jason Freeman had already created a
piano work in 2009, that could be reworked online by the audience or pianist. Here,
however, Freeman puts together several of his own pre-composed modules, which
can then be rearranged. In this sense, this approach is a transfer to a website, but
would, similar to fluxus approaches, otherwise be equally feasible on paper. The
aspect of cooperation and further development is not applied in this approach.
Meanwhile, there are various playful or professional websites with which to work on
scores. Examples are "Opusmodus", "Celanajaya Gamelan", "Melodyjs SH Studio",
"flat.io", and many more. The game-like websites mostly follow the tradition of net.art.
The collaborative composition tools are more aimed at working in a closed team.
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There was also an online project in which a book was jointly written. 291 I found the
action „r/place“ on Reddit very inspiring, where each visitor to the site could draw
a pixel onto a 1000 x 1000 pixel area. Subsequently, it was only possible to paint
the next point after a lock-out period had expired. This process made it necessary
to consult with other participants and form groups. Furthermore, each pixel could
be overwritten at any time, so that the picture was subject to continuous change
by many people. I wanted to implement this collaborative, non-structured and non-
hierarchical cooperation in my work.
12 Start page of the composition project "Wiki-Piano.Net"
0 Obviously, "Wiki-Piano.Net" is based on the Wikipedia platform and the general

wiki concept. In this approach, there is no quality control (except by the visitors
themselves) and no content administration. The concept relies on the automatic self-
administration of the participants and consequently strives for equal cooperation
in the development of the piece. This gives every user and/or listener the chance
to influence the composition. Normally, they are not involved in the classical work
process, nor have any influence on the content performed in a concert hall. The aim
is accordingly, for one thing, to democratize the composition, in which everyone can
participate. Every user is granted the same rights, and no content is corrected or
censored. This means that the piece is continuously developed and mutates from
one version to the next. There is no endpoint and no target. There are as many
valid pieces as there were adaptations. But the piece to be performed is always
the current version. Thus, the piece is characterized by being both concretely
anchored in the moment and defined by its version history. These versions can
be traced at www.wiki-piano.net/archive. Consequently, it is the process that is
in the foreground, the development, cooperation and transformation. The piece
does not pursue the goal of creating the perfect piece after a work period: rather,
it is intended to depict internet processes, meaning forms of further development,
citing, editing, satirizing, as well as destructive patterns such as troll behaviour
291 ‘Zwei Mädchen im Krieg. Die zweite Woche.’ [Two Girls in War.The second Week.] 4.4.2020.
online: https://www.hundertvierzehn.de/artikel/zwei-m%C3%A4dchen-im-krieg-die-zweite-woche_708.html
(Retrieved:4.4.2020)
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or sabotage. In contrast to professional online software solutions, which enable
collaborative work in teams on music projects, this piece is to be understood
here as an example of more general internet patterns. It is intended to illustrate
fluctuation and unpredictability in its positive and negative facets.
0 Furthermore, in this case, the concert performance once again represents an
interface between the digital and real worlds. Here, the concert represents a part
of the Internet and transfers it into a concert context. In addition to the concrete
implementation, internet-specific handling of media and content is also transferred
to the concert situation. In the piece, the content's combination and referencing
directly develop an aesthetic, one inseparably linked to styles that have developed
on the internet. For example, the inclusion of memes and the resulting way of thinking
about visual material's contextualization in the concert setting is an aesthetic that
can be described as post-internet art. In this way, we take yet another, different
look at the arrangement of texts, images and notes, as collaged on the website. A
particular presentation and composition of content, perhaps perceived as being
natural on the internet, will have a different effect when presented by a person in
concert. Here too, we take a step back and analyse the process and content with
different framing.
0 The piece also operates exactly at the dividing line between the online and offline
worlds in terms of technical implementation. The entire infrastructure of the work is
implemented as a website. The score, projection and feed are therefore implemented
directly as synchronised HTML pages. This ensures a low-threshold implementation,
as any musician with a browser and internet access can perform it.
13 Example of a composition module in "Wiki-Piano.Net"
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0 The piece also reflects internet trends in terms of authorship: all the alterations
are made by the users under a Creative Commons licence. The work itself is not
registered with GEMA. In terms of copyright and versioning, therefore, the piece
also complies with internet typical standards typical, which are either explicitly
found in the open-source community or implicitly asserted in the rapidly expanding
distribution of DIY content. After more than a year of existence, over 800 users
have made more than 25,000 changes to the piece. During this period, the piece
has been performed 17 times.
4.8.4 Repository Composition

0 "Silent Post" is likewise a composition framework inspired by internet practices.
It follows a similarly accessible and free concept as "Wiki-Piano.Net". Within its
framework, output pieces (as working material) and editing tools are freely available.
Interested artists can use the tools and content to participate and create their
own contribution. The framework consists of several source pieces. These are
structured sequentially in sound, text, video and image. The starting point is thus a
clearly structured, stringing-together of existing materials and, in this sense, more
of an artistic collection of material than a conventional composition. The starting
pieces are structured accordingly, to give the participating artists the best possible
access to arrangement and material. Artists can then take such a “source piece”
and restructure, edit, expand, shorten, and vary it, using the tools contained in
the framework. This results then in further development and modification of the
existing piece. As an alternative to the source piece, a variation contributed by
previous artists can equally be used as a starting point. This results in successively
changing versions, that move further away from the original with each iteration. All
source pieces and derived variations are documented online and can be accessed
as source material. Each version is accessible online as a complete piece, but also
a score and the included samples and media.
14 Schematic representation of the

composition project "Silent Posts"
0 Here too, the structuring of the piece aims to enable the simplest and most direct
interaction possible with the materials. The design of the piece thus pursues the
intention of evoking social participation. In contrast to "Wiki-Piano.Net", the users'
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individual versions continue to exist here and can be assigned to each of the
artists. This makes it easy to observe and compare how different people produce
different artistic results with the same material. The relationship between individual
interpretations and the pool of the entire works represents this work's appeal.
15 Overview of the resulting versions in the composition project "Silent Posts"
0 The result is a development of versions resembling a family tree or a ramification.

Since all content is available online, the project is accessible to all interested parties,
at all times. This approach is inspired by repository programmes. A repository
is an archive that stores and describes digital objects. The objects managed in
the repository can be programs, publications, media, texts or even compositions.
Often a repository also contains functions for version maintenance of the managed
objects. In this case, the repository is resolved as a simple Google Drive folder
with free access. Here, all the compositions, scores and media are made available.
Moreover, some raw data, session files and intermediate steps are also provided.
Re-versioning of the pieces is created since new versions can be generated from
both the original pieces and the previously realized compositions. The pieces are
thus continuously reworked. They then receive corresponding version numbers, so
that it is clear upon which previous version they are based. Based on the principles
of open source development and the GitHub platform, the compositions should be
able to develop independently via different users' collaboration.
0 In summary, my compositional strategies in the post-internet context can be
described as an investigation of the interplay between online and offline worlds.
Aesthetic, compositional, communicative and collaborative techniques from
the internet context are used and removed from the purely online setting. The
compositions are to be understood as examples of more general processes, which
they aim to depict or implement. In this sense, their goal is to isolate characteristic
aspects by embedding them in a concertante context. Here, analogous to the
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previous postdigital techniques, the digital and analogue world's interface is also
central – albeit with a slightly different focus. In this sense, post‑internet art can
also be a tool for disclosure 292 – or even sensitizing – in times moulded by the
internet.
4.9 Summary and Virtual Imperative

0 In this chapter, I have presented my compositional work as a tool for a postdigital
change in perspective and have highlighted various facets of this approach. These
approaches operate on the border between digital and analogue content and
address their mutual influence. I have presented the disclosure of digital contents
and techniques as essential techniques. Based on the thesis that digital content is
becoming increasingly influential but also invisible, I interpret this approach as a
critical tool. Analogous to the term “postdigital imperative” I also propose a “virtual
imperative”. Based on the assumption that increasing virtualization – i.e. uncoupling
– can be observed in digital contexts, this term should take omnipresence into
account. The reflection of this circumstance will consequently become increasingly
integral in medially orientated contemporary composition.
0 In summary, the core thesis can be summarized as being that our view of digital
technologies and media in art and society has changed. This change in perspective
can be represented by postdigital art, or by making hidden content visible through
artistic means. In the concluding chapter, I would like to summarize once again
the social and technical prerequisites, derive my artistic activity from them and
present this in summary as an exploratory and critical artistic tool. Finally, the out-
look section will discuss which future perspectives and changes thereof could be
culturally significant and artistically necessary.
292 Here, as elsewhere in this thesis, the German phrase “sichtbar machen” [ to make visible ] has been translated as
disclosure, to emphasise that something is being revealed.
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5. CONCLUSION AND PERSPECTIVES
0 The cultural world we live in has become increasingly digital, whether it be quite
concretely, in its data storage and tools, or implicitly, in its postdigital shaping of our
perception and interaction forms. The cultural world today is most likely to appear
non‑digital if digital media are faulty, or if people actively opt out of digitality. Today,
digital refusal is only a reaction to digitalization and no longer an independent
decision. In the technically developed world, people can decide to go offline or not
to take their mobile phones with them. But the decision is made in this way – as
a negation. Being online and digital devices have become increasingly invisible
parts of everyday life. Even those areas of our life not explicitly pervaded by digital
technology, increasingly follow, nevertheless, in our consciousness, logics and
patterns which are shaped by digital technology and the internet. Our perception
and interaction are, in many cases, directly or indirectly influenced by this. Even
where no digital technology is used, it can be increasingly observed that inter-
actions and representations take place in the awareness of digital technologies.
The terms “post-digital” and “post-internet” attempt to take this fact into account
and propose a new way of seeing, feeling and aesthetics. This is characterized by
the fact that the analogue aspects and dimensions of our lives, such as perception,
interaction and body images, are also influenced by digital practices.
0 The spectrum of postdigital implications is diverse and runs through a wide range
of aspects. The origin of this change lies in the digital properties of computability,
discretization and transcoding. This results in numerous consequences, which are
reflected in the digital characteristics' visibility and disappearance. The digital is
no longer experienced as disruptive.
0 The forms of representation are strongly influenced by these implications: the
emphasis shifts from simple content representation to focussing on interaction
with content. Thus, the interface and a digital affordance gain leading roles. As a
result of the modularization and segmentation of content (images, texts, videos),
excerpts, clips and samples are now more in the foreground. In this discontinuous
presentation and reception, the content's editability also gains in importance. The
concluded work or medium becomes the exception – its place is taken by content
that can be shared, edited and transformed. Furthermore, this results in a changed
media consumption behaviour (with parallel, segmented and randomly assembled
content). Reception, composition and parallelism of media receive a new weighting
(especially on the internet). The nullification of the existing media concept, in the
form of a post-media turn, is also a consequence of the digital tools. Access to
large amounts of data and collective work in global networks lead to a new way of
dealing with information, user data and collaborations. As a result of such changed
availability and working methods, the concept of authorship is also increasingly
being questioned.
0 In addition to the shaping of the analogue by digital technology, the term “post-
digital” is also understood to mean a digital-critical or digital-conscious practice
or perspective. It is thus to be understood as a position which, once the digital
has become established, focuses on the more critical, sobering aspects of
digitalization, such as increasing surveillance, data manipulation or loss of data
protection. Belonging to this awareness are also aspects of authenticity, their
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construction through digital techniques and identity and/or body images in the
digital context. In summary, a postdigital turn can be described as a steering
away from a concentration on technology, towards a view that focuses on the
consequences, implications and underlying characteristics of digitality.
0 Many of the aspects summarized here are initially digital techniques, content and
implications. The postdigital influence is found at the moment when the experiences
and perspectives gained in this field are transferred to and balanced against
the analogue world – when we look at everything non-digital through a digital
perspective. For contemporary multimedia composition, to depict and thematise
this change of perspective can be an opportunity. One can think of an artwork here
as a tool for sensitizing, disclosure or changing perspectives. Since the critical
area of the post-digital runs exactly at the interface of the analogue and digital
world, this art form can be a suitable tool, due to its proximity to both worlds.
0 If one ascribes a decisive influence to digital technologies, the theory could be
honed to the extent that postdigital reflection is not only a potential but even
a necessity. Today, according to the idea of a “postdigital imperative”, it is no
longer possible (and/or desirable) not to use contemporary media music's
representations and tools with regard to their postdigital implications. Electronic
means should be used less for their own sake and more in the knowledge of their
social, social and personal use. Here, contemporary music has the possibility
to be compatible with relevant topics, without being degraded to accompanying
music. Using the resources of multimedia composition, the implicit reflection of
postdigital representations and modes is possible without having to resort primarily
to programme texts and language use. Here, content can be implemented directly
via the medium and made tangible to the senses.
0 In my compositional work, I have derived a mode of composition from the

postdigital perspective, which deals with the perception and visibility of digital
content. I have presented my artistic practice as a process of disclosure and as an
experienceable option. The compositions consequently pursue the goal of focusing
upon digital consequences, languages and codes. In the assumption that today,
digital and analogue increasingly permeate, overlap and complement one another,
I have presented practices that can bring about a separation of these levels, under
the heading “Uncoupling”. Here, too, a comparison of perspectives is again central,
because virtual, media-mediated and physical-immersive settings are being pitted
against each other.
0 In my work, I primarily focus upon the postdigital representation of the human
body, thematising interface junctions and types of digital communication forms.
Here, the body is thematised in its digital extension via sensors, and equated with
its digital image in the rasterized representations. However, the disclosure of gate-
ways and program interfaces (by using errors) reflects instead the manipulability of
digital content. In the participatory installations, the physical and interface-related
aspects merge – and thereby focus on interpersonal interaction and communication
in the postdigital age.
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0 First, it concerns a presentation and use of digital forms of interaction,
representation, and cooperation. As the concerts and installations are not purely
digital settings, the focus is on the contrast between a digital and a postdigital,
analogue world. It is this change in perspective, and the consequent comparison,
that can be insightful. In the body-related pieces, the representation jumps from an
abstractly gridded representation to a natural stage situation. In the lecture works
and video pieces, the action/attention jumps again and again from the stage to be-
hind the scenes: here, the surface is compared with the editing and manipulation
tools behind it. In the VR-based installations, the viewer switches through different
first-person perspectives and spaces; in these virtual scenes, one's own physicality
and perception are contrasted with artificial, virtual perceptions and experiences.
0 Skipping between these contrasting worlds is the essential feature of my work.

This switching – and thus comparison – takes place at various opposite poles:
authenticity vs. deception, corporeality vs. immateriality, grid vs. continuity,
proximity vs. distance, utopia vs. dystopia, machine vs. human or loneliness vs.
group processes. Just as ambivalently as digital achievements for society can
be seen, the pieces are not designed to make a clear, unambiguous statement.
Rather, they are intended to demonstrate worlds – and make them emotionally
and physically palpable. The ambivalence of the experience intends to enable
an examination of the content. The audience is thus exposed to scenarios in
which – mediated by technology – they are placed in strongly intimate situations.
But, time and again, the digital presentation is equally distanced. Using these
tools, the gain and loss of control is a continuously appearing symbol. Thus, the
implications oscillate between communal democratic approaches and settings of
self-abandonment, surrender, being overwhelmed, and trance.
0 I understand the design of these settings as an exploratory approach, as, in many
cases, they are not merely pieces illustrating a theme, but offer an experience with
an open outcome. Sometimes the process of developing a piece is designed as an
experiment, or the piece is conceived in such a way that the actual performance has
an open-ended result. Against the backdrop of illuminating a subject with multiple
perspectives, it is obvious to explore the post-digital theme through artistic practice.
Particularly because digital influences act upon our perception, communication
and our body images, it is important to me to make these characteristics tangible
and palpable, as these themes are not purely abstract gimmicks, but take place
within us, despite their technical origin. It then concerns no longer the technology
itself, but the experienced world in which we live, with all our needs and emotions.
0 When we look at the tools and forms of our postdigital era, we do not primarily see
the technical implications, but rather the social ones. Behind any social movements
lies the soul of the human being, which drives progress and, with it, both thrives
and suffers. When we open up worlds, step out of them or dis-illusion 293 them,
we can then learn through these processes. We meet our tools and the world we
construct with them – and ourselves.
293 The German word “Enttäuschung” has been translated here as elsewhere with “dis-illusion” to reflect that a
“Täuschung” [Illusion] is being removed.
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5.1 Outlook “With the Eyes of the Machine”
0 The postdigital attempts to describe the extent to which we see the world today
with digital eyes. How much have our senses already been shaped by the digital,
and how do we now look at our world? A subsequent question could then be:
how does the digital see us? What constitutes the gaze of the digital in itself? Not
the interfaces or graphic user screens, but a program's analysis, evaluation and
assessment of us and the analogue world. Interfaces, for example, are initially
designed by people for people, even if the digital structures are already clearly
recognizable there and implicit. However, the previously described characteristics
of calculability of the digital, the discreet, the post-medial detached, already lead
to influences which were not – in all cases – directly conceived by man. Here, the
“essence” of the digital begins to manifest itself: it simply lies in its nature. The
postdigital wants to recognize and name this “essence”: in other words, to develop
an eye for it, to see (and perceive) in such a way that we are sensitized to it.
0 The next step would now be to adopt the machine’s view. How does an algorithm
see the world, and how does a program recognize an image's properties? How does
a technical system make a decision? These questions initially have a technical core,
as they may initially be research and implementation questions; but subsequently,
it is much more than that. If we analyse how a program sees the world – especially
if we have not deterministically programmed every aspect of the program – then
we not only learn about the properties of the computer but also question our
perception and compare it with the machine. Where are parallels and which are
the differences? Where do approaches converge and where are they disparate?
And what role does man play in a world view, from the machine's perspective?
0 The spectrum of machine-specific perceptions ranges from simple programs

to complex recognition algorithms and artificial intelligence. A simple sorting
algorithm is not, in itself, a complex procedure, and is traceable at every step.
However, if one applies this procedure to audio files, pixels in video frames, entire
pictures or even people on a stage, one can already surmise the presence of a
digitally inhumane procedure in these processes; we gain an inkling of processes
that otherwise take place behind the user interface. Otherwise, this classification
does not imply any mystification or elevation of the algorithm: it is no more than
a series of structured commands. I find the spiritualization of technology to be a
rather obstructive procedure; but to accept and perceive the differences between
man and programme, in sight and action, is, again, instructive.
0 In the analogue world, these kinds of algorithms are already noticeable. 294 They
become particularly evident when there is a clearly visible gateway between
the analogue and digital world. These gateways can be coordinated goods in a
warehouse, guided streams of visitors in an airport, algorithmically coordinated
people in the gig economy or digitally managed and rented flats. In these examples,
we can perceive the analogue as an outgrowth of the digital. Increasingly, the digital
is no longer an auxiliary tool that supports analogue processes. The analogue object
294 Especially when a complex system is created from a sum of rather simple parts (sorting, filing, administration,
distance calculation, cost minimisation, ...)
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or person can increasingly be perceived as a physical component of the program. In
the interchangeability of people and objects with an algorithm, they are then, in their
individuality, no longer the centre of attention. They are a necessary manifestation
of the digital. 295 Additionally, this condition once again places the central concept
of the AD/DA converter centre stage. Technology will increasingly disappear further
into the invisible, so the only relevant aspect, besides the programs themselves,
will be the transducer from digital to analogue and vice versa. In purely physical
terms, it will be equipment (in the form of cameras, sensors, scanners, etc.) that
will remain. Metaphorically speaking, this is then also the elementary venue of the
relationship between analogue and digital.
0 When the digital processes are less visible, then it may be less striking at first,
but, if in doubt, even more worrying. This is, amongst other examples, the case
when programs analyse data, images, people and coordinates. “Computer vision”
– the extraction of an image's information and properties – is a tangible example.
The algorithmic evaluation of big data and data mining can reveal correlations
that people would otherwise perhaps not find (and perhaps would not search for).
Here, bizarre combinations can be revealed: but digestible information may also be
statistically extracted from a series of irrelevant data. There are indeed programs
which, based on photos shared in social media, can make statements about whether
a person has depressive tendencies. By combining search and purchase behaviour,
other programmes can make statements about whether a person wants to change
jobs or is pregnant. The combinability, scope and recording possibilities of digital
data lay the foundation for a categorically new form of analysis and machine vision.
0 In this context, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) represents a significant ex-
tension of the previously outlined points. If the program is only given framework
conditions, according to which it then adapts a concrete implementation itself, we
then observe processing and classification patterns which can differ fundamentally
from human patterns or which are surprisingly convergent.
0 If the algorithms are not designed in detail by humans and conceived in a
concrete process, we no longer specify the concrete processing but create an en-
vironment which is adaptive according to certain learning functions. Here, perhaps
an even more machine-based view emerges; a process that expresses the digital
even more strongly. In the context of AI, an input and an output layer are normally
defined, connected by a middle layer capable of learning. This calculation layer
is iteratively adapted, based on an error minimization of the system. The error
describes the quality of the algorithm and is quasi the evolutionary pressure of the
system. The system's architecture, and often also the error function, are designed
by humans and are, therefore, not a machine logic's expression.
0 From this point on, artificial intelligence develops its own connections and,
depending on its complexity, also representations, logics, formalizations or
ontologies. An opaque black box is created when the result of artificial intelligence
295 Of course, this system in this form was not created arbitrarily. It is, for example, in the form of the gig economy and
other cases the culmination of (platform) capitalism. The turning away from individualization and at the same time the
instrumentalization of people finds a sad climax here, which puts industrialization far in the shade.
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is so complex, that we ourselves can no longer comprehend it and can only judge
the result. It represents the opposite of visibility and removes a task's digital
implementation from human regard. In this case, we either have to analyse the
results or decode and interpret the system as a found object. Within the field of
AI image recognition, however, we can sometimes also identify methods that are
similar to processing steps in the human brain (edge detection, shape recognition,
etc.). In this way, general functions can be recognized that are apparently so
general that they can also develop in such settings. On the other hand, “deep
learning” algorithms also create multidimensional representations, in which we
cannot assign any human classification function to the individual description para-
meters. These are then highly complex systems, with criteria that are functional
but not usable for us without further transformation. Since these parameter sets
can also generate new content, these systems also provide us with the opportunity
to create new editions based on the AI representation. These results often have
a mixture of familiarity and surreal absurdity. These images (or music, etc.) give
us an idea of what a machine classification can look like. We see in them the
machine-like, equally associating the psychedelic, unconscious and surreal.
0 However, depending on the data from which the system learns, it can also reveal
very human aspects. If a system learns to make judicial decisions and trains itself
with the judicial archives of the past, artificial intelligence will reproduce and repeat
discriminatory and erroneous decisions. In this sense, this artificial system is then
a mirror of ourselves. Perhaps it is precisely in this comparison of perspectives
and classifications that the appeal of artistic contemplation and debate lies. For
us, the digital is also always a mirror. We see ourselves in and through the digital.
The digital is shaped by us and subsequently, we are shaped by it. In this cycle
of interactions, to look the digital in the eye and to reflect and calibrate one's own
perception – this can represent an opportunity provided by contemporary media
art: withstanding the gaze, without blinking.
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6. PUBLISHED ARTICLES
6.1 The Aesthetics of Error
0 Fracture in Coding as an Opportunity to Understand a System
0 The aesthetic of the fault, failure, breaking off or breaking down is a manifold
apparition, that traverses a multitude of aspects in our daily life as well as art in
general and medial contemporary music especially. 296 In addition to the disruptive,
destructive element of the mistake, it offers the opportunity to look behind the
façade and to understand the mechanisms of systems. When a function is impaired
or conducting itself defectively, we learn something about the operating principle of
the system – be it biology, psychology, informatics, or any other branch of science.
This holds especially true for medially conveyed digital contents. This aspect gains
a growing social and also artistic poignancy in a reality, that increasingly capitalizes
on digitally transported contents. 297 298
16 Concert photo "Codec Error" with Ensemble Intercontemporain
0 This text discusses the conception and connotation of the error, specifically in
the field of digital media. I will explore resulting implications for the arts and, using
examples, the possibilities of harnessing their attributes. Finally, I wish to discuss
my own pieces that deal with this topic and explain the motivation that led me to
familiarize myself with the principle of error.
296 Cascone, Kim: “The Aesthetics of Failure: ‘Post-Digital’ Tendencies in Contemporary Computer Music”,
in: Computer Music Journal 24/4, 2000, pp.12–18.
297 Schönfelder, Christoph and Cohnen, Henrik: ‘Über Fehler, Krisen und ästhetische Erfahrung’,
in: Positionen. Beiträge zur neuen Musik [Of Mistakes,Crisis and aesthetic Experience’,
in: Positions. Articles concerning New Music]79, 2009, pp.2–6.
298 Sanio, Sabine: ‘Gedanken zu einer Ästhetik des Fehlers’, in:Positionen. Beiträge zur neuen Musik
[‘Thoughts concerning an Aesthetic of Error’, in: Positions. Articles concerning New Music] 79, 2009, p.43.
158
6.1.1 Kinds of Errors and Principles
0 An error, by definition, has a negative connotation. It represents the deviation
from a rule, an expectation, or from a forecast. If something does not function the
way we expect or wish it to, we initially experience it as disappointing. But in all
disciplines, there is something to gain from mistakes, as, because of it, we can
shed new light on a situation or a process and question it. A lot of experiences
and findings build upon faults – whether they have been accepted (trial and error),
calculated (experimental design), or happened as a surprising occurrence (failure).
0 When we perceive an error, it firstly shows us that we had an assumption or prior
knowledge of an event or a function. Only then can we locate a mistake. This
assumption can be made deliberately as well as unconsciously. Especially in the
case of an unconscious expectation, the realization of an error results in a deeper
understanding of the outset. Now, the recognition of the mistake spurs the reflection
of unconscious knowledge.
0 But not only existing assumptions can be disappointed: unforeseeable
behavioural patterns may also come to light. A new category might be revealed,
or a building block recognized: something that previously was invisible, now
becomes discernible. Errors always destroy the black box (whether, for example,
in a computer program or a theatre performance, for example). In such a case
we learn something about the underlying principle, respectively the attributes of
a system. This is especially true when an error does not occur on a global scale
but affects only the section of a system. In medicine, for example, the functions of
different brain regions could be classified after accidents revealed their respective
malfunctions.
6.1.2 Causes of Error

0 If a mistake occurs, we perceive something that we shouldn't actually experience.
We look behind the façade (of functionality) intended for us and recognize a
structure and a process principle.
0 The reasons for the occurrence of errors are manifold: they can be caused by the
absence of a component, by a defective part, by the lack of a significant piece of
information or by the fact that an external process has been interfered with and
disturbed.
0 Partial errors, that do not lead to a complete failure, thus contain a special chance
for gainful insights as they often point out the faulty components. This offers insights
into ontological structures or technical construction methods. It is not for nothing
that during debugging in programming, section by section (and module by module)
is successively checked. Similarly, illnesses helped with understanding what brain
regions are necessary for language genesis and comprehension.
0 Partial failure does not in all cases lead to a partial disruption – a broken wheel
can bring the whole machinery to a halt. The result is a complete standstill. Here
we might learn less about the operating principle, but more about the relevance of
single components – their imperative nature. In case of doubt, a positive conclusion
is possible, though: the recognition of a technical, sociological, aesthetical, or
political function, subdivision, or group. Examples from the social domain could
159
be the financial crisis, burn-outs, and strikes of single occupational groups.
0 Besides the malfunction of a component, another cause of an error could be an
impaired interaction. A rich spectrum of faulty communication channels and related
problems can be found in technical and interpersonal mediation.
6.1.3 Analogue and Digital Media

0 When focusing on technical errors and medial dysfunction, one can roughly
observe the complementary classes of “analogue” and “digital” – comparable
to the partial and comprehensive error. An analogue system, and thus the fault
occurring therein, is based on a continuous (and not discrete) representation.
From this comes the realization that interruptions are experienced as distortions or
modulations rather than a textual, gradually occurring crack. A saturated tape or a
scratched vinyl record lead to a successive change in the sound – it is a continuous
change of the mechanism. In the extreme, cracks and ruptures can appear in the
analogue, but constant change that mostly lies in the congruent coding of contents
is the norm. A disturbed analogue radio signal will rather distort or fade and only
abort in the extreme. Within the digital world, however, it is often the opposite case:
storage and representation are not analogue, therefore not translated 1:1. Hence,
too-greatly disturbed coding may lead to complete failure more easily. The error
corrections, e.g. in CD-players, bridge that gap and tolerate some faults until they
suddenly jump to a strong impairment or abruptly stop working. Compression and
a more compact coding of data is consequently the Achilles’ heel of the digital
system. 299
0 In music, the handling of purposefully induced errors in sound carriers and
technical music equipment is well established 300 , forming genres such as glitch,
noise, or digital noise. Meanwhile, this aesthetic has made it to mainstream music,
film, and other sectors. 301
17 Oval - Ovalcommers (Album Cover)
299 Collins, Nicolas: ‘Hacking the CD Player’, 2009.

online: https://www.nicolascollins.com/texts/cdhacking.pdf. (Retrieved:12.12.2019)
300 Stuart, Caleb: ‘Damaged Sound: Glitching and Skipping Compact Discs in the Audio of Yasunao Tone,
Nicolas Collins and Oval’, in: Leonardo Music Journal 13, 2003, pp.47–52.
301 Moradi, Iman: Glitch Aesthetics, Huddersfield: The University of Huddersfield, 2004.
160
0 Artists such as Oval and Yasunao Tone have extensively drawn from these
techniques. Martin Arnold and Raphael Montañez Ortiz played with similar
perceptions, based on manipulating video material. Bernhard Lang partially
transferred this model to composed works. 302
0 Firstly, new forms of sound were created using such methods. The hard and
screeching sound of a digital error was a welcome enhancement of tonal
possibilities. But the textual and narrative plane of such an edited source material
would also be changed radically. The resulting jumping, chopping, and looping
fundamentally changes the chronology, dramaturgy, and perception of the piece.
The outcome can be amusing, threatening, unsettling, or beautiful. Yet, almost
always, we look differently upon the source material and are forced to step back
and view the content from a distance. Understandably, these tools have been
established as popular remix instruments. 303 304
6.1.4 Coding
0 In addition to musical and conceptual changes, these works always allow a look
behind the scenes of the playback, storage, display, or communication system.
The most well-known is the aforementioned “jumping” CD and underlying block by
block storing and scanning of music. 305
0 CD-coding is probably followed by the MP3-format as the widest spread audio
codec. This loss-laden form of storage includes an (accepted) error, which, depending
on the grade of compression, is more present or almost inaudible. In his piece "Mehr
als die Hälfte" (More than Half), Hans Seidl had an orchestra play the missing
parts, those which had been excluded by the algorithm to optimize storage. Every
model and every approximation (deliberately or unwittingly) accepts mistakes – and
Seidl steers our attention to these lost parts. He interprets the absence of a hardly
audible but quantitatively grave part of the complete sound as a political metaphor
for a system in which the majority of the voices are being neglected. A deliberately
accepted mistake is questioned. 306
302 Even if this is a technical commentary: in my opinion, Lang's work is more about the convention of musical language
and the performance apparatus, which is illuminated and sometimes taken ad absurdum.
303 Navas, Eduardo; Gallagher, Owen and Burrough, xtine (Ed.): The Routledge companion to remix studies,
New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2015.
304 Amerika, Mark: Meta/data:A digital poetics, Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2007.
305 Kelly, Caleb: Cracked media: The sound of malfunction, Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2009.
306 Manon, Hugh S. und Temkin, Daniel: ‘Notes on Glitch’, in: world picture 6, 2011.
161
18 Nicolas Provost - Long Live the New Flesh (video-Still)
0 A prominent fault in digital videos is found concerning the keyframe, due to the
relative storing of video images. For example, only every fifteenth image is saved
completely, while the following fourteen images only save the change. Thus, the
amount of data is massively reduced at a similar image ratio. If this reference frame
is saved incorrectly or missing completely, the following images relate to the wrong
image. This results in a faulty, amorphous, and surreal display, in which back-
grounds, faces, and objects blur into each other. Nicolas Provost picked up this
aesthetic in "Long Live The New Flesh" (2009) and subjected film sequences from
Cronenberg’s "Videodrome" (1983) to this error. The original film’s theme of merging
bodies and technologies is emphasized through these morphing mistakes. 307 308
0 In his classic "I am Sitting in a Room", Lucier primarily highlighted the
characteristics of space, language, and audio technology. But he also incorporates
the amplification of the error in recording and playback apparatus. Several works 309
explore the principle of “generation loss”: the loss of quality, when repeatedly
copying from a source (e.g. VHS-tapes). The errors slip in successively, destabilize
the image and distort the sound. In the digital equivalent "Video Room 1000", a
YouTube-user uploads a video to the platform only to download it (after it has been
embedded and recoded by YouTube) again. He repeats this a thousand times to –
analogue to Lucier – make the coding errors audible and visible.
307 Winand, Annaelle: ‘The Body, the Film, the Archive and the Monster’,
in: Conference: XIV MAGIS – Gorizia International Film Studies Spring School (2016).
308 Zvokine, Eugénie: ‘Long live the new flesh de Nicolas Provost, une analyse du spectateur contemporain’
[Long live the new flesh by Nicolas Provost, an analysis of the contemporary spectator]
in: L'archive-forme, Giusy Pisano, Paris: L'Harmattan, 2014, pp.65–78.
309 “VHS generation loss - YouTube”, 4.4.2020.
online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mES3CHEnVyI&feature=youtu.be (Retrieved: 4.4.2019).
162
19 Video Room 1000 (screenshot)
0 In his lecture/performance "Cancellation Artefacts", Dan Tramte introduces a set

of examples in which transformed and thus erroneous material is “retransformed”. 310
The result is the original source material as well as the artefacts that have been
created by editing. This means that there is a digital footprint of the manipulations
(and error artefacts).
6.1.5 Behind the Scenes

0 As previously mentioned, several unique art forms have developed from the work
with manipulated and destroyed digital media since the relating technologies came
to exist. In an increasingly virtual, editable, and medial world, the glitch is not only
a means of sound design but a tool to reveal and thematise the constructivist
elements in our surroundings.
0 A retouching mishap, or the exaggerated adjustment of a model utilizing
Photoshop, becomes a symbol of the omnipresent manipulation of body images.
A crashed ATM with a Windows error report opens our eyes to the fault-prone
and often hackable operating system that lies beneath the reputable, clinically
untouchable surface of the financial world. The omnipotent economic façade
symbolically shrinks down to a fragile personal computer.
0 David O’Reilly’s video works are riddled with glitch and noise elements. 311 In the
beginning, the rather calm and poetic video loop „Black Lake“ (2010) features a
rendered lake-land with birds. Gradually, display errors appear and instead of the
scenery, we become aware of the motion vectors and the object grids. Virtuality is
plainly shown to us, and in this case, develops a kind of loneliness and emptiness
that fits the aesthetic of the previous section. 312
310 Cancellation Artifacts lecture performance - YouTube, 4.4.2020.
online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXVYAa4T5K8 (Retrieved:4.4.2020).
311 Cancellation Artifacts lecture performance - YouTube, 4.4.2020.
online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXVYAa4T5K8 (Retrieved:4.4.2020).
312 Wanner, Andres: “‘Machinic Trajectories’: Appropriated Drawing Machines as Post-Digital Devices”,
in: Journal of Science and Technology of the Arts 6/1, 2014,p.75.
163
20 David O’Reilly - "Black Lake" (screenshot)
6.1.6 Post-Internet
0 Following the advent of the internet and digital means of communication, post-
internet concepts have arrived in the art world, established as a component of the
younger composition and art scene. Time and again, the error appears as a driving
force in this context as well. It invites us to question the interlocking of the virtual
world and reality.
21 Regula Bochsler - "The Rendering Eye"
0 It is not uncommon for faulty software to coincidentally lead to artistically exciting

results – and this recognition can be extended to almost all the aforementioned
examples. A much-discussed item was the (especially in the beginning) artefact-
heavy Apple application "Maps". Here, texture data and altitude information were
often collected inaccurately. The corollary was the creation of geometrically im-
possible, pseudo-real displays of the earth's surface. Non-matching data sets are
– also in general – a typical source of error. 313
0 However, Helmut Smits turned the tables in his work "Dead Pixel in Google Earth"
(2008). He coloured a square of 82 cm edge-length black, by burning a patch of
grass on a real lawn. Viewed from a height of one kilometre in Google Maps, this
made up exactly one pixel. This work in the area of landscape art simulated a virtual
313 Rendering Eye 4.4.2020.

online: http://www.renderingeye.net/projects_content.php?project_id=1032&typ=gallery (Retrieved:4.4.2020).
164
error, in reality – and when recaptured through satellite photography it can’t be
distinguished from an actual pixel error. 314
22 Helmut Smith - "Dead Pixe"l
0 Conversely, errors in Google's navigation system in turn cause, for example,

numerous cars to be guided incorrectly into a cul-de-sac in a remote forest area
when a traffic jam is diverted. Like lemmings, disorientated car drivers are stranded
in front of a pedestrian bridge in the forest, due to an error in the navigation program.
This way they involuntarily became the plaything of an (in this case) inconsequential
and absurd error.
6.1.7 Virtual Systems and Expectations

0 The issue of the error plays a continuous role in my compositions. As my pieces
mainly deal with digital media and medial representation, the form of fault always
comes from computer-based coding.
0 The starting point of one of my works is mostly the creation of a setting or
scenery. This starting point can be scenic, gestural, musical, visual, or textual.
But in all cases, this setting is realized and conveyed with the help of techno-
logy, programming, and digitally controlled visual contents. Something generally
artificial and constructed lies within the process. This creation process and the
connection of different contents (via technology) is, for starters, not obligatory, but
arbitrary. My idea is to fabricate a system with a virtual character and from there,
to provoke expectations. That could be, e.g. , the technical coupling of gestures
with sound events, the setting of a lecture, or the application of video playbacks.
0 In my sensor-based pieces 315 , gestures are translated into sounds (and light).
For one, this setup created an expressive, improvisatory controllable hybrid-
instrument, while the technology was to function as prolongation and expansion
314 Brucker-Cohen, Jonah: ‘Dead Pixel in Google Earth, hacking satellite maps one pixel at a time’, 2009.
online: http://neural.it/2009/04/dead-pixel-in-google-earth-hacking-satellite-maps-one-pixel-at-a-time/
315 Weapon of Choice and Laplace Tiger
165
of the interpreter. "Point Ones"316 , and even more so "Serious Smile", play with
the interaction between a sensor-supported conductor and an ensemble. The
arbitrariness of whether the ensemble or the electronics are playing and in which
form the setting of the electronics is freely assignable is shown at the end of the
piece, when the conductor’s gestures are only generating error messages and are
implemented increasingly asynchronously. The levels of interplay are getting out of
hand, technically as well as regarding the interaction. In this case, the utilization
of the fault underlines the constructivism of the setup. 317
23 Enno Poppe conducts "Point Ones" (with Ensemble Mosaik)
6.1.8 Narrative Crash

0 The pieces mentioned previously concentrate mainly on gestural interaction,
technical control, and non-verbal conveyance of contents. They play with
consequential expectations.
24 Screenshot from "Star Me Kitten"
316 Enno Poppe - "Point Ones" Conductor Solo [Alexander Schubert] - YouTube, 4.4.2020.
online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JB8qcTwDJw (Retrieved:4.4.2020).
317 Nonnenmann, Rainer: ‘Der Mensch denkt, die Maschine lenkt’ [The Man thinks, the Machine Steers]
in: MusikTexte 153, 2017, pp.33–42.
166
25 Concert photo "Hello" with Decoder Ensemble
0 A textural cut is not necessarily bound to a technical mistake but can be triggered
by one. In my lecture/performance "Star Me Kitten", a computer error is used for
this. At the beginning of the piece, a more or less believable setting is established: a
musicological lecture in which the ensemble illustrates content from the speech. 318
A theory and numerous symbols are described and interpreted musically. In this
way, a somewhat cohesive setting is created. This is followed by a crash of the
PowerPoint presentation after a third of the piece. From now on, the point of
view is changed, into the “interior” of the computer, as for the rest of the piece,
the musical and visual material consists majorly of warning messages and error
signals. Furthermore, the audience can repeatedly see behind the scene of the
presentation: the slides being worked on, the editing in Photoshop, mountains of
notations that burst out of the notation program – and, over and over, the error
reports of the beamer and the programs in use. But the cut and related change of
perspective primarily happen in parallel and on the narrative level. The previously
introduced symbols and significant units are, from this point on, put into another
context and reassembled into a construction that no longer corresponds to a
factual lecture. A stream-of-consciousness is opened up with the crash of the
program and one sees through the façade of the lecturers, into an emotional,
parallel world, existing behind the scenes. In addition to its function as a switcher
and aggregator of material, the error also functions as a post-modern tool for quick,
contrasting cutting techniques. Just as a mistake can involuntarily reveal differing
attributes in everyday life, so too does it enable the opportunity to quickly jump to
an opposite subject. The behaviour of the dysfunctional computer is always erratic
and surprising. In this case, in addition to the technical component, it reveals the
subject behind the abstract and the emotion behind the surface.
0 I use a similar approach in "f1". In the beginning, a musician, running late, hurries
onto the stage, stumbles and falls flat on his face. From then on, he lies there
inanimately. The mistake happens right at the beginning of the piece. It breaks with
the expectations of a classical music concert and establishes a unique setting
318 Compare: Matthew Shlomowitz – “Lecture about Bad Music”, Trond Reinholdtsen - “Unsichtbare Musik”
and Francois Sarhan - “Who was Mario Bossi”
167
from the start. In this case, as well, the error is followed by a dark journey through
a morbid realm of thought: one of death, deceit, and loss.
26 Scene from "f1"
6.1.9 Artificial Bodies and Performance Machinations

0 After the sensor-based works, I continued addressing the body on stage and the
gestures of performers. I developed the approach of a synchronized choreography,
paired with light programming in "Sensate Focus" and "Scanners". In these works,
the musicians are placed on a completely dark stage and execute artificial motions
in addition to playing movements. The performer is spotlit for the duration of every
action. In this way, I created short cut-outs or samples, that express part of the
performance’s continuity and corporeal presence in a video-clip or GIF-aesthetic.
The person on stage is thus perceived as a visual sample and discretized as an
impersonal decal. In "Sensate Focus", the increasingly mechanical movements
lead to a vehement acceleration, ending in a passage that humans can simply not
play. Tempo-wise, the instrumentalists are taken here to their limit, so that per-
formance errors become increasingly visible and there is a repetitive saturation of
the gestures, resembling the overheating of a gearbox.
27 Sensate Focus (concert photo)

with Ensemble Plusminus
168
0 This approach of synchronized choreography and lighting is continued and
temporarily brought to a conclusion in "Codec Error". The basic setting is the
same. The difference is that the stage can be used in all its depth, and all the
headlamps are mobile so that any desired area on the stage can be highlighted.
The two drummers and the bass player can consequently be spotlit by any light, on
any position. This provides them with the freedom to move to different instruments
spread out on stage. Here, the idea of displaying the live situation as if it were a
video is intensified. All the performers’ movements on stage are directed by the
stop-motion principle. The musicians move forward in the strobe light and thus
evoke the impression of an inanimate object being moved in the dark. They seem
dehumanized and resemble holograms. This sensation is supported by position
changes during darkness, which simultaneously increases the impression of
discontinuity. Complying with the piece’s title, I attempt to code – explicitly, to
video-code – the musicians on stage. 319
28 "Codec Error" (concert photo) with Ensemble Intercontemporain
0 The first error happens after the first third of the piece: the playing motions
now resemble a jumping CD – or rather, a DVD. Divided into micro-loops, they
equal a broken playback device hanging in a loop. More explicitly, the image of
an incorrectly read video file is to be evoked. A playback-error in the clip-like
portrayal of the performers leads to a dysfunctional representation of the people
on the stage. This effect is amplified by the use of light in this passage. The
lights change in patterns between the basic colours red, blue, and green. Every
flash of light leads to an instant snapshot – and, following the video-analogy, to
the generation of a frame. The changing of the RBG-mixed colours emulates a
319 Bailie , Joanna: ‘Late to the party: concerning contemporary music’s current (and long overdue) broadening of
practice’, in: Clash! Generationen – Kulturen – Identitäten in der Gegenwartsmusik.
[Clash! Generations–Cultures–Identities in Current Music] Nr. 58, 2018, p.119.
169
classic video error (and also video effect) – the colour channel offset principle.
Furthermore, at least three different headlamps are pointed at every musician
from (preferably) orthogonal angles at all times. When the lamps illuminate the
musicians in a specific order, the serial snapshots light the player from different
angles. In total, we see for example the performer’s back in red, then the left side
in blue and finally a blue flash of light from the opposite angle. This is an attempt
to emulate a coding error in a video file and, with analogue means, and without
the application of projection, the aesthetic of a defective video file is generated.
The appearance of jumping frames and faulty body images is accrued in an ideally
abstract display. 320
29 "Codec Error" (video-still)with Ensemble Intercontemporain
0 Right in the middle of the piece, the malfunction leads to a kind of system failure
and the form of presentation is inverted: from now on, all actions take place as a
matter of principle on a flatly lighted stage, and this section begins with one and a
half minutes of silence. The piece begins anew (not identical, though similar). The
bassist moves towards the audience in slow motion once more – but now, we see
everything clearly lit. Basically, this crash results in a change of perspective. The
observers can see the events and the setting from a different angle and can now
reassess it. The performance apparatus is openly exposed and, by this process,
demystified. Markers on the stage floor, microphones on wrists, iPads on the floor,
and hidden lamps: everything becomes visible. The “hologram black box” and the
connected sensory overload have collapsed upon themselves. Towards the end of
the piece, this situation peaks, when, after another crash, the click-track becomes
audible on the venues’ speakers. The audio track also contains the instructions
320 Schröter, Jens: ‘Four Models of Intermediality’, in: Travels in Intermedia[lity: ReBlurring the Boundaries,
Bernd Herzogenrath, Lebanon: University Press of New England, 2012, p.77.
170
for the musicians – those heard on their headphones to find their cues in the dark.
The last piece of the virtual setting’s secret is revealed.
30 "Codec Error"
Positioning of spotlights and musicians
0 Now, not only does the view of the whole setting change but particularly the
perception of the musicians. They might not be identified as being human in the
ultra-abstract display in the first part of the piece-more as some kind of projection
of a human being. In the second part of the piece, the audience has a lot of
time to look at their physical bodies, opening up a more personal, emphatic
perspective. The focus jumps from the digital representation back to the actual
human. Complementary to the first act’s setup, the onstage work lighting is only
sometimes turned off, spotlighting the musicians merely in flashes. Originating from
a natural observation of the musicians onstage, the perspective/representation of
the interpreter changes abruptly, similar to an error, and reveals their digital image.
The revelation of the click-track and the mechanisms of deception – normally
always a mistake – lets the audience see the control apparatus of the work. From
this, a more general metaphor can then be identified regarding control of people
through technology or hierarchical systems.
6.1.10 Forecast
0 Our surrounding world is increasingly becoming more virtual, more artificial, and
superficially more perfect. Media contents are more present than ever. For art,
this can provide the opportunity to contribute to the reflection of this system.
Never before has the use of multimedia means in contemporary art been simpler
and more obvious than today. This holds the danger of affirmation and unthinking
assumption. But at this point in time, spectacular sound effects and compute-
intensive video editing have become a mass product, as established as Helmut
Lachenmann’s playing techniques. When the novelty of technology is used up, how
the means are used becomes the actual topic. Here, the cutlery of media art in the
context of contemporary music has finally become applicable as content instead of
171
decoration. Its creative and reflective potential is not to be underestimated in this
context. Our habitat is of constructivist design. Methods and agreements can be
questioned and penetrated via interface failure, amongst other ways. Perfection,
or better: flawlessness is omnipresent, but should not be the (singular) goal of art
music.
0 This is where the concept of error can take hold. It can break with conventions
and communications. The error as a material is exhausted – the glitch as a visual
or tonal element is somewhat exploited. But as a tool, it is more justified than ever.
How can art call attention to the deception, perfection, paternalism, suggestion,
surveillance, and body images? How can it reveal and criticize them? 321
31 Video-Still "Unit Cycle"
0 In collapse, we see what surrounds us, what we demand from ourselves, and
how we let ourselves be deceived. Virtually and medially transmitted realities are
becoming more established and proclaimed on all technical levels. Authenticity is
being traded as (often manipulated) currency. On an emotional level, the appearing
of an error is immediately followed by disappointment. On the medial level, we
experience equally, analogue to the literal sense, a revocation of deception.
0 Thus, we can look behind the façade, to see the abysmal, the broken. Behind the
abstract lies the emotional, behind the powerful lies the fragile, behind perfection
lies the original. It is not uncommon for a faulty system to break down by itself at
some point. In other cases, artists, hackers, and activists can lend a helping hand.
321 Harenberg, Michael: Topologies of an Aesthetics of the Virtual in Music, pp.68–98..
172
6.2 Virtuality and Deception
0 “When I Told You These Things, I Was Lying”
0 The subject area “virtuality” is no longer a science-fiction vision, but has become
a significant variable in our everyday lives. In addition to the obvious fields of work,
virtual and augmented reality, its effects are also to be found in a more subtle form
in all media content. Social life, communication, self-portrayal, political mediation,
body images and much more have become editable and thus manipulatable
variables in the digital age. We have been establishing realities not only since the
advances in media technology but now in an increasingly realistic way. Wherever
realities are created, deception happens. The questions of trustworthiness,
verifiability and authenticity are becoming more elevated in their importance, to
central questions of our social life. 322 323
0 One of the strengths of art is this very establishment of realities. Every work of art
proclaims its own world and, moreover, relates to our real environment. A work of
art never stands alone but is always a model. Additionally, the setting of the art-
work offers the chance to play with the codes used, to reflect, break and question
them. 324
0 Then I speak of the real world or our environment in this text, I mean an analogous
world, neither medial nor otherwise technically mediated, but directly perceived by
the perceptive apparatus of the recipient world. Of course, we have constructively
generated this perception as well and, therefore, it is not absolute. For the sake
of simplicity, I use this concept as the opposite of virtual, artificial worlds. By this,
I mean – in this context – realities which are recognizably and knowingly created
by people (with technical resources) and which pursue the goal of generating an
alternative or complementary truth, experience, perception or environment. 325
32 Installation photo "Control"
322 Farocki, Harun: ‘Serious Games’ in: Artlink 35/1, 2015, pp. 62–65.
323 Seemann, Michael: Das neue Spiel: Strategien für die Welt nach dem digitalen Kontrollverlust
[The New Game: Strategies for the World after the Digital Loss of Control], Freiburg: Orange Press, 2014.
324 Grossmann, Rolf: ‘Konstruktiv(istisch)e Gedanken zur ‘Medienmusik’, in: Medien, Musik, Mensch
[Constructiv(ist)e Thoughts on ‘Media Music’, in: Media,Music,Man],
Thomas Hemker and Daniel Müllensiefen, Hamburg: von Bockel, 1997, pp.61–78.
325 Seemann, Michael: Das neue Spiel: Strategien für die Welt nach dem digitalen Kontrollverlust
[The New Game: Strategies for the World after the Digital Loss of Control], Freiburg: Orange Press, 2014.
173
0 In particular, working with new media such as electronics, video, installation and
performance offers a wide range of potential for this, especially the possibility
of applying contemporary music techniques to a socially relevant field. 326 Live
electronics and a video feed cannot be used simply as an effect, decoration
or for superficially aesthetic purposes, but are to be understood as the most
appropriate tools for the implementation of virtual concepts. Every use of electronics
holds the potential for deception. With digital tools, the relationship between
cause and effect is disengaged and can be freely designed. To concentrate on
this aspect and make it the subject of the work is an artistically exciting task.
0 In the following, I will discuss various technical and related social factors that
result explicitly or implicitly from (mostly media mediated) virtual representations.
Physical bodies and identities are at the centre of my observations. The manipulation
of the qualitative and quantitative aspects in depicting people and their actions will
be investigated in different contexts.
0 At the same time, I will give examples from various art fields. The selection of
works is intended to illustrate the extent to which artistic debate can reveal and
problem-solve grievances. Finally, I will formulate the thesis that media production
always contains elements of deception, so as to finally present my own work's
intentions and experiences in this thematic field.
6.2.1 Uncoupling
0 We can experience the virtuality principle in classical concerts when an artificial
space is created, the underlying functional mechanisms of which are hidden or, at
least, hidden from us. Sensory impressions or experiences are created which do
not exist in this form (classical concert-spatial) or whose form has been transferred
to another representation. 327
0 In acousmatic music, the source of the sound remains hidden from us. The art of
pure listening – which originated in philosophical lecture – has increasingly found
its way into art music through tape music. The “pythagorean curtain” uncouples
our perception from the sound generator and thus creates an artificial space that
can either exist purely acoustically or is internally completed by us.
0 Alvin Lucier's classic "Music for Solo Performer" provides a bridge between per-
formative and acousmatic music. Although the percussion instruments are set in
vibration by the performer's cerebral activity, the actual action inside the head
eludes us. In the analogue circuitry for sound reinforcement, there is nevertheless
an arbitrariness and, therefore, an assertion.
0 Theatrical and gestural elements have a long tradition in contemporary music.
The staging of physical bodies and their relationship to the content conveyed
was established in the instrumental music of Kagel, Schnebel and Christou, for
326 Santini, Giovanni: ‘LINEAR (Live-generated Interface and Notation Environment in Augmented Reality)’,
in Conference Proceedings TENOR 18, Montréal: Concordia University, 2018, p.33.
327 Nonnenmann, Rainer: ‘Das Konzert ist tot – Es lebe das Konzert! Öffnungen und Perspektiven der Musik im
»Iconic turn« des Digitalzeitalters’, in: Musik & Ästhetik [‘The Concert is dead – Long Live the Concert! Openings
and Perspectives of Music in the « Iconic Turn» of the Digital Age’, in: Music and Aesthetics]14/56, 2010, pp.26–43.
174
example. As early as in Christou's "Anaparastasis III" , de Mey’s "Silence must
be", or Schnebel's "Nostalgia", we find a decided uncoupling of movement and
(sound) result. Here, contents are evoked that don't actually take place on stage
but are completed in our minds. This also occurs with Xavier le Roy's separated
playing movement and actual playing in his production of Lachenmann's "Salute
to Caudwell". The audience hears the guitar duo playing behind the curtain, and
sees a second duo playing the piece empty-handed. In this case, the uncoupling
is limited to the separation but does not affect the semantic content. 328 329
33 Michael Beil - "Exit to Enter" (concert photo) with Nadar Ensemble
0 Such approaches can be implemented particularly efficiently in the media

context. The use of live electronics and video extends the range of possibilities.
Michael Beil uses the principle of separating soundless, performative pseudo-game
movements, which are supplemented with a sound layer by the offstage ensemble,
for example, in "Exit to Enter". He takes this idea further still by doubling the per-
formers via live video sampling. The musicians increasingly escape the tangible.
First, they are robbed of their instruments, then of their bodies. In this way, actions
can be underlaid with new content and movements can be reinterpreted. Events
are manipulated and virtualized.
328 ‘Movements für Lachenmann [Movements for Lachenmann] - Workshop with Xavier Leroy’, 2013.
online: https://vimeo.com/73630751 (Retrieved: 4.4.2020).
329 Le Roy, Xavier: Mouvements für Lachemann [Movements for Lachenmann] 4.4.2020.
online: http://www.xavierleroy.com/page.php?sp=e347f884fa37480bd0bd5dff79104483a8e284b5&lg=en
(Retrieved: 4.4.2020).
175
6.2.2 Hologram
0 The dissolution of the body, of human presence and immediacy, has become
commonplace in our society. How we present ourselves and view other people has
progressively become indirect and virtual. A photographer took a picture of Hillary
Clinton at an airport during an election campaign appearance with her waiting
supporters. But all of them stand with their backs to the politician, so that they can
take a selfie with her. In the same way, at concerts, which are continuously filmed
by mobile phones and tablet computers, one observes that some spectators look
at another visitor's tablet, rather than directly at the stage. The "real" event is only
one component of the primary digital world. 330 331
34 Hillary Clinton in Orlando Airport during the electoral campaign
0 Stefan Prins takes up this phenomenon of indirect viewing via audience

participants' tablet use in his piece "Mirror Box Extensions". Primarily, a hologram-
like effect is achieved on stage, using projections onto a semi-transparent gauze
wall, within which the musicians play, together with their projected alter egos. The
hologram principle was used in Madrid in an artistically convincing way when a ban
on demonstrations in front of government buildings was imposed. In accordance
with the decree, but taking into account the voices of unwanted demonstrators, a
virtual protest march was staged in which the banned citizens were made visible
as holograms. 332 333 334
330 Wesemann, Nina and Hengst, Daniel: My Lonesome Hologram 4.4.2020.

online: http://mylonesomehologram.de/ (Retrieved: 04.04.2020).
331 Schmitt, Philipp: Camera Restricta 4.4.2020.
online: https://philippschmitt.com/work/camera-restricta (Retrieved: 4.4.2020).
332 Hanusa, Sebastian: ‘Körper in der Spiegelkiste: Stefan Prins «Mirror Box Extensions»’, in: Neue Zeitschrift für Musik
[‘Body in the Mirror Box: Stefan Prins’ « Mirror Box Extensions»’, in: New Newspaper for Music]4,
2016, p.46.
333 Blitzer, Jonathan: ‘Protest by Hologram’, in:The New Yorker, 20.4.2015.
334 Pierre Jodlowski - Outerspace (2017)
176
0 A fascinating phenomenon is the virtual fictional character Hatsune Miku,
created as the mascot for the software of the same name, that can generate
synthetic singing voices. The combination of figure and voice synthesis has become
so popular that more than a hundred thousand pieces of music have been released
on this basis by a broad user and producer collective. The shared access to this
abstract person is as impressive as the audience's identification with this figure.
In the context of art music, Keiichiro Shibuya, for example, used this setting in his
hologram opera "The End" to address the death of the figure, or rather, the halting
of its development. This situation had a real weight in the real fanbase. The fans'
acceptance of and identification with the character are particularly intriguing in
this phenomenon and, in this case, much more relevant than any transference into
the art context with multimedia opera. The unique aspect is the willingness of an
audience to applaud just as enthusiastically at the hologram's pop concerts, at an
essentially empty stage, and to visit a concert hall in their thousands, where the
artist(s) is (are) not, and cannot be present. This provides an overview of virtual
content’s acceptance in real life. 335 336
35 Miku Hatsune’s Vocaloid Opera "THE END”
6.2.3 Computer and Games

0 Over the last few years, the computer gaming scene has developed more
and more from pure entertainment industry to an artistically relevant sector.
Computer games offer non-linear, narrative and structural potential. Platforms
such as "Minecraft", for example, provide tools with which a large community can
create crazy game ideas, art objects or Turing machines. A self-reflexive, non-linear
example of a small production is the meta-computer game "The Stanley Parable".
335 Forester, Gordon: ‘The End (Keiichiro Shibuya & Hatsune Miku, OzAsia)’, 2017.
online: https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/reviews/review-the-end-keiichiro-shibuya-hatsune-miku-ozasia/
336 Jenkins, Mark: ‘This singer is part hologram, part avatar, and might be the pop star of the future’,
in: The Washington Post, 5.7.2018.
177
Here, a game's virtual and artificial aspects are explicitly addressed, together with
their implicit expectations and rules, and, finally, run ad absurdum.
0 Popular augmented-reality games, such as "Ingress" and "Pokémon Go", have
made the mixing of reality with media content in public realms mainstream. This
technique is also already being used in the art context, for example in the work "Alter
Bahnhof VideoWalk" by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller. In the augmentation
of the world, our view of reality can be changed and expanded. 337 338 339
However, the reverse, namely the limitation/simplification of reality, also offers a
great opportunity. The typical reduction of the world into one version in a game
has a certain model character. Reality's simplification always leads to increased
knowledge, because (only) in this way can we see the underlying causal relation-
ships or perceive their respective significance by eliminating elements. 340 341
36 Ciciliani and B. Lüneburg playing the

work "Kilgore"
0 In the music context, the idea of a computer game directly touches upon
algorithmic composition themes, which are also increasingly used in the main-
stream. For example, a piece of music can be published as a program or an app.
Björk's "Biophilia" or the program "Small Fish" are well-known examples of this.
0 In his most recent works, Marko Ciciliani integrates computer game concepts
into the concert situation, for example in "Kilgore", "Atomic Etudes", and
"Audiodromo", as well as with the research project "GAPPP". This research object
uncovers many potentials. Immanent to this method is, among others, the question
337 Farocki, Harun: Serious Games III: Immersion, 4.4.2020. online:

https://www.harunfarocki.de/installations/2000s/2009/serious-games-iii-immersion.html (Retrieved: 4.4.2020).
338 Alter Bahnhof Video Walk: Documenta Außenkunstwerke [Old Railway Station Video Walk:
Documenta Outdoor Artworks], 4.4.2020.
online: https://documenta-historie.de/de/kunstwerke/alter-bahnhof-video-walk (Retrieved: 4.4.2020).
339 Marko Ciciliani and Barbara Lüneburg: ‘Gamified Audiovisual Works – Composition, Perception, Performance’,
in: Emille, the Journal of the Korean Electro-Acoustic Music Society.
340 ‘The Artist Is Present’, 29.5.2016.
online: http://www.pippinbarr.com/games/theartistispresent/TheArtistIsPresent.html (Retrieved: 4.4.2020).
341 Evans, Jill Blackmore: ‘Pippin Barr Makes Computer Games About Boredom, Time, and Marina Abramovic’,
in: Format Magazine, 2017.
online: https://www.format.com/magazine/features/art/pippin-barr-art-computer-games (Retrieved: 4.4.2020).
178
of how game participation and watching function as stand-alone forms. In the online
gaming world, another trend has manifested itself with “Let's Play” or “Walkthrough”
videos. Interested people watch other players play, or visit YouTube channels where
walkthrough channels are commented on. This double meta-access to games is
not unusual among young people and shows how present the virtual world has
become in everyday life. 342 343
37 Video-still from Jonathan Vinel’s

"Notre amour est assez puissant"
0 In his post-internet short film "Notre amour est assez puissant", Jonathan Vinel
uses the first-person perspective of an Ego-Shooter, to trace the sad story of a
young man in love. We look over the protagonist's shoulder during a violent foray
through school, church and nature. The cold detail of the scenery underlines the
first-person narrator's grief and brutalization. The world within the game serves
in many ways as a mirror and metaphor for the character's world of feelings and
experiences. The film is a successful example of content-motivated medium use
and its connotations: it is not only a tool for telling a story but, in its virtuality and
the isolation it entails, already the subject of the work.
0 Virtuality today has numerous manifestations in all branches of art. The
boundaries between the different fields are becoming increasingly blurred. The
influence of extra-musical art and research genres upon academic music is already
clearly noticeable. Media use and the basic ideas associated with it can be seen
as helpful impulses for (media) contemporary music.
326 Kilgore (Trailer) for two performers and a game system by Marko Ciciliani (2017/18), 4.4.2020,
online: https://vimeo.com/250603699 (Retrieved: 4.4.2020).
327 Michel, Cindy: ‘Warum Videospiele das perfekte Medium für Philosophie sind’, [Why Video Games are the perfect
Medium for Philosophy] 27.2.2017.
online: https://www.wired.de/collection/life/warum-videospiele-das-perfekte-medium-fuer-philosophie-sind
(Retrieved: 27.2.2017).
179
6.2.4 Bodies and Identities
0 With every technical advancement and associated media achievements, new
art forms have emerged that made use of the new tools and, simultaneously,
questioned them in a reflective manner. Nam June Paik transferred the physical body
into the world of screens, Stellarc modified his own body directly with prostheses
and Marco Donnarumma uses his muscle energy as a source of control voltage
for machines.
0 Body images and identities in par ticular, as core elements of human
communication, have become more manipulatable in the digital age. On the one
hand, we observe the alienation (starting from the “real”) and retouching of images,
on the other hand, the entire generation of virtual characters. 334 335
0 The processing of image, video and sound is increasingly becoming an affordable
mainstream. Thus, a specific manipulation, previously reserved for experts and
secret services, now becomes a ubiquitous possibility. The “liquid filter” functions
of Adobe Photoshop allow the layman to vary a person's face using a slide control.
The face is broken down into key features. These features can then be adjusted via
a menu, for example, the degree of smile. The basis for this is feature discretization
through intelligent algorithms, which enables a new quality in editability.
0 The “face swapping” technique is also remarkable. Snapchat, for example, allows
the exchange of two faces, as a humorous app feature. In more elaborate programs,
facial expressions and voice movements can also be transferred from one face to
another.
0 An application example in the arts field is the augmentation of oil paintings, which,
when viewed through a mobile phone app, appear in an edited way. But above all,
the implications and conceivable consequences on a political and social level
are thought-provoking. Examples already show how prominent politicians can use
digital intervention to make declarations they have never uttered. A well-known
example of the creditability dissolution of image/sound documents in the digital
age is the political satire "#Varoufake" by Jan Böhmermann. In the heated mood
during the Euro crisis, Böhmermann claimed that a video of the Greek Finance
Minister Varoufakis was a fake, produced by his team. The resulting uncertainty
in the media and the public about the authenticity of the video is the action's real
master-stroke. In fact, it later turned out that the making-of video, which showed
the alleged manipulation of the Finance Minister's action, was, itself, a fake. The
public was manipulated far enough into believing their deception. The far-reaching
journalistic and social consequences of this (artistic-political) work resulted from
the reflection of media use and the debate on news' authenticity value. In the course
of the previously described development, the question of authenticity has become
an essential artistic and social topos. In particular, the current debate about the
sovereignty of interpretation in times of “fake news” shows this subject's brisance.
334 Donnarumma, Marco: ‘Human Bodies, Algorithms and Intuition: A Commentary’, in: A NIME Reader,
Alexander Refsum Jensenius and Michael J. Lyons, Basel: Springer International Publishing, 2017, p. 90.
335 Donnarumma, Marco: ‘Embodiment, Incorporation and Affect: Reflecting on the Interface’, in: Allegorithms,
Vit Bohal and Dustin Breitling, Prague: Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory, 2017, p. 17.
180
6.2.5 Avatars and Synthetic People
0 The manipulation of existing body images has become part of everyday life.
Alongside explicit manipulation, the broad concept of digital self-representation
can hardly be ignored. People stage themselves in social networks: through
systematic selection or omission, through filtering and manipulation. A series of
audiovisual pieces in the context of new music, for example by Oscar Escuardo
and Laura Bowler, explicitly picks up on this trend, reproduces the interfaces of
internet platforms in video projection and comments on the problems. In private
life, the target group is the social environment. This deals with self-expression
and potentially narcissistic motives. In "iScreen, YouScream!" Brigitta Muntendorf
presents a collection of exaggerated internet and YouTube characters. Grotesque
self-dramatization has a humorous side here. The aspect of isolation is also
addressed by the performers being streamed, via video from black boxes, in which
they are individually placed, onto the projection screen in the concert hall. But she
additionally creates an explicitly virtual setting, in which we first have to believe
that the projected content is actually live. 346 347
38 Concert photo of Brigitta Muntendorf’s "iScreen, YouScream"

with Ensemble Garage
0 But digital people are also formed by economic interests. With the increasing
commercial use of blogs and social channels, advertising becomes more personal
and direct, and identification figures more individual and private. Authenticity is a
monetary quantity because it promises an individual value. Consequently, numerous
originally private YouTubers, for example, have been successively converted into
advertising puppets. Jurisprudence partially regulates this with the necessity of
making them recognizable. Nevertheless – see the phenomenon of “influencers” –
an increased blurring of the dividing line between official, recognizable advertising
and personal statements by internet users is observable. Mainstream channels
346 iScreen, YouScream! von Brigitta Muntendorf - Social Media Opera 4.4.2020.
online: http://www.brigitta-muntendorf.de/iscreen-youscream/ (Retrieved: 4.4.2020).
347 Fabian Czolbe and Ulrich A Kreppein: ‘Gesamt: Kunst?Werk! Gesamtkunstwerk als Genre-eine systemtheoretische
Annäherung’, in: MusikTexte [ Total:Art?Work! Total Artwork as Genre– a Systems Theory Approach’,
in: Music Texts ]154, 2017, p.51–56.
181
and formats are becoming less important and distributed, allegedly more personal
opinion placement is gaining in importance. According to “scripted reality” broad-
casting formats, authenticity can be made even more real and the content even
more credible. The grey area of deception, artificial figures and veiled interests
has become part of everyday social life. All common internet platforms are used
for these purposes. The boundaries between self-representation and artistic/social
potential are fluid.
0 But even with a more explicit reference to the art sector, this trend is becoming
increasingly present. In her work "Excellences & Perfections", for example, the
artist Amalia Ulman created a fictional figure over four months, who ascends in
three stages from “cute girl” to “life goddess”. The artist created the purportedly
real photographic material for her Instagram account by sneaking into hotels and
other prestigious locations. The publication of the deception processes, which
show the medium (in this case Instagram) itself as an exhibition space, provides
an excellent legitimation for media use.
39 Amalia Ulman in her work

"Excellences & Perfections-"
0 Jagoda Szmytka created fake Facebook accounts, parallel to her work, for
example, in the music theatre "LOST" 348 . These were clearly recognizable as
artistic objects and were of a comparatively satirical or comic-like nature. This
allowed them to add an intriguing component to the project. Jennifer Walshe
has pushed the game with fictional artist characters far, in her works "Grúpat" 349
and "Aisteach", creating a group of artistic alter egos. Here too, the fictional is
not hidden. It is still recognizable that these are Walshe's ideas and pictures.
But the thought experiment works even without complete deception: what if the
artists shown here really existed in Ireland? In the subtext, we think about which
348 e.g. Szmytka, Jagoda: Millennia Transit - Facebook, 2015.

online: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009738467532 (Retrieved: 4.4.2020).
349 ‘An Introduction to Grúpat — MILKER CORPORATION XX.’ online: http://milker.org/anintroductiontogrupat/
182
real people are actually in our consciousness and how many perhaps equally
talented musicians did not find their way there, because of origin, gender or
other factors. Similar to François Sarhan's "Who was Mario Bossi" 350 , fictional
people are used to question our cultural canon and our dominant hierarchies. An
alternative virtual world is suggested to allow us to look at the real environment
in a new way. We see here, which different motivations can lead to the use of
these tools and how strongly our evaluation depends on the identification with
the intention.
6.2.6 Quantitative and Qualitative People

0 Working with false identities has become not only an economic factor in the digital
age but increasingly a political instrument. Fictitious persons should no longer
merely function as the projection surface or desired site for advertising content
and corporal images, but instead as convincingly created real persons. Internet
social platforms make this operation mode easier than ever. They are the ideal tool
for the halfway-convincing and relatively low-cost faking of real people.
0 In a less dramatic form, this process can be observed on platforms such as
SoundCloud, Twitter or YouTube, where, for example, artists “buy clicks” to increase
their market value and consequently obtain better engagements. For a certain
amount of money, providers procure any number of “likes” on profiles or within
media content for the interested party. These individual “likes” are usually linked
to profiles without content. It is also possible to buy comments, to convey a more
realistic-seeming impression of great interest in one's content. However, a sudden
increase in followers and likes, as well as the nature of the associated profiles,
often allow certain inferences to be made: yet this is no actual hurdle, but merely
a question of effort.
0 In analogous form, a similar process was experienceable at the Donaueschinger
Musiktage 2017 in the performance/action "L'école de la claque" by composer
Bill Dietz 351 . Following prior consultation, a group of performers staged particular
clapping patterns and audience reactions. These were not only quantitative
influences but also, depending on the form of the action, content-related statements.
Alongside the direct reference to claqueur history in the art world, the relationship
to opinion manipulation by politics and state mechanisms is obvious. The tools
of opinion-forming have a long history, as shown by propaganda in general, and
particularly the influencing of revolutions as well as the use of agents provocateur
and v-persons.
0 In the past, this approach required greater effort; now, it can be done more easily
on the computer. An actor is not limited to creating a real fictional character, for
example as a v-person, but can manage any number of digital profiles. This number
becomes almost unlimited, as soon as the accounts are no longer maintained
350 Sarhan, François: ‘MARIO BOSSI online, at last’, 22.3.2020.

online: http://francoissarhan.blogspot.com/2017/07/mario-bossi-online-at-last.html (Retrieved: 4.4.2020).
351 O’Reilly, Rachel: ‘Negativity Protocols: Bill Dietz's L’école de la claque’, Zürich: Oncurating, 2017.
183
manually, but by automated computer bots or, on a large scale, via server farms.
The manipulation form isn't new, but the tools and associated quantities are. This
is only possible because we are increasingly relying on media-mediated and thus
virtual content, in all areas of life, as part of our decision-making process. The
generation of potentially authentic entities becomes an algorithmic problem, leading
to an uncoupling between the protagonists involved and the resulting, suggested
persons. In online-shops, for example, this procedure is used to increase value in
the form of positive comments; and in the political context, this practice reaches its
anti-democratic peak. We observe an approach that could not be further removed
from the basic understanding of a democratic representation of a society's moods
and opinions. That the AfD, as a party represented in parliament, has not, out of
decency, at least in public distanced itself from this practice, shows to what extent
these tools have been accepted by society.
0 For the most part, these accounts are empty, re-posting existing contributions
from linked or friendly accounts. Sometimes they are also enriched with pseudo
content, which normally doesn't stand up to serious examination. Besides the
faceless army of fake accounts, there are also individual and prominent personas.
In the US election campaign 2016, the Twitter profile called “Jenna Abrams”
attracted a lot of attention. As a generator and multiplier of right-wing-conservative
content, many observers ascribe to her an influential effect. The creation of a
character who first collected followers with non-political content and then became
increasingly political is also notable. 352
0 This small digression into the manipulation of majorities and authenticity gives
an idea of their potential in practice. It is obvious how not only artists but also
companies and political parties, use these techniques for their own purposes
and will use them more rigorously in the future. The underlying intentions can be
multifarious. What they all have in common is the intention, using the principle
of virtuality and deception, to establish a new perspective. For an artwork, this
rethinking holds a great opportunity; in the deception of public discourse, there is,
at the same time, an equally great danger.
6.2.7 Virtual Imperative

0 Having presented thematically relevant aspects of contemporary media art, I
would now like to stress the necessity of this discussion. Given the social and
technical backgrounds described earlier, a content-motivated approach and view of
the media tools in artistic creation is obvious and desirable. However, the question
of virtuality and deception is, in fact, such an integral part of electronic working
methods that it can never be eliminated. The sole question arising concerns the
form in which this fact is addressed and made part of the piece's content. 353 354
352 Hurtz, Simon: ‘Jenna Abrams: Russische Trolle erschaffen Twitter-Promi’, in: Süddeutsche Zeitung,
[‘Jenna Abrahms: Russian Trolls Create Twitter Celeb’, in: South German Newspaper], 3.11.2017.
353 Harenberg, Michael: ‘Die Rationalisierung des Virtuellen in der Musik’, in: Konfigurationen zwischen Kunst und
Medien [‘The Rationalization of Virtuality in Music’, in: Configurations between Art and Media],
Sigrid Schade and Georg Christoph Tholen, Munich: Fink, 1999, pp.160–175.
354 Grossmann, Rolf: ‘Abbild, Simulation und Aktion. Paradigmen der Medienmusik’, in: Die Welt im Bild: Wirklichkeit im
Zeitalter der Virtualität [‘Image,Simulation and Action.Paradigms of Media Music’, in: The World in Image: Reality in
the Age of Virtuality],Bernd Flessner, Freiburg: Rombach, 1997, pp. 239–257.
184
0 Let us consider the simple processing of a sound: for example, an instrument,
or a human voice. In such cases, the change is perceived more from a positive
point of view, i.e. as constructive, expanding or sensory. But of course, alienation
and manipulation are also involved here. We don't always ask explicitly about a
production's manipulative components. In general, however, questions about the
media tools and effects used are common, important and commonplace in dis-
course. It should naturally also play a role in instrumental composition, for which
content-related/aesthetic objective a process is used. When choosing the media
tools, these questions are not necessarily more relevant, but often more obvious.
0 This factor becomes more pronounced in the development and use of Digital
Music Interfaces (DMI). In the schematic observation of an electronic musical
instrument, we notice the separation of the controller from the sound generator.
The connection of both levels is – unlike acoustic instruments – not given by
physical parameters. The connection – i.e. the mapping – is a technical and creative
achievement with a decisive influence on a piece of music, realized using this
instrument. 355 356
0 Virtuality refers to the situation when a thing does not exist in one form but is
identical in effect and appearance to the form of the thing being simulated. The
French word origin virtuel describes the ability to effect or be possible.
0 This very process can be found in the mappings of electronic musical
instruments. The reproduction of existing acoustic instruments simply models
the action mechanism of a keyboard instrument, for example, where the hammer
released by the key falls onto a string. This connection is so accepted that we
hardly ever question it. In more unconventional instruments, which are not pure
replicas, the pragmatic (and important) questions of the instrument's operability,
playability and expressiveness are often paramount. But besides the technical and
craft components, each design and mapping proclaims its own reality, causality
and logic. A black box set of rules is established, to which the viewer must relate,
regardless of how easy or difficult its components are to understand. 357
0 I would like to illustrate the virtual perspectives within a work with examples from
my own creative practical experience. In the following sections, I will list those
aspects from my pieces that deal with virtuality and manipulation. Starting with
technical implementations and highlighting the software tools used, the main focus
will be upon the use of illusion in narrative styles and production approaches.
355 Donnarumma, Marco: ‘Embodiment, Incorporation and Affect: Reflecting on the Interface’,
in: Allegorithms, Vit Bohal and Dustin Breitling, Prague: Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory, 2017.
356 Miranda, Eduardo Reck and Wanderley, Marcelo M.: New Digital Musical Instruments: Control and Interactions
Beyond the Keyboard, Middleton: A-R Editions Inc, 2006.
357 Schraffenberger, Hanna and Heide, Edwin: ‘The Real in Augmented Reality’, in: Proceedings of the Second
Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics and X, 2014, pp.64–74.
185
6.2.8 Empty Interconnections and Lifeless Worlds
0 I wrote my first sensor-based pieces "Weapon of Choice" (2009), "Bureau Del
Sol" (2010), and "Laplace Tiger" (2009), with the concrete goal of building ex-
pressive instruments that allow the musician to physically and directly control
electronic content. I wanted to transfer spontaneous and energetic activities from
their improvisational background into contemporary music. An essential factor
was also maximum comprehensibility for the viewer. Consequently, I wrote the
programs in such a way as to trigger a certain type of interaction by performers,
one which is particularly striking and differentiable. Moreover, this approach could
easily be combined with the pieces' martial and excessive connotations. In these
instances, there was no objective to focus attention onto this connection level
and its associated virtuality. Nevertheless, the programming was done in such a
way that it coherently established a virtual law – that of physical investment. The
mapping process was used to generate a movement space, in which certain speeds
and movement intensities led to comprehensible and repeatable results.
0 Since "Your Fox's, A Dirty Gold" (2011), the thematization of mapping and per-
formance virtuality has increasingly come to the fore. The starting points continue
to be musical gestures; in this case, performative behavioural patterns from the
pop music context. The setup pursues the wish of empowering the player. Beyond
that, however, characteristic movements are transferred into an artificial context
and are thus also shown in their artificiality. Exemplifying this is a passage in which
the singer holds the electric guitar above her head and modulates a feedback
sound by slight turning movements. It is not clearly recognizable to the audience
that this sound result is suggested by a music programme, controlled by the
singer controls via sensors on her arms. This iconographic gesture of rebellion is
associated with clear images from rock, punk and hardcore. However, the rebellion
process here is packaged in a clinical setting where no feedback can spiral out
of control, no loudspeaker damaged. This process is a mere simulation and the
sequence of movements to control it is arbitrarily assigned (by the composer). The
singer could equally well control the process with a mouse on a laptop. In another
passage, the performer plays a solo on the electric guitar: yet it is one which is
never heard directly, in the entire piece, because it functions exclusively as an inter-
face, triggering processes or samples in the computer via amplitude detection. So,
too, is this relic of rebellion freed from its actual function and reduced to its mere
outward appearance. In the solo sequence, it is clearly evident that the left-hand
position doesn't correlate with the sounding pitches. When the notes go beyond
the instrument's ambitus, or the hand, in turning, modulates the tone reverberation,
it becomes clear that this is an artificial setting.
0 In "Serious Smile" (2014), a conductor and three musicians are likewise
equipped with motion sensors, to trigger clearly recognizable sounds (such as
bells, glass and a door via movement. A direct connection between cause and effect
is suggested. The artificial playing gestures on the acoustic instruments appear
similar, some of which reproduce recognizable digital versions of the original
instrumental sound.
0 Both pieces establish a virtual activity space, which is partly misleading, partly
unclear in its transparency, so that it plays with the perception and authenticity
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of what is being performed, partially questioning the performance codes and
established actions. In addition, it lets an empty, digital counter-world glimmer
forth. At the points where artificiality becomes obvious, a connecting portal opens
into a poorly detailed, reduced world. The audience is confronted with a contrast
of raw energy with digital emptiness. Excessive physicality meets artificial action
spaces. The ambivalence of authenticity represents a key moment in these pieces.
The artificiality of these constructions is often inherently recognizable, but mistakes
and breaks further emphasize it. In "Point Ones", the conductor's movements are
captured and assigned to sounds. But as the piece progresses, this correlation
becomes error-prone, making the process obvious.
6.2.9 The Dis-Illusioning 358 of the Production Resources

0 The use of error runs through several of my works, mainly intending to draw
attention to the artificiality and virtuality of systems. In various pieces, a content-
related, technical or logical reality is claimed, which is progressively deconstructed,
relativized or counteracted. 359
0 A current example is "Codec Error" (2017). Three performers move through a
space staged with lighting. In a holographic effect, the piece begins with a black
box setting in which an exuberant performance machine confronts the audience
with powerful stimuli. The production's mechanisms are concealed as much as
possible. Molton hides the spotlights, flashing lights desensitize the eyes, making
orientation more difficult, and the musicians' movements are rid of anything human.
In the piece's staged collapse, all the hidden elements are then revealed. After a
beginning in darkness, in which one could only guess at how the system works,
towards the middle light is cast onto the scenery, so that everything becomes visible
and recognizable: cables, click-receivers, spotlights, iPads. The disillusionment and
disenchantment with the resources lead to the apparatus becoming recognizable
for what it is. Despite this revelation, the question as to the reason behind the
peoples’ marionette-like manipulation becomes all the more urgent, because the
musicians' role becomes even more absurd and empty. They are a controlled
element in a machine, appearing as a virtual image of themselves. The playback of
the instructions, according to which the performers act, additionally emphasizes
the question of control and hierarchy in this system.
40 41 "Codec Error" (concert photos) with Ensemble Intercontemporain
358 In the original text the term “Enttäuschung” is used: not only to mean “disappointment” but also
“the removal of an illusion.”
359 Bernstein, Cherry: ‘The Fake as More’ in: Neue Zeitschrift für Musik [New Newspaper for Music]5, 2014, p.34.
187
0 The principle of linguistic instruction and explanation is also found in "The Pass-
word Disco" (2016), which was produced in a studio. Following an empty and
digitally pure sound impression, the composer verbally intervenes at the end of
the piece, to comment on the work's last passages. The listener is thus torn out of
the clinical studio aesthetics and involved in the working process of the piece.
6.2.10 Tutorial World

0 The disclosure of the tools used culminates in the genre of tutorial videos. These
videos, which are widely distributed on the internet, are tasked with explaining work
stages of all kinds, including media editing, retouching and arrangements, step by
step. Their purpose is democratic sharing and offering of knowledge. Knowledge
about a process can lead to a better understanding and recognition of the practices
used by the viewer, even with other content. Furthermore, tutorial videos – when
for example retouching or rendering processes are explained – can develop their
own quality. They allow us to participate in processes of creation. Even if the result
loses some of its mysticism, the process still has an inherent beauty. We watch
how a virtual, artificial world is created.
0 Such a world is omnipresent in artworks. In acoustic illusions and deceptions, it
is clearly named as such, for example, in Diana Deutsch as well as in the Shepard
tone, Risset rhythms and the McGurk effect. But every other work of art does the
same. "HELLO" (2014) begins with a clearly defined setting, in which the ensemble
translates the composer's movements – pre-recorded on video – into sounds. After
playing for a while with this logic, the piece departs from its actual content level and
illuminates the working process on the piece itself. In the video, one can now see
the workflow at the editing suite, the editing of the notes and finally the uploading
of the piece to YouTube and the explanation of the final sequence. The piece's rules
are played with self-referentially, to illuminate the practice of working stages and
self-presentation in a composer-performer work, including its digital environment.
The jumps between the fictitious piece world and real production conditions are
presented playfully and immediately. 360
0 In my music-theatrical work "f1", the action alternates continuously between

the stage and a pre-produced video projection. The performer in the rabbit
costume appears both on stage and in the video. Telephone sequences and other
synchronizations aim to interlock both levels. Nightmarish sequences and digital
“making-of” passages establish two interconnected yet fundamentally different
virtual worlds. Parallel to the video recordings, a small video window in the corner
of the screen continuously shows the work on the corresponding sequence in fast-
forward. One sees the recordings in front of the green screen, the programming of
the Max patches and utilization of Photoshop and Premiere. The viewers are thus
constantly reminded that the visual material was constructed and edited.
360 Kampe, Gordon: ‘YouTube komponieren: Dafür, damit, dagegen’ [YouTube Composing: For, With, Against],
in NZfM 6/14 (2014), pp.36-39.
188
0 In this case, the focus is less upon documenting the process than on the deception
itself. The different narrative levels raise questions about logic and coherence. The
viewer attempts to decipher the symbolically charged images' meaning. The core
statements of the piece are “It's amazing what devices you can synthesize” and
“When I told you these things, I was lying”. The work tries to use the mechanisms
of deception and suggestion of meaning. The disclosure of the work stages tends
to underline the uncertainty about which of the statements' components can still
be believed.
0 The narrative oscillates between waking states, dream worlds and the subject of
sleep. Fiction can be found here firstly, in the subjectively unconscious dream level,
and secondly, on the digital construction level. Neither level allows for a feverish
search for an answer, but both suggest that manipulation is taking place behind
the scenes and that the process should be deciphered.
42 Book cover and secondary literature

to "f1"
0 This situation is exacerbated by the secondary literature, which is thematised

within the piece and advertised as an explanation for any unresolved questions.
However, the book, which is available for purchase, provides only crude
documentation of the work stages, on approximately sixty pages. It remains part
of the narrative of the piece.
6.2.11 Interfaces and Overlaps

0 In the lecture/performance "Star Me Kitten" (2015), the video projection of a
PowerPoint presentation serves as an interface between different perspectives
and worlds. A singer explains an initially scientific-looking text, in spoken language,
with the help of text slides. The lecture presents a concept that combines extra-
musical content with musical elements illustrated by the ensemble. A relation-
ship is established between the symbols in the lecture and the musical events,
suggesting an expectation for the possible development of the material. Explicitly:
techniques are presented, overviews given and a reading model is offered.
189
0 In the course of the piece, however, all these statements turn out to be incorrect.
The lecture and the presentation's façade are only a false framework, which is
deconstructed piece by piece. Behind the surface, a stream-of-consciousness
appears in unconscious, nightmarish content forms.
0 The discrepancy between lecture and narrative content is underlined by the dis-
integration of the PowerPoint presentation. Behind the scenes, the piece's editing
process becomes visible: image processing and notation programs provide insights
into the event's artificiality. And in the video feed, I emerge in a cameo appearance
as a tennis coach; a fictional person, moving through the story in the background
and reappearing repeatedly with my own Facebook profile.
0 The interconnection between the real world and the piece's fictional, narrative
level is repeatedly established by various elements. On the one hand, videos of the
singer – for example during a rehearsal of the piece – are fed in, questioning the
narrative strand but also boosting the performance situation in terms of content.
This effect is intensified when previously recorded video footage of the empty and
dark concert hall is played at the end.
0 Two passages in the piece make concrete reference to the outside world because
short advertisements can be placed into them by outsiders. In each performance
venue, local companies are offered an advert, placed into this sequence. In turn,
construction and rehearsal are simultaneously revealed. Here, too, manipulation
is carried out behind the façade, in this case, out of commercial interests.
6.2.12 Between the Worlds

0 Many of my pieces jump continually between different worlds. I have addressed
some of these aspects in an article about ambivalence in my work. On narrative,
physical and media levels, the change between perspectives is a central theme.
My working method is derived from studio production; the performative pieces
also have their origin in a mindset conceived at the computer. In my work, one
finds not only the virtual but regularly also this working approach's constructivist
aspect in the media context. The focus is often on the physicality of the per-
formers and associated questions about their authenticity and virtuality. In most
cases, the scope of action and representation is extended or altered by techno-
logy. The musicians' appearance moves between the opposing poles of expressive
authenticity and obviously manipulated representation. Inherent in them are both
dehumanization and optimization.
0 The pieces' staging often makes use of intense stimulus satiation and aims to
overwhelm the audience. A world is violently established and proclaimed here. Yet
this often turns out to be the blank covering layer of an opposing reality, concealing
contents that require hiding. The second world behind this veil, created by various
means (narration, projection, animation), is then often the (at times personal) core
of the piece. In this case, the techniques used also imply the approach of breaking
up the illusion they created. Apart from the tutorial component, the use of error is a
recurring working tool for deriving perspective change. The setting up and breaking
of supposed logic/semantics follows a comparable approach. Analogous to the
media illusions, the rave pieces, such as "Solid State" and "Supramodal Parser",
190
use illusion and glare by simulating drug-induced hallucinations. Here, too, a world
is sketched with a surface – in these cases euphoric – behind which a contrasting
reality hides.
0 Common to these pieces is the use of technical tools and representations in
establishing virtual settings. Based upon these proclamations, their artificiality is
shown by thematising the illusion mechanism's production resources. This can
evoke moments of uncertainty, amusement or strain. They share different and thus
differently charged forms of deception.
6.2.13 Conclusion and Prospects

0 Virtuality and deception are fundamental, initially non-judgmental aspects
that always occur when realities, and with them truths, experiential states and
perceptions are generated. In the process, both new content can be created and
existing content manipulated. These interventions can be both qualitative and
quantitative. And, due to social developments, the practice with the current state-
of-the-art technology has – so my argumentation in this contribution – special
explosiveness and thus artistic relevance. 361
0 The creation of realities goes hand in hand with a creative will and traditionally
exerts a lasting fascination in art. The work's model-like nature and associated
relationship with the viewer open up a multitude of communication channels which
can be an essential component of a work. The reception of the work's context –
specifically, the perception of how it was created and how it works – allows an
additional relationship to a piece. Parallel to this, there is an increased motivation
for and legitimation of media usage. In the art music context, apps, computer
games, websites and social network accounts, for example, are increasingly being
used alongside video and feeds. Since these media have specific usage and
communication functions – and thus also social connotations – they are particularly
well suited for these purposes.
0 The human body with its coupled language is the central information carrier and
mediator. Consequently, it is also the main point of attack for manipulations of any
kind. Facial expressions, statements, appearances and physical actions can be
edited or completely redeveloped as profile, avatar or artificial person. The back-
ground interests are manifold and cover the complete moral and immoral spectrum.
And there is no doubt that these (technical) developments present the public with
political and social challenges. Authenticity becomes the central currency.
0 New music, in its mundane, conceptual and non-cochlear sonic art varieties,
increasingly takes into account the existing context around a work as well as the
performative and human components of a performance, such as in Jennifer Walshe’s
"The New Discipline". For this very reason, this thematic field offers the genre a
serious opportunity. The techniques used in (media) art carry the connotation of
virtuality and deception in various forms, thanks to their very nature. For this reason,
361 Johnson, Jason: ‘We should be talking about torture in VR’ 2016.
online: https://killscreen.com/versions/we-should-be-talking-about-torture-in-vr/ (Retrieved: 4.4.2020).
191
I propose the wording “virtual imperative”. The classical production methods in the
music field are so well established that their use no longer represents added value
or a gain in knowledge. However, if we look at the implications and consider the
work of art in the context of its production environment, then new music has the
prospect of additional social relevance.
6.3 Binary Composition

0 In this article, I wish to attempt to outline and elucidate my work’s methods, motifs,
and backgrounds. In trying to present these in a pointed way, I often experience that
I am rarely able to limit my compositional approach to core theses and describe
them concisely. My approach and methodology are often composed of opposing
poles. Since I have identified multipolarity as a decisive criterion for my work,
this text will deal with precisely this dichotomy of methods and motivations as an
overarching theme. This characteristic also constitutes me as a person, which is
why I often perceive my pieces as very personal. I don’t (at least not primarily)
mean this emotionally or subjectively, but in how one approaches tasks, situations,
musical pieces, or life.
0 Subsequently, I will examine several contrasting pairs and explain why they matter
to me and my work, and in this, deal with the following stress ratios: Seriousness vs.
Humour/Irony, Body vs. Virtuality, Pop Music vs. New Music, Conception vs. Intuition,
Expressivism vs. Introversion, and Technology vs. Romance. No human being or
work is, of course, mono-thematic; nonetheless, these items are quintessential to
my work.
43 Concert photo "Your Fox’s, A Dirty Gold" with Frauke Aulbert
192
6.3.1 Pop Aesthetic
0 The most obvious opposite is probably the combination and confrontation of pop
elements with contemporary music. The connection of new music with other genres,
that are – in a broad sense – related to experimental pop and electronic music, is
explicitly apparent in all my pieces. There are numerous approaches used here to
merge contents and languages. Production technology, immediacy, performative
codes, and sound language are for me the relevant elements from popular music.
Although I started playing musical instruments when I was relatively young, the
computer is and always has been my true instrument. I began creating sound
collages and writing pieces with MIDI sequencers and tracker software when I was
a teenager: so, my working method and composition style, as well as production
processes, have always had a constructed, artificial aspect. Since all my pieces
are completely amplified and work with electronics and feeds, it was always a
declared goal for me to transfer this production approach to the live situation. This,
of course, means dealing with how to expediently combine the electronics with
live instruments: the advantages or possibilities of this aesthetic do contain some
risks for differentiated chamber musicality, dynamic range, the complexity of sound
languages and staging. Naturally, no approach can achieve everything, and so one
makes room for such possibilities by a reduction elsewhere. A major challenge is
to open the door for an aesthetic with an added value, not already covered by pop
music. It would be impractical to recreate something that other genres do better. A
new music concert does not have to fulfil the expectations inherent in a pop show,
a rave or a punk concert – but elements can be isolated and harnessed for an art
music context. Sonically, this could e.g. be the reduction of material or the specific
production technology. Additionally, one could look for something more analytical,
more abstract and search for a kind of generalizability.
0 My piece "The Password Disco" was released last year on the Nadar Ensemble’s
recording. In its timbre, it is inspired by electronic dance music, with its production
being exclusively pop–completely clean, digital, and artificial. It uses genre-specific
elements such as a chorus, build-ups, and a groove which even allows for foot-
tapping. The rhythms of the piece, however, have been formed algorithmically with
the help of a polyrhythm-generator. Despite having the feeling throughout that
the sound comes in at the right moment, one can rarely predict the timing. The
surface level is very approachable, but the generators and the polyrhythms beneath
are complex. One of the work’s themes is artificiality: I aimed at constructing a
seemingly empty soundscape from individual samples – combined with completely
inhuman MIDI-choirs and canned electric guitars. The clinical world of studio
aesthetics appealed to me. They are tangibly picked up at the end of the piece,
when the producer/composer pipes up and explains the order of events. This is a
purely electronic piece that is not performed by musicians on stage.
0 As soon as musicians appear on the stage, there are additional aspects of
staging and presentation. In "Your Fox’s, A Dirty Gold", for instance, I use the
musical language of a pop song and the gestural repertoire of a rock concert.
Apart from the technical components of the piece-a singer using sensors to control
the electronics – the aim here too was to address this musical language in its
artificiality in the course of the piece. Commencing with a violent and massive sonic
193
experience, the song develops into an increasingly unreal scenery in which the per-
former bows mechanically, in slow motion, like a robot or puppet, while playing an
electric guitar solo, consisting only of triggered samples and having nothing to do
with the actual sound generation of the instrument. Elsewhere, the performer steers
the supposed guitar feedback: but actually, in this rebellious posture, a computer
patch is controlled and modulated with feedback generators. So in this piece, as
well as in others, I use existing pop elements to reflect upon them, to exaggerate
them and to put them in a new context.
44 "Your Fox’s, A Dirty Gold" (concert photo) with Frauke Aulbert
0 But this is where the aforementioned ambivalence takes hold: these pieces are
not pure commentary or theoretical discourse. They do not only use such elements
to showcase or dissect them. They are intrinsically motivated. I don’t want to look
down on these genres from a serious music-perspective, but apply their attributes
without completely falling for and imitating them. It is my conviction that something
new is musically possible here.
6.3.2 Overwhelming
0 With similar intentions, I use not only genre-specific elements and production
techniques, but also non-classical concerts' presentation form. This means, for
example, an often very direct, loud and immediate confrontation situation; in a
negative interpretation, one could probably speak of an overwhelming aesthetic.
Indeed, the physical, immersive moment of such a concert experience is important
to me. Against the background of the aforementioned (not entirely unjustified)
reservation concerning this insistent immersion, such an approach naturally
requires special reflection. Appealing to me in such special sensual/sensory
immediacy is the chance to overcome an inner boundary in the observer – I am
looking for a kind of leap. Even inner walls sometimes require heavy equipment
to expose what lies behind them and to reach a point sheltered by protective
mechanisms. I, myself, also oscillate between a rational, analytical side and an
excessive, unrestrained opposite one. For me, this brash act has always been and
194
still is a means of arriving at something honest. I am not interested in the show or the
pompous – but in experiencing and perceiving something direct and intense. It's
subsequently not the aggression that appeals to me, but the emotional aspect that
is addressed (although aggression can also play a role here). It is not confrontation
that interests me, but penetration. This can and is, of course, sometimes perceived
differently by visitors and is viewed as exuberant, simplistic or militant. I am aware
of this possible reading. But I think that it can be used artistically and that this
intensity can be used profitably.
45 Konzertfoto "Lucky Dip" mit dem Decoder Ensemble
0 In addition to the aforementioned advancement, it also functions in a machine-

like sense as alienation, as in "Sensate Focus" or "Scanners". In both pieces, the
performers are given almost mechanical traits – they execute strictly synchronized
movements – thus becoming part of the apparatus. "Scanners" deals particularly with
the string quartet performance machine. But even the explicit use of overstraining/
overpowering, as in "Lucky Dip" and "Supramodal Parser", seems legitimate
at least, in my view even almost necessary, if this is the thematic state, which is
to be depicted by the piece. This concerns gliding away, a rush, exuberance.
Significantly, both pieces are followed by a calm, hypnotically tumbling,
unrestrainedly introverted part – all the more reason to problematize and illust-
rate this effect in contrast: it is the ambivalence between the intensity and its
opposite – emptiness. Diverse interpretations, from joyous energy to escapism
or powerlessness, to me, bear out the potential of this approach. I am fascinated
with the different readings of this exuberant state – and I think that in this “multi-
layeredness” it also deserves a place in art music.
195
6.3.3 Intuition
0 In my listing above, I have rather boldly forced the contrasting pair of romanticism
vs. technology. In this case, it can be very well shown in a simplified way that,
despite the intensity of the means, I am actually concerned with something very
delicate. The technical realization and approach form a certain contrast here to
the content motivations. This contrast can certainly be understood a little further,
because the use of technical means, which runs through all my pieces, is always in
relation to something quite intuitive, human and emotional. Therefore, I understand
many of my pieces as being essentially romantic at their core. Obviously, technical
aspects play a prominent role in my work – but actually, I never test them so as
to make them the main criterion of a work. Despite all enthusiasm, technology is
always a means to an end for me. Ideally, after developing a software setup, for
example, I can simply use it as a tool without worrying about how it actually works.
0 Apart from the choice of resources, the development process is always subject
to very different poles. On the one hand, I work extremely intuitively; on the other,
I do so based on content and technical conditions.
0 The work usually starts with a setup or a scenario that I establish for myself. This
setting can be of a technical nature (as in the sensor-based pieces "Point Ones",
or "Laplace Tiger"), motivated by the content (as in the lecture "Star Me Kitten"), or
originate from a spatial starting point (as in the concert installation "Black Mirror").
Often it is also an interplay between these factors. This “environment” always has
visual, scenic aspects and an interactive dimension. Just as one chooses the
instruments at the beginning of a purely acoustic instrumental piece, it makes sense
to define the (extended) set of instruments at the beginning of multimedia work.
This can be hardware, software, lighting, video, stage design and much more.
0 In the next step, I try to tap the possibilities of this scenario and create a concrete
repertoire of elements that I want to use in the composition. In addition to the
preliminary musical considerations, these can be software snippets, forms of inter-
action, a content-related idea/metaphor/question, a spatial concept or performative
concepts. Initially, a large pool of ideas and different strategies for approaching
the theme of the piece is created. In the following phase, my working method is
very pragmatic and practice-oriented, trying out, testing and documenting the
approaches as best I can, in order to determine which theoretical ideas will stand
up in practice. In this way, I then create a collection of concrete implementations
of the ideas and use them as material for the composition. It seems conceptually
productive to me to develop a clear idea of what the result (in excerpts) might look
like from the very beginning. This means, for example, that I record small scenes
for sensor-based interactions on video, test lighting setups in a room and then
evaluate them, or always work with test videos for video works.
0 Next, a process frequently sets in, almost like “automatic writing” – in which
I simply let myself drift and work very intuitively. I then use the existing material
– and also develop new material to go with it – but from that moment on, I work
very quickly, almost improvising. Since the setting is in place and there is a range
of content to be used, I then rely on a very immediate writing procedure. This is
probably one of the reasons for the (at least intended) intoxicating effect of some of
the pieces – they emerge from a very fluid process. Another characteristic feature
196
that I continuously work on in parallel is certainly the various media aspects of a
piece. It is always important to me to work on the content at the same time, to avoid
that one medium only underpins or accompanies the other.
6.3.4 Humour
0 The opposing pair of seriousness and humour can perhaps also be seen as
related to the contrast between intuition and strict planning. Humour and irony
may at first glance appear as something trivial or irrelevant in art music – certainly
regarding the corny pun. I have observed that some forms of good music can
make me laugh – even without extra-musical elements. The trigger is perhaps the
surprising handling of the material, the break with a pre-established system or the
stringent exaggeration of an idea. Moments of surprise or radicalism can have
something humorous about them. But there is often a quality in this characteristic
which surpasses “funny”. This can either take a manically excessive form or be stoic
and irritating. What these points have in common is their reference to an existing
set of rules and associated expectations. The appeal lies in breaking these rules
and can harbour a potential which exceeds amusement, one I try to use in some
pieces. These elements are most present in "HELLO", "f1", and "Star Me Kitten". In
each of the three pieces, a setting with an associated expectation is established
and then ruptured – decisively, by the piece's production process being revealed
or becoming the content of the piece itself. In my opinion, the dichotomy continues
here – because I am perfectly serious about the themes underlying the pieces.
46 Video-Still "HELLO"
0 In "f1" and "Star Me Kitten", the setting's rupture then also leads to an opening up
of the presentation into a narration, to a slide into a narrative strand lying behind
the façade. A clear, conceptual approach (relationship of gesture/symbol/content
to music) is juxtaposed here with a disturbing psychological subtext. There is
always something else behind the façade.
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0 The rupture within these pieces is always accompanied by the error principle:
the programme's error, the crash of the presentation and the erroneous behaviour.
Within this context, I often use the glitch aesthetic. For me, this approach holds the
opportunity to implement precisely these jumps in coherence and is, therefore, a
helpful tool as a content resource – and not only in sound design. Within the error's
characteristic always lies additionally the functionality of the system behind it.
6.3.5 Bodies
0 The appearance of an error, a loop getting stuck, the freezing of a sound or image,
the simulated programme crash and the bit-crushing instrument are some of the
audiovisual elements running through my pieces. It is the contrast to the acoustic
instrument, the rupture in the video presentation and the crack in the piece's logic.
This approach goes beyond musical content and includes the perception of the
onstage musician.
0 In addition to the general parameters of the performances, the relationship
between performer and media content is often explicitly in focus. Many of my
pieces have gestural and performative elements with which the musician, together
with his/her physique, enters into a direct relationship with the music, electronics,
computer or video.
0 In the sensor-assisted works, the performers directly control the processing and
electronics by their movements – via motion sensors attached to their arms. In
the first works ("Weapon of Choice", "Laplace Tiger"), expanding the possibilities
of control and expressiveness was at the forefront. The aim was to create a setup
enabling the musicians to control the electronics' parameters intuitively, individually
and performance-like: in other words, to expand the acoustic instrument. Following
"Point Ones", in which the conductor is equipped with sensors, the machine-like
and virtual aspects of the body's image slowly came into focus. This was no longer
exclusively about the virtuoso control of electronics, but also about illuminating
interaction and communication using gestures and movement. In sections of
"Point Ones", the conductor's control of the electronics no longer functions as one
would expect. The communication between conductor and ensemble jams and
the conductor transforms from the virtuoso player into a lapsing, human digital
metronome. Here the duality of dealing with the body becomes apparent; this is
further deepened in following pieces. There is the expressive, supporting and
enriching component, which is fed by my own experience as a musician in a more
improvisational context. There, the technical setup being an extension of the player
is not questioned but accepted and integrated. From the moment the system is
interrupted, the body's functionality takes centre stage. From there on, the virtual
of sound control is no longer a tool but the core issue. In "Scanners" and „Sensate
Focus“, the performer's appearance onstage is integrated even more intensively,
and the musician's mechanical and virtual aspects brought to the fore. In both
works, the performers are only illuminated by the spotlight for short moments,
as they execute a gesture or playing movement. In a completely dark room, the
musicians can consequently only be seen in flashes, for a few moments at a time.
The players' angular movements are thereby further intensified and subsequently
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lead to a machine-like appearance. Especially in "Scanners", the performers look
like robots on the stage. But above all, they are perceived as short video clips,
which are collaged and played side by side. The onstage person is transformed
in real-time into many small, virtual, digital clips. The continuous presence of
an expressive performance gives way to a series of isolated, mechanical image
sequences.
47 Concert photo "Scanners" with Ensemble Resonanz
0 In this image, some of the aforementioned ambivalences accumulate: on the one

hand, the interplay between a direct and immediate performance and physical
violence, on the other, the machine image of the human being, transported into the
virtual by production technology. This procedure is to be understood as aesthetically
motivated, and I am indeed attracted to the hyperactive cut-and-paste style. But
I also appreciate that it can be understood as a confrontation with the image of
man's self-transformation. For our identity is increasingly being reduced to clips,
avatars and digital representations.
6.3.6 Private
0 In a similarly ambivalent role, I sometimes appear in my own works ("f1", "Hello",
"Star Me Kitten").In each case, this happens in a somewhat abstract form – mostly
conveyed through new media such as Skype, mobile phone, green screen or a
costume. It is a meta-form, commenting on the event or running parallel to it. In
such cases I treat myself as material, composing and dealing with it in the same way
as with the other components. I am less concerned with this being who I am – in
other words, illustrating myself with these pictures – but rather, with using myself
as material – not least for pragmatic reasons.
0 A dichotomy of intention and presentation runs through these pieces – and gene-
rally, through most of my pieces. As already described, a number of opposing pairs
form an essential part of my work. It may be a banality: but I approach composition
with exactly the same resources with which I approach my everyday routine, my
environment and my life. I have not made this my motto, I have only observed that
it is so.
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48 Concert Photo "f1" with Decoder Ensemble
6.4 Focussing the Gaze
0 On the Use of Light
0 In my work over the last ten years, visual components have taken on an
increasingly important role. Commencing with a focus on the performative and ex-
pressive use of the physical body in musical performances, my attention has slowly
shifted towards more complete visual scenarios. In these pieces, the physical body
remained important but played only one of the roles in a more experiential approach.
This led to installation works in which there were no performers at all, but which
continued to revolve around a physical experience and perceptual exposure. In
this transition process, the specific use of light became an increasingly important
tool. At the beginning only a means with which to emphasize performative aspects,
light gradually emancipated itself in my work and is today often actually the starting
point for the compositional process.
0 In this article, I will first describe some key elements of my compositional process
and the works resulting from them. In this way, I wish to highlight several focal points
and recurring motifs in the seemingly eclectic diversity of my approaches. Based
on an overview of my main themes, I will then describe how light usage has become
increasingly prominent in my work and what roles it plays. I will also focus on my
installation work and my approach to prototyping. In a more theoretical section, I
will deal with the relationship between sound and light and any inherent possible
pitfalls in my work. Finally, I will give an overview of future projects.
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6.4.1 Central Themes in my Work
0 There are a few more or less obvious characteristics in my work: above all, the
combination of classical music with other popular genres, such as experimental
electronics, techno and hardcore, for example. The reference to free jazz is an
obvious part of every production. This approach is quite personal: I do not comment
on or arbitrarily quote different styles, but only use those with which I have a
personal connection; one caused by having been, in one way or another, part of
the respective scene. This use of different styles is not the point here, but merely
a language, a tool for me. So I do not make a musical comment by using different
genres: I use them because I feel that they are part of my vocabulary. However, the
thematic core of the pieces lies elsewhere.
0 My compositional technique combines several writing approaches. In the
beginning, there is always a setup consisting of musical, visual and staging para-
meters. My work begins with this scenario. This is often followed by a phase of
"automatic writing” – I try at least to let myself be carried by the creative flow, to
allow the material to develop independently. After that, the work is an alternation
between technique and self-analysis. I believe these poles to be experienceable
in the pieces, just as they are analogous to how I navigate through life.
0 Another important factor is my work with the human body and with gestural
content. Physical experience within a piece has always played a dominant role
for me: whether in a context in which sensor-equipped performers manipulate the
music or in an immersive setting where the presence, perception and position of
the listeners or spectators are of great importance.
0 This is directly related to the fundamental goal of creating music and artworks
that are holistic experiences, not just auditory works that are merely listened to.
The overall sensory experience is of enormous importance to me, including (but
not limited to) visual aspects such as lighting design, video and performance. It
has always been my desire to write something that has an attraction, something
that takes the listener away and creates an artificial world. This has already been
true for my purely musical pieces but is becoming increasingly important. The use
of visual components leads to increasingly immersive settings.
0 This brings me to the last point of this section: implementing technical and
media resources and concepts as theoretical and conceptual indicators, while
simultaneously using them as tools. The main focus of my pieces, however, remains
the creation of a personal, subjective and, if one will, romantic work of art. This may
seem surprising, as many of my pieces use very loud, harsh sounds and intense
visual stimuli. I do not consider this kind of expression – in my case – as a form
of aggression, rebellion or criticism, but as a crowbar or a jackhammer that opens
the door to a fragile and personal place. I am interested in the harmonic, peaceful
and beautiful elements sometimes hidden in these sounds – or in their opposites.
0 Another path I occasionally (additionally) follow is the use of humour and irony.
Both can be found in many of my pieces – as a way of looking at the subject from
a different angle. Sometimes humour and irony are obvious and direct, sometimes
a formal element. I do not try to make pieces or passages funny, but I like to play
with the expectations of the audience and the rules of the present setup. Both the
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use of extremely contrasting material and humour reflect my personal approach
to life in general and thus reveal a great deal about myself. Friends who know me
well see much of my personality in the pieces.
6.4.2 The Slow Penetration of Light

0 The inclusion of light in my works was a slow process. I began in an abstract way
to work with video technology to emphasize movement in performance pieces. This
use of video material was the first step for me in exploring what can be achieved
with light. One of the biggest problems I had when working with video was the
limitation to one screen on stage (alternatively one can use the whole room or a
special mapping, which only partially solves the problem). I found this separation
between the video level and the rest of the setting complicated, at least for the
pieces I wanted to do at that time. There are of course pieces where the use of a
clearly visible video screen makes sense. This is especially true if the content of
the video requires a concrete form of representation. An example of this is „Star
Me Kitten“ (2015). For this, the piece being designed as a PowerPoint presentation,
I returned to the use of video technology. This stands in contrast to setups in
which video is merely an additional element. We accept this as part of a multi-
media concert, but I consider it on its own to be a weak justification for video use.
Moreover, video is usually a two-dimensional projection in a three-dimensional
space: so it disregards a large part of the space, the stage and the venue, hence
creating a difficult separation between players and projection.
49 Video-Still "Lucky Dip" with Decoder Ensemble
0 I can therefore say that working with light became relevant for me when I began
to recognize the inadequacies of video technology in the performance context.
Moreover, the pieces I wrote began to evolve from a more or less classical set-
up with onstage musicians, into more theatrical pieces and immersive concert
installations. The nature of this new type of piece called for a different approach,
and lighting was the right way to go about it.
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6.4.3 Prototyping
0 When working with a lighting setup, all spatial aspects and the final form of
presentation are relevant. During the composition process, a sheet of paper, soft-
ware and a few loudspeakers are often all that is needed to create a piece. Even
scaling up to a larger concert hall rarely brings a new level of difficulty. Lighting
design is an absolute exception to this though, and a particular challenge for me.
I am a pragmatic person, who tries out as much as possible for myself during the
writing process. In other words, to a certain extent, I perform all my pieces myself
to see what works – I even film myself doing it, to evaluate the result. I do the same,
to the best of my ability, with the visual parameters – light is always the most difficult
factor to determine in the test.
50 Screenshot of the lighting automation in "Supramodal Parser"
0 If it is pure theatre light, I can imagine it, simply animate it or automate it with
envelopes parallel to the composition process. For more complex pieces I have
programmed simulation patches in Max/MSP, allowing me to visualize the light
programming in real-time. To this end, I model each light source in a sub-patch,
position it at the right place on the screen and in so doing, create clear visual
feedback. This is especially helpful when multiple light sources are used. In "Supra-
modal Parser", for example, more than 50 were involved (see image 51). This
allows me to adapt the visualization to my requirements and even incorporate
special features into the lighting programming. Sometimes, for example, I add
sub-patches to trigger random behaviour or follow semi-automatic patterns. One
of the central questions for me is: which detail do I program by hand, and what
should be generated automatically during the performance? If one works with
ten independently moving heads, there are quickly more than 300 parameters to
control...this involves a lot of work. Nevertheless, manual control allows the greatest
possible freedom to work with lights in detail. But sometimes one achieves better
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results if, for example, five parameters are automated in detail and the rest are
allowed to behave within a predefined set of rules.
0 Testing with the software is consequently an important part of the creative process,
allowing me to get a feel for the final result. In the next step, I often rent special
lighting equipment (if particular models are involved) to use in the performance or
to try out personally, to make sure that the technology works as I envision it. 362
0 The more specialized the lighting programming is, the more important this phase
becomes. When I was working on "Supramodal Parser", I began to succumb to
my fascination with the possibilities of detailed programming of the Atomic 3000
stroboscope. So I decided to buy two units and develop the "Solid State" installation.
In this work, both the programming and the resulting perception are so precisely
tuned that I generally had to rehearse everything in real-time; therefore, I bought
the two lamps and began working with them. I tried to recreate a smaller version
of the installation within my flat, even flooding it completely with my fog machine,
causing the neighbours to call the fire brigade. In any case, this experience gave
me a good feeling for the ultimate result's impressions: I experienced what one
really sees when one's eyes begin to flicker, as opposed to the abstraction on the
screen.
51 Screenshot of the Max patch for "Codec Error" and the Ableton Live project
0 As I mentioned earlier, one of the biggest advantages of lighting technology, in

my opinion, is the possibility to work anywhere, to adapt to it and to transform it.
Light is obviously a tool for working in a three-dimensional space. While this is a
tremendous gift, it is also challenging to evaluate the visuals, as this depends on
the space. Every individual room has unique potential and reacts differently to light.
For the very time-consuming piece "Black Mirror", which took place in a forest and
an abandoned hotel in Luxembourg, Daniel Dominguez (who, among other things,
362 Dekker, Annet: ‘Synaesthetic Performance in the Club Scene’,

in: 3rd Conference on Computational Semiotics for Games and New Media (2003), p.34.
204
worked with me on the lighting) and I spent a week on location, months before
the performance, testing various lighting situations. Some planned things simply
didn't work there, others could only be developed on site, as the location gave
us feedback and allowed unforeseen concepts. Unfortunately, this is a luxury we
rarely have, so even the best possible advance testing of the technology is always
a compromise.
6.4.4 The Relationship between Sound and Light

0 I would divide my work with light into two main categories (which can overlap).
One concerns lighting the performers and the other uses light throughout the venue
or installation space to create a more ambient, immersive setting.
0 In "Sensate Focus" (image 53) the lights are used to emphasize the performers'
bodies and movements. Each of the four musicians stands under a spotlight that is
switched on or off in synchronization with the music and movements. This serves
a theatrical purpose, by accentuating the gestures of the performers and showing
the audience only what they are supposed to see; while in other passages the per-
formers are in complete darkness. Generally speaking, the piece shifts the focus of
physical sensation from auditory to visual, hence the title of the piece (in addition to
a play on words, relating to sexual therapy). The lighting is a very functional aspect
of the piece, as we see all the involuntary movements and pauses of the musicians
who, at a specific point, do not move. It also introduces a theatrical mood into the
piece, unachievable by any other means. 363
52 Concert photo "Sensate Focus" with Decoder Ensemble
363 Ciciliani, Marko: ‘Dirty Light: the application of musical principles to the organisation of light as an extension of
musical expression into the non-figurative visual realm’, 2010.
online: http://markociciliani.de/media/texts/Dirty%20Light.pdf (Retrieved: 04.04.2020).
205
0 The way the light is switched on and off creates an effect similar to video
sampling (sampling is the process of separating and exposing certain excerpts of
a continuous stream of data). Only specific passages are selected, sampled and
shown to the audience. This then resembles a video clip collage of four performers
standing facing each other, played back side by side, facing each other. In any
case, the positions of the onstage performers reflect the aesthetics of video clips
or digital representations. In this sense, lighting technology makes the generation
possible of a sensation that could otherwise only be created with other media. I
see it as a means of commenting on physical body representation in our world
today, where we constantly see humans in the stylized and digital forms of videos,
GIFs, avatars, etc. The use of lighting technology – together with the choreography,
an important part of the piece – allows me to transform the live musicians into
quasi-digital versions, and consequently to perhaps show how we see and perceive
people today.
0 A similar technique is used in "Scanners" (2013) for string quintet, light and
choreography. The difference is that here, the human performers are treated almost
like mechanized units. The piece reflects body representations and human-machine
dualism. Additionally, the string quintet is seen as a highly specialized performance
machine. In this case, the aforementioned also applies, whereby the light here also
serves to emphasize the robot-like movements. 364
0 The second “category” of light use in my work involves the creation of immersive
settings, in which the audience is part of the action and is bathed in light. This
is mainly the case in audio-visual installations, but, to a certain extent, also in
pieces where the location space of the audience is included in the staging. The big
difference is that the audience is now the focus of the visual impulses. It becomes
the main theme of the piece, together with the perceptive reception of the venue.
Due to the visual stimuli's strong intensity, the piece can only partially be absorbed
by the audience's senses.
0 The audiovisual installation "Solid State" grew from the idea of creating a piece
based exclusively on stroboscopic light. This walk-in, audiovisual installation
deals with the sensory experience of rave culture, by simulating the drug-induced
transcendence of conventional sensory experience. The installation is realized in
two adjacent rooms, connected by an open door. This is the only recognizable
element of the installation that is quasi overemphasized. On the one hand, the
image of the door refers to the tripartite transition into another world and plays
symbolically with the crossing of a border. On the other, the threshold reminds us
of the ever-unknown transition into the afterlife, which, from our present perspective,
is just as unrecognizable as the boundaries of the installation space. In each of the
two rooms two loudspeakers, a stroboscope and two red spotlights are directed at
the door. The rooms are completely filled with fog and, except for the door, almost
nothing can be seen.
364 Smith, Marquard; Gibson, William; Clarke, Julie Joy; Druckrey, Timothy; Goodall, Jane; Jones, Amelia; Kroker, Arthur;
Kroker, Marilouise and Massumi, Brian (Hg.): Stelarc: The monograph,
Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England: The MIT Press, 2007.
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0 With pulsating and stroboscopic light, dense fog and surround sound dominated
by bass (the central components of rave), connected and synchronized by a
computer program, the room is transformed into a hallucinatory environment
that provokes an ecstatic state of mind in the visitors. The multi-sensory effect
functions as a neural multiplier: the brain reacts much more intensively to several
impulses that are seen, heard and felt simultaneously than to individual impulses.
The synchronous and changing visual and auditory patterns ensure that the spaces'
geometry is indiscernible to the visitors. Due to limited visibility caused by the
fog and the eyes' inability to adapt quickly enough to the constantly changing
light, visitors are unable to grasp the dimensions of the room. This results in
disorientation and the desire to give up conscious control; putting the visitors into
a state in which they feel as if they are falling into endless space. In addition, the
after-image effect creates an optical illusion: the intense stroboscopic light creates
hallucinations, structures and ornamental patterns, imprinted on the retina, and so
credibly evoke certain forms of intoxication.
53 "Supramodal Parser" (concert photo) with Mona Steinwidder and Ensemble Nikel
0 "Supramodal Parser" is a piece that lies between these two poles. It combines
an immersive setting with a performance that is underscored by onstage lighting.
Like the installation „Solid State“, this piece deals with concepts from rave culture
and the club context, such as disorientation or a change of consciousness. Here,
the light helps to trigger an immersive sensation within the audience space. On
the stage, the performers also appear only in short flashes or in fog, making them
resemble hallucinatory apparitions. The overarching intensity and density of the
audiovisual stimuli lead to a state of mental overload, which is part of the concept.
0 The title of the piece refers to an area of the brain in which sensory inputs from
different stimuli are analysed and processed, regardless of the type of stimulus.
207
The idea of treating auditory and visual components equally, thus creating an
interwoven perception, is one of the main motives of the piece.
6.4.5 Pitfalls
0 Working with light is often associated with showy characteristics, the idea being
that an existing piece, provided with an extra, should become a spectacular
experience. In the pieces where lighting technology is used, I consider the visual
aspect (and all other sensory impressions as well) to be as important as the music
itself. None of these pieces could be played without these components, and all of
these pieces have been composed with this specific context in mind. The use of light
is determined at the beginning of the writing process, just as is the instrumentation,
the staging, etcetera. My aim is always that light does not merely complement the
music, but that the piece is perceived as a whole, where light has the same weight
and rights as all other components. For some pieces, such as "Sensate Focus",
light is the fundamental idea or the starting point of the composition.
54 Concert photo "Supramodal Parser"
0 The pieces I write often incorporate strong stimuli and high intensities. They
often refer to pop-cultural content, such as techno. Of course, the danger of this
approach lies in using the elements just for the sake of it being spectacular. But I
am interested in the exploration and transmission of something completely different.
I try to use lighting technology not merely as an effective, showy element.
0 I think it is justified to use these techniques to achieve specific aesthetic goals;

for example, to create a perceptual or sensory state that produces stimulus
saturation, perceptual errors, narrative and emotional situations or corporeal focus.
I see them as tools to achieve a specific state of perception, but not only a state
of stupefaction.
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6.4.6 Installations
0 In recent years, the installation aspect of my work has become increasingly
important. Lighting technology has certainly played a special role in this
reorientation. No later than in 2009, when I began to deal with gestures ("Weapon
of Choice"), the corporeal experience, in general, became more and more important
for me. Following several pieces which dealt exclusively with the physical image
of the performer, my focus shifted gradually to the audience. Alongside surround
sound, fog and light opened up possibilities to bring the audience into the piece.
One could say that the light I used on the stage slowly spread to the whole venue.
I see these pieces as a progression in which each subsequent work is a further
step in this direction. After each piece, I felt that I could incorporate the visual
component even more strongly and in a more condensed way, which led to me
continuing my path in this direction. Furthermore, musically and theoretically, I
focused more and more on techno music and related topics, laying the foundation
for a deeper engagement in this field.
0 The installation pieces attach great importance to the audience's participatory

experience. All my pieces move in this direction, even those that have performers
or a “regular” stage situation.
0 The idea of integrating the audience in one way or another became more and
more important to me as time passed. I wanted to create something that could be
appreciated in its entirety, as an experience. I have tried (so far) to move away from
the classical concert situation where musicians play a piece on a stage and are
content in so doing. This can be wonderful in many cases but is simply not what
I am interested in at the moment. I do not feel I can contribute anything. So even
in works like "Star Me Kitten", which have a more or less normal stage setup, I try
to suppress the gap between stage and audience. The setting of this piece is a
PowerPoint presentation in which the singer speaks directly to the audience, but
it turns into something completely different. Here, I see each individual member
of the audience as an active part of the presentation context and not as a typical
concert visitor. So: I hope to create pieces of music or art that create a vortex,
pulling the audience into the respective scenery, atmosphere and, ideally, into a
new, strange world.
0 Therefore, I would not make too precise a distinction between the more installation-
oriented and the more stage-oriented pieces. The creation of a complete sensory
experience remains the general goal. With pieces like "Solid State", "Lucky Dip",
and "Supramodal Parser", there are several new tools to achieve this, or at least
some attempts to take it to the next level. This allows me to generate situations that
I couldn't produce in a conventional concert hall.
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6.4.7 Future Projects
0 My latest piece "Black Mirror" was completed at the Rainy Days Festival in
December 2016 and premiered by the Lucilin Ensemble in a one-hour concert
installation. 365 It takes place in and around an abandoned hotel on the outskirts
of Luxembourg. The audience comes by bus and is equipped with wireless
headphones, a cape and a cat mask: it is now no longer possible to distinguish
between performers and participants. The audience is guided through the premises
via headphones, but the participants are allowed to interact with each other and
with the performers. A variety of audiovisual settings are created throughout the
hotel: the result is a dream-like sequence of surround sound, automated moving
lights, performance and video projections. The aim is to create an immersive setting
in which the individual participants are reflected against themselves as well as
upon anonymous group identity. The group experience and the special location of
the abandoned hotel are the basis for the piece's emotional, subjective plot. It is
conceived as a return to a forgotten place that stands for suppressed, painful and
dark memories – like returning to a gravestone and being confronted with your own
past and vulnerability. This setting allows for a whole range of frightening images
and eerie sceneries – but is only a metaphor for honest, emotional confrontation
with the past, transience and grief. The resulting piece is even more immersive, and
the audience becomes an even more central part, while the participants themselves
explore the environment, interact with it and decide how they fit into the setting.
55 Black Mirror (concert photo, Luxemburg)
0 At this point, I am starting to move away from the subject of rave culture because I
feel that I have said enough in this area. I try not to repeat myself, if possible. At the
moment, I am mainly interested in darker psychological themes, and specifically the
theme of interaction (in the broadest sense): not so much the interactive way I have
348 Schubert, Alexander: "Black Mirror" 2016. online: http://www.alexanderschubert.net/works/Black_Mirror.php

210
designed my pieces so far (musicians interact with technology through sensors or
video technology), but more in terms of involving the audience in the piece, or of
a setting placing musicians in a non-musical environment, with which they have to
interact. That aside, the narrative aspect is becoming increasingly important to me,
and I believe that this development will continue, but not that my pieces will tend
towards classical music theatre. For these approaches, lighting remains a central
component.
6.5 Uncertain Conditions

0 Thoughts on immersive strategies
0 With the years, my work's focus has shifted from composition for the concert
stage to a more comprehensive spatial composition. This is a continuous process
of changing the presentation form, but the focus is always on physicality and the
experience state. An overall impression of audiovisual nature and the relationship
between movement, gesture and the body runs through all my works. Despite these
constants, the form and conception of the pieces have changed, and I would like
in this text to shed light on the motivations behind this, the opportunities thereby
offered and their particularities. In doing so, I will particularly focus on three current
installation works that have been created since 2015.
6.5.1 Sensor/Performance
0 Physicality has always played an important role in my compositions. This theme
has its origins in the sensor-based performances ("Point Ones", "Your Fox’s, A
Dirty Gold"), in which the musicians control the electronics and light via their
movements. This approach was continued in subsequent works, which synchronize
choreography with light ("Scanners", "Sensate Focus"). In both cases, the classical
concert situation is expanded by visual stimuli and shaped into a more holistic
experience. The separation between stage and audience is still maintained – but
reduced by the use of light. The performative element also leads to a direct relation-
ship between the audience and the musician, as, ideally, identification can occur.
0 So then; in "Star Me Kitten", the singer explicitly addresses the audience in a
lecture and thus involves them directly. The theatrical "f1" uses the concert hall
and its surroundings per video and drama, whereby here too, the audience is
included in the setting. Video recordings behind the stage and in the concert
building are woven into the performance. However, the visitors still have a primarily
observational role. The physicality of the performers and their expressive handling
of the setting are in the foreground.
211
6.5.2 Hybrid
0 "Lucky Dip" was the first piece to take on a hybrid function, in which concentration
shifts from the stage to the auditorium. This work is explicitly orientated on rave
culture and musically reproduces a 24-hour time span in twelve minutes. All the
stages of excess, euphoria, trance and isolation are condensed here into an
exuberant musical narration – supported by the massive use of fog and strong light
effects.
0 The lighting concept is untypical of a concert because, as in a club, it is
directed at the audience and only sometimes at the musicians. The recipient's self-
perception is at the centre of attention and no longer exclusively follows the onstage
musicians; just as in a techno club, the individual and group experiences – and
not the idolization of the DJ – can lead to a significant moment. In this intoxication,
many different emotional states can be traversed. The depiction of this experience
horizon beyond any party character was the aim of this piece.
56 Concert photo "Supramodal Parser"
0 Further elaborated upon and extended to a concert-length work, a similar

approach can be found in the composition "Supramodal Parser" 366 , which was
premiered by Ensemble Nikel and singer Mona Steinwidder in 2015. The title of
the piece refers to a brain region that does not distinguish between modalities
whilst processing. Consequently, auditory and visual stimuli are processed jointly
and equally. Analogously, in this work, the parameters of light, staging and music
are also used as compositional material. More explicit work with the contrast
between stage and audience space happens here. The focus continuously alter-
nates between the performers illuminated on stage and the audience standing in
the empty hall. The singer occupies a prominent role and is uniquely set in scene
by light and fog. The musicians, in turn, only light up at certain moments; but these
are, in contrast to "Sensate Focus", rather hallucinatory impressions, intended to
simulate the feeling of sensory delusion. Thus, it becomes no longer primarily about
the staging of the musicians, but about the way the audience perceives them. Taking
349 Schubert, Alexander: "Supramodal Parser" 2015.

online: http://www.alexanderschubert.net/works/Supramodal_Parser/index.php (Retrieved: 4.4.2020).
212
centre stage is a change in sensation and reception – the emphasis being upon the
viewer. Overall, the piece is about conveying a perceptive situation, an experience.
The intent is to make states of overload, excess, noise, loneliness, and confusion
palpable. The rave context is a role model here: both material and setting refer
directly to it. However, the piece should not reconstruct techno-culture, but make
parts of it, in their abstract translation, noticeable and use them as a metaphor.
Emotional states and mental extremes should be evoked.
57 Installationsfoto "Solid State"
6.5.3 Immersion
0 The confrontation with club culture finds its interim conclusion in the audiovisual
installation "Solid State". 367 In this work, two rooms connected by a passageway are
filled with fog, light and surround sound. The audience enters two rooms completely
engulfed in fog, which are timed with bright stroboscopic flashes, sometimes in
sync, sometimes contrarily. Ideally, the dimensions of the rooms can't be made
out and the passage between the two rooms is the only perceptible element.
This results in an iconic over-accentuation of the transition with near-religious
imagery. The spatial concept is based upon the model of the brain's two halves,
which are connected by the neural connections of the forebrain. The complete
synchronization of both the brain's hemispheres under stroboscopic light leads to
an overload and, in extreme cases, to an epileptic seizure. 368
0 In this intensely stimulating situation, the audience perceives retinal patterns
similar to fractals. Therefore, it questions the visitor's individualized experience in
addition to spacial perception. In this way, an explicit reference to hallucinatory
states is made. The theme is still disorientation, intoxication, transcendence
and falling. The audience is therefore located in an actually empty space and,
consequently, itself becomes an object of the work. It is exclusively about their
experience in this setting and their intrinsic perception. The installation has a
367 Schubert, Alexander: "Solid State", 2016,

online: http://www.alexanderschubert.net/works/Solid_State.php (Retrieved: 4.4.2020).
368 Schubert, Alexander: "Solid State", 2016,
online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBTM6Iao604 (Retrieved: 4.4.2020).
213
dramaturgical progression with intensification and contrasting phases and should
be perceived as a complete cycle, but in principle, the audience can interact with
the work at their own discretion. They each explore the space on their own and
determine the degree to which they expose themselves to the intensity of the stimuli.
6.5.4 Narration
0 The room installation "Solid State" could be freely shaped in time and space
by each visitor. In contrast, the participatory concert installation "Black Mirror"
focuses on a concrete sequence of events and a guided narration. In this work,
too, the audience is immersed in a state and a setting. But here they are guided,
and extra-musical content is integrated using speech.
0 "Black Mirror" was first performed in 2016 in Luxembourg by Ensemble Lucilin,
in collaboration with Daniel Dominguez Teruel, and takes place within a vacant
hotel and its surroundings. The audience is taken by bus to the outskirts of the city
at night and equipped with radio headphones, black capes and cat masks. From
this point on, the audience is indistinguishable from the performers and security
personnel: they all look identical.
58 Konzertfoto "Black Mirror"
0 In the dark, the group walks together to the end of the street and encounters the
empty building. Even without visual stimuli and music, this shared experience of
anonymity proves effective and serves as an introduction to the piece. In front of
the hotel, a narrative voice suddenly sets in over the radio headphones and, from
this point on, provides the audience with instructions as to how they are to move
around the area. These announcements are combined with narrative elements.
The audience is divided into two groups, utilizing separate headphone tracks,
henceforth exploring the area separately, in succession. This area is equipped
with loudspeakers, moving spotlights and fog machines, creating a dreamlike,
immersive state. Within this setting, the musicians, also masked, appear both with
214
their instruments and in acting roles. The audience groups are brought together
and thereby into interaction. Anonymity and group behaviour consequently become
a central element of the piece. An ambivalent atmosphere is established, which a)
evokes a sect-like feeling of belonging and b) has something hypnotically isolating
about it due to the instructions over the headphones. The setting in an abandoned
place, originally filled with positive memories, serves as a basic metaphor for the
work. It stands symbolically for a place of repressed or painful memories that now
is being revisited.
0 The experience state is, here too, at the work's centre – but in this case, it is a
narrative-psychological one. Feverish, hypnotic undertow continues to be the theme.
While "Supramodal Parser" was about substance-induced states of experience that
have their origin in the club context, "Black Mirror" functions similar to a nightmare
or memory fragment. It conjures up an encounter with grief, loss, transience and
death.
6.5.5 Thoughts/Projections
0 Working with settings far-removed from that of the chamber music concert
provides many opportunities and raises interesting questions.
0 How much freedom should be given to the audience, and to what extent are
rigorous rules of conduct for the audience acceptable? The scene in which the
public finds itself is always accompanied by numerous connotations. These
represent an essential point in a work's creation process. In "Black Mirror", a
scenario is created that seeks to draw the visitor into a world. How much freedom
the audience has – or how strictly the rules of a setting are prescribed – determines
the visitors' key moments of experience and is an essential part of the conception
and success of a piece. But it also raises the question of how much paternalism is
acceptable in a given context. If this control is a content-related part of the work,
it can of course be justified.
0 The site-specificity is a challenge and a gift: in this regard, the setting immediately
writes the piece – one cannot escape this, one can only adopt a position to it. On
the one hand, to use the place; on the other hand, to tame it: herein lies a multi-
layered task.
0 A further challenge is the meaningful interplay of music, staging and extra-

musical events. Finding a balance between the components involved in such a
setting, so that none of the content has an exclusively accompanying function,
is not trivial. The question also arises as to what music can achieve in such a
context, without being degraded to mere accompaniment. In my opinion, however,
where pure, spoken theatre and related installations end and text fades into the
background, music can be productive in its immediacy without degenerating into
a soundtrack.
0 In addition to the musical result, the question arises as to how the musicians'
physical presence is dealt with – because particularly the Wandelkonzert
(promenade concert), featuring musicians positioned at different stages, can act
(in many cases) counter-productively to the desired setting.
215
0 The complexity – and sometimes contradictions – of these requirements
represent the opportunities, risks and attractions of this way of working. They
offer the chance to bring together physicality, technology and concepts and to
occupy an area that lies between theatre installation, concert hall and sound art.
In this way, themes can be explored that remain excluded from the purely musical
piece.
216
7. WORK LIST
2020 GENESIS
0 VR Computer Game
0 Crawlers
0 Social Bot Artificial Intelligence
0 Instrumental Convergence
0 For Artificial Intelligence and String Ensemble
2019 A Perfect Circle

0 Therapy Session
0 Unity Switch
0 VR participatory Installation
0 Av3ry
0 Social Bot Artificial Intelligence
2018 Wiki-Piano.Net
0 for piano and internet
0 Control
0 1,5h participatory concert installation
0 Acceptance
0 Performance and Documentation
0
2017 Codec Error
0 for double bass, 2 percussionists and light
0 Black Out BRD
0 For any combination of instruments
0 Public Domain
0 For one or more performers (+electronics/video)
2016 f1
0 for ensemble
0 Silent Posts
0 for everybody
0 Black Mirror
0 for ensemble
0 Solid State
0 Audio- and Light-Installation
2015 Supramodal Parser

0 for singer, electric guitar, saxophone, percussion, piano,
0 electronics (& haze and light)
0 Mimicry
0 Multichannel tape piece
217
02015 Star Me Kitten
0 For singer, flexible ensemble, video and electronics
0 Grinder
0 For saxophone, percussion, keyboard, e-guitar, electronics
2014 Sensate Focus

0 For Ensemble Plus Minus
0 Serious Smile
0 For sensor-equipped quartet: conductor, piano, percussion and cello
0 HELLO
0 For {any number of} instruments, live-electronics and video
2013 Lucky Dip

0 For midi-drumkit, keyboard, electric guitar
0 Unit Cycle
0 Audio-visual installation
0 Sweet Anticipation
0 For percussion, sensor, live-electronics and live-video
0 SCANNERS
0 For string ensemble, choreography and electronics
2012 Bifurcation Fury

0 For electric bass guitar, live-electronics (and live-lights)
0 Point Ones
0 For small ensemble and augmented conductor
0 Bird Snapper
0 For singer, saxophone, e-bass, e-guitar, percussion. and keyboard
2011 Sugar, Maths and Whips

0 For violin, double bass, piano, drum kit and electronics
0 Your Fox's A Dirty Gold
0 For solo performer with voice, motion sensors, electric guitar
0 and live-electronics
0 The Grand Dissection
0 For large ensemble, conductor with arm-sensors and live-electronics
2010 Bureau Del Sol

0 For drumkit, {saxophone/piano/e-guitar or clarinet} and timecode-vinyl
0 Laplace Tiger
0 For drum kit, arm-sensor, live-electronics and live-video
0 Infinite Jest
0 For e-guitar, drum kit, saxophone and live-electronics
218
2010 Semaphores
0 For guitar, percussion, saxophone and electronics
2009 Superimpose I
0 For jazz quartet and electronics
0 Weapon of Choice
0 For violin, sensor, live-electronics and live-video
0 Night of the Living Dead
0 For jazz quartet and electronics
0 Some Forgotten Patterns
0 Audiovisual Installation
2008 Nachtschatten
0 Multichannel tape piece
0 A Set of Dots
0 Interactive Audiovisual Installation
219
8. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
01 Aram Bartholl: "Hello World" © Aram Bartholl 100
02 Screenshot "Acceptance" © Alexander Schubert 101
03 Video-Still "f1" © Alexander Schubert 114
04 Schematic overview of the installation "Control" © Christoph Lohse 133
05 Overview of the different settings within the Installation "Control" © Alexander Schubert 135
06 Schematic representation of the video circuitry in "A Perfect Circle" © Alexander Schubert 135
07 Technical overview from "A Perfect Circle" © Alexander Schubert 136
08 Ego-Video-perspectives in "A Perfect Circle" © Alexander Schubert 137
09 Overview of all video-perspectives in "A Perfect Circle" © Alexander Schubert 138
10 Website screenshots Tangarten.de (2005) © Alexander Schubert 144
11 Website screenshot Sinebag.de (2003) © Alexander Schubert 145
12 Start page of the composition project "Wiki-Piano.Net" © Alexander Schubert 147
13 Example of a composition module in "Wiki-Piano.Net" © Alexander Schubert 148
14 Schematic representation of the composition project "Silent Posts" © Alexander Schubert 149
15 Overview of the resulting versions in the composition project "Silent Posts" © Alexander Schubert 150
16 Concert photo "Codec Error" with Ensemble Intercontemporain © Ralf Brunner 158
17 Oval - Ovalcommers (Album Cover) © Markus Popp 160
18 Nicolas Provost - Long Live the New Flesh (Video-Still) © Nicolas Provost 162
19 Video Room 1000 (Screenshot) © Patrick Liddell 163
20 David O’Reilly - Black Lake (Screenshot) © David O’Reilly 164
21 Regula Bochsler - The Rendering Eye © Regula Bochsler 164
22 Helmut Smith - Dead Pixel © Helmut Smith 165
23 Enno Poppe conducts "Point Ones" (with Ensemble Mosaik) © Gustavo Jahn / Distruktur 166
24 Screenshot from "Star Me Kitten" © Alexander Schubert 166
25 Concert Photo "Hello" with Decoder Ensemble © Gerhard Kühne 167
26 Scene from "f1" © Gerhard Kühne 168
27 Sensate Focus (Concert Photo) with Ensemble Plusminus © Alexander Schubert 168
28 "Codec Error" (Concert Photo) with Ensemble Intercontemporain © Alexander Schubert 169
29 "Codec Error" (video-still) with Ensemble Intercontemporain © Alexander Schubert 170
30 "Codec Error" - positioning of spotlights and musicians © Alexander Schubert 171
31 Video-still "Unit Cycle" © Alexander Schubert 172
32 Installation photo "Control" © Ultima Festival 173
33 Michael Beil - "Exit to Enter" (concert photo) with Nadar Ensemble © Michael Beil 175
34 Hillary Clinton in Orlando Airport during the electoral campaign © Barbara Kinney/Hillary for America 176
35 Miku Hatsune’s Vocaloid Opera "THE END" © KENSHU SHINTSUBO 177
36 M. Ciciliani and B. Lüneburg playing the work "Kilgore" © Andreas Pirchner 178
37 Video-still from Jonathan Vinel’s "Notre amour est assez puissant" © Jonathan Vinel 179
38 Concert photo of Brigitta Muntendorf’s "iScreen, YouScream!" with Ensemble Garage © Jürgen Palmer 181
39 Amalia Ulman in her work "Excellences & Perfections"- © Amalia Ulman 182
40 "Codec Error" (concert photos) with Ensemble Intercontemporain © Ensemble Intercontemporain Paris 187
41 "Codec Error" (concert photos) with Ensemble Intercontemporain © Ensemble Intercontemporain Paris 187
42 Book cover and secondary literature to "f1" © Alexander Schubert 189
43 Concert photo "Your Fox’s, A Dirty Gold" with Frauke Aulbert © Gerhard Kühne 192
44 "Your Fox’s, A Dirty Gold" (concert photo) with Frauke Aulbert © Gerhard Kühne 194
45 Concert photo "Lucky Dip" with Decoder Ensemble © Alexander Schubert 195
220
46 Video-still "HELLO" © Alexander Schubert 197
47 Concert photo "Scanners" with Ensemble Resonanz © Gerhard Kühne 199
48 Concert photo "f1" with Decoder Ensemble © Gerhard Kühne 200
49 Video-still "Lucky Dip" with Decoder Ensemble © Alexander Schubert 202
50 Screenshot of the lighting automation in "Supramodal Parser" © Alexander Schubert 203
51 Screenshot of the Max Patch for "Codec Error" and the Ableton Live project © Alexander Schubert 204
52 Concert photo "Sensate Focus" with Decoder Ensemble © Gerhard Kühne 205
53 "Supramodal Parser" (concert photo) with Mona Steinwidder and Ensemble Nikel © Markus Sepperer 207
54 Concert photo "Supramodal Parser" © Markus Sepperer 208
55 Black Mirror (concert photo, Luxemburg) © Alfonso Salgueiro 210
56 Concert photo "Supramodal Parser" © Alexander Schubert 212
57 Installation photo "Solid State" © Gerhard Kühne 213
58 Concert photo "Black Mirror" © Lea Giordano 214
221
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66 % Fr. 4. Dez.

1.1 Postdigital Turn 12

2. DIGITALITY, POST-INTERNET AND A NEW AESTHETIC 17

3. METHODS OF ARTISTIC RESEARCH 57

3.1 Artistic Research 57

4. POSTDIGITAL CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVE AS

4.1 Composed Refocussing 89

5. CONCLUSION AND PERSPECTIVES 152

5.1 Outlook “With the Eyes of the Machine” 155

6.1 The Aesthetics of Error 158

7. WORK LIST 217

8. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 220

0 In addition to the professional and personally inspiring working environment at

Virtuality and Deception

0 ocussing the View

The Aesthetics of Error

1.1 Postdigital Turn

0 Parallel to social development in the age of digitalization, the use of electronic

01.3 Postdigital Change in Perspective as a Compositional Strategy

01.4 Thesis Structure

0 A good tool is an invisible tool.10

0 We shape our tools, and afterwards, our tools shape us.

14 Hodgson, Justin: Post-Digital Rhetoric and the New Aesthetic.

2.1.1 Raster and sampling

0 Consequently, continuous data with both seamless temporal progression and

25 Paul, Christiane: Genealogies of the new aesthetic (2017).

02 .1.2 Computability of the New Media

0 This description is initially characterized by the interaction of the user with a

0 Aesthetics of the characteristics of the digital medium:

0 Aesthetics of the medium:

02 .1.3 Overlaying through Transcoding

Glen Creeber formulates this question as follows:

33 Paul, Christiane: Genealogies of the new aesthetic (2017).

0 2.2.1 Digital technology is becoming increasingly invisible in everyday life

02 .2.2 Digital Imprinting

0 All of these proposed terms and concepts seize on a hybridized approach

0 Here, under “computal societies”, Berry describes a digitally shaped society,

0 The postdigital, as an aesthetic, gestures towards a relation produced by digital

0 More pragmatically, the term ‘postdigital’ can be used to describe either a

0 The ‘postdigital’ aesthetic was developed in part as a result of the immersive

0 1. What impact/role can an error play in a digital society?

0 As to point 2: in contrast to such randomly occurring mistakes, the mistake

0 Errors are underappreciated and underutilized in their ability to reveal technology

2.3 Post Internet

0 On the other hand, clearly discernible as negative developments are a lack of

83 Galloway, Alexander R. and Thacker, Eugene: The exploit: A theory of networks,

85 Baumgärtel, Tilman: ‘Interview with Jodi,’ in: Telepolis, 1997.

0 – implementation of analogue network structures

0 Post-Internet also serves as an important semantic distinction from the two

86 Lialina, Olia: Flat against the wall, 2007.

0 Again, this is an analogy to the relationship between post-digitality and new

0 Here, the process of collecting, compiling, interpreting and curating is brought to

02 .3.3 Post-Internet Perspective

87 Vierkant, Artie: The Image Object Post-Internet, 2010.

0 Parallel to the “dis-illusionment” process within the context of the post-digital

91 Vierkant, Artie: The Image Object Post-Internet, 2010.

93 Debatty, Régine: Interview with Marisa Olson 2008,

94 Bridle, James: The New Aesthetic, 2011.

0 So, it is not so much a uniform visual language or a closed aesthetic formalization,