Art in Digital Narratives

The theories and artists involved in the entwined development of the arts and digital medias are complex and fascinating.

​This page provides links to some of the theories, theorists, and artists, along with links to their works and information.  Whilst these links were not directly used in the projects in this exhibition, they do link to them, and were used in initial internet-based stages of research.  (Directly used sources for the projects are shown in the References sections of each project.)

Shia LaBeouf - Performing member of the LaBeouf, Ronkko & Turner performance projects collective.

Aimee Cliff - DAZED internet magazine journalist, who often covers the work of Shia LaBeouf, and who became the interviewing member of the #INTERVIEW performance project, with subsequent written articles for DAZED magazine, including a piece describing the fallout from the internet storm caused by the piece.

Walter Benjamin - Author of The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction; Benjamin developed concepts of how the reproduction of artworks affected their 'liveness', proselytising this could only be absorbed through engagement with the original piece in its ritualistic space: "its unique existence in the place where it is at this moment” (Benjamin, 1936, p12).  Any mechanical reproduction could therefore not replace access to the original piece, but would instead provide a pale reflection.

​Peggy Phelan: Author of Unmarked: The Politics of Performance, Phelan's arguments, like those of Benjamin, stem from the need for art to be viewed and engaged with in its ritualistic location, and for the viewer of the artwork to also be seen within that location (the ‘reciprocal gaze’). Unlike Benjamin, Phelan focuses particularly on the performing arts, and hypothesises that its ephemeral integration into audience consciousness is its strength, “into the realm of invisibility and the unconscious where it eludes regulation and control” (Westerman, 2015).

​Philip Auslander: Author of Liveness: Performance in a Mediatized Culture.

Unlike Benjamin and Phelan, Auslander begins with the supposition that a “reproduced work of art is to an ever-increasing extent the reproduction of a work of art designed for reproducibility” (Benjamin, 1936, p19), and further argues that in terms of the performing arts, performance has already been irretrievably mediatised by the incursion of televised principles. The reproducibility of artworks is therefore a given in a digital age, and Auslander instead seeks a stable basis on which theatre production can survive within a digital framework.

​Jonah Westerman: Between Action & Image: Performance as 'Inframedium' (2015)

Westerman uses the works of both Phelan and Auslander to try and denote a middle ground.  This is achieved particularly by considering photographic art examples, in which the spatial moment between the performance and the production of its media becomes the important factor, or 'inframedium'. The inframedium is highlighted as being alike to the warmth left on a chair once the person sitting on it has moved on.

​Gabriella Giannachi: Author of Virtual Theatres: An Introduction, Giannachi builds on the works of the philosophers Deleuze and Guattari, and of several other theorists including Virilio, Baudrillard, Brecht and Dixon to develop the concept of a theatre of Virtual Reality, in which "not only is the viewer inside the work of art, but they are operating it, possibly even modifying it, in real time, and being modified by it in return" (Giannachi, 2004, p8).  This process leads eventually to the 'theatre of the real', a concept that is most compatible with recent performance works by Shia LaBeouf, some of which are described in the projects in this exhibition.

​Kurt Lewin - The Principles of Topological Psychology: Lewin developed the concept that humans have a psychological relationship with the physical space around them, in opposition to the concept that humans react in certain situations as a result of earlier life experiences.  This incorporates the idea that there is an interaction with the items in the immediate surroundings.

​Metamodernism - Development of postmodernism into principles of non-linear connections and developments for an ever-changing society; more in line with the concept of multiplicity championed by Deleuze and Guattari. 

​Bertolt Brecht - Poet, playwright and German Marxist through the Second World War; Brecht developed the concept of the stage as a political forum.

​Analytic Philosophy - Theory predating postmodernism and metamodernism that focuses on learning through logical development.  This was opposed by later postmodernist concepts and by philosophers such as Deleuze and Guattari. 

Vito Acconci - Performance and installation artist who created works using his own body as part of his installations.  Created controversial gallery-based projects such as 'Seedbed'.

​Marina Abramovic - Performance artist who specialises in controversial 'victim art', and often uses her own body as part of her art projects, similar to Acconci.

​Constant Dullaart - Installation artist focusing on network cultures and the art of the internet.

​LaBeouf, Ronkko & Turner - Artistic collective producing art projects, performed by LaBeouf, that aim to reconnect with a degenerating theatre audience through social media and network cultures.

​Antonin Artaud - Playwright and writer of The Theatre and It's Double, in which he introduced his concept of the Theatre of Cruelty, theorising that actors need to assault the senses of their audience to force them to experience the emotions of the unconscious.

​Peter Brook - Theatrical director and writer of The Empty Space, a book containing four short essays developing the ideas of Artaud and categorising theatre into four distinct categories, including The Deadly Theatre; theatre enacted so many times in the same ways that loses its power to engage and hold the audience.

​Konstantin Stanislavski - Russian theatre actor and director who is credited with being the first practitioner of method acting.  Stanislavski designed a training programme for his actors based on his technique.

​Sanford Meisner - actor and acting teacher who developed the Meisner Technique, a type of method acting in which the actor utilises imagination rather than direct experience alone to fulfil the part required.  Meisner had specific methods of training to achieve this technique, which focused on becoming the part played and making the required actions spontaneous.

​Robin MacKay - writer of the text #Accelerate: The Accelerationist Reader, a text that offers the theory of Accelerationism that postulates the downfall of capitalism will occur by accelerating or expanding it to the point at which it is no longer sustainable.  MacKay suggests this is already occurring, and the effects can be seen within the economic issues in both America and the UK.

​Michel Foucault - philosopher and social historian with links to Gilles Deleuze who focused on the connections between knowledge and power, and their links to social control.

​Gilles Deleuze - philosopher who developed the concept of deterritorialization and furthered the philosophy of multiplicity, particularly through collaborative works with Felix Guatarri.  The two texts they produced, Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia and A Thousand Plateaus became their most popular works.  These texts underpin the study of Network Cultures.  Deleuze's writing had particular links with philosophy, literature, film and art.

​Karl Marx - German philosopher and Socialist who wrote particularly about the development of human society through the lens of class distinctions and socio-economic structure.  One of the most famous philosophers, Marx proposed the replacement of a capitalist regime with socialism.  Accelerationism holds some similarities to Marxism, namely the expectation that capitalism will collapse once it has accelerated through its course.

​Douglas Rushkoff - media theorist best known for his most recent works on the development of the internet, particularly Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now, in which he describes his theory of Present Shock, effectively that the rapidly increasing speed of knowledge transfer through electronic means is creating a type of shock in society, with a number of results, including the breakdown of linear storytelling into something more closely resembling the quick-search and non-linear links standards of the internet.  This is related to Deleuze's philosophy of multiplicity.

​Kenneth Goldsmith - Poet who avoids traditional poetic forms and writer of Uncreative Writing: Managing Language in the Digital Age in which he examines the use of digital means in writing poetry and fiction.

​James Neu - playwright who wrote unusual, non-commercial plays that were often performed Off-Off-Broadway, in line with Neu's part in the avant-garde movement that rejected participation in commercial theatre.

​Rudyard Kipling - Poet and author best known for writing The Jungle Book, Poet Laureate during his lifetime.  The poem referred to by LaBeouf in the #INTERVIEW is Brother Square Toes.

​Charles Bukowski - Poet and writer known for his socio-cultural-economic style and message, generally considered an underground writer most interested in the lives of ordinary people.  The poems referred to by LaBeouf in the #INTERVIEW are Bluebird (a message about hidden creativity) and Well, That's Just the Way It Is... (a poem on self esteem and confidence in life).

​Christopher Hitchens - Prolific political writer and journalist with Marxist leanings, known to have been an influential public figure until his death.  He wrote particularly about religion and the links between politics and religion.  One of the 'Four Horsemen' of New Atheism.

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Additional Links from the #INTERVIEW:

​Oh, The Places You’ll Go by Dr Seuss – Poem describing the promise of a life to be lived and the possible trials along the way based on personal choices.

​The Simpsons (Sacrilicious) – A humorous short clip on the issues of faith by The Simpsons.

​Adventure Time (Time Sandwich) – A humorous short clip on the results of endeavour, both to self and others.

​A Song About Myself by John Keats – A poem about the trials of life, but also about the reminiscence and self-doubt of a life lived.

​Presenting Princess Shaw - An independent true story film about the career-making online meeting and mash up through YouTube of Princess Shaw, a singer, and Kutiman, a mashup musician, that resulted in a YouTube music career for Princess Shaw.  The link is a video mashup of small YouTube musicians, many of the channels now vanished.

1987 Ariston Advert about the continuity of an item or concept.

Hito Steyerl - A professor of network cultures and creator and performer of video art producing gallery video art on the rise and implications of network cultures.  An example of Hito Steyerl's work can be viewed here.

​Holly Herndon - A music clip of the song ‘Home’ by the underground musician based on the NSA, internet privacy and surveillance.

​Diango Hernandez: Spiritual Recovery – An art project based on the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and the work of social historian Michel Foucault, both important theorists within the development of network cultures.  This is the most direct link to Deleuze in the #INTERVIEW, though the connections are suggested throughout.

​News Piece on the Internet of Things, a proposal led initially by Silicon Valley and widely written about within the network cultures field.

​News piece on the possibility and likelihood of the forthcoming existence of internet murder.

​Neil Young - A music clip of the song 'Motion Pictures', a song about life and sorrow, with lyrics directed at viewing this through motion pictures.

​Shia LaBeouf Magic GIF: a humorous ironic GIF of Shia LaBeouf acting the word magic, made in reaction to the discussion of faith.

​News piece on the work of Marina Abramovic and her desire to work with director Lars Von Trier, both known for their focus on 'victim art'.