Understanding Media Art as Cybernetic-Existentialism

Abstract

This audio-visual paper offers a Re-Trace and reboot of two disciplinary fields that some consider outdated and defunct, by proposing a bold aesthetic theory of Cybernetic-Existentialism. It argues that throughout the history of media art, artists have continually drawn upon and encapsulated primary themes from the distinct but interrelated disciplines of cybernetics and Existentialist philosophy. Ideas from both fields are identified as converging in classic works including by Billy Klüver, Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz, Paul Sermon, Jennifer Ringley, Stelarc, Wafaa Bilal, Susan Collins, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, and Blast Theory.

An examination of these artists’ works reveals their complex explorations of concepts proposed by cyberneticians including Wiener, Shannon, Weaver, Bateson, Maturana and Verala on information theory, feedback and circularity, communication and control, negative entropy, adaptive ecosystems and autopoiesis. Simultaneously, the same artworks are shown to encapsulate the ideas of Existentialist philosophers including Heidegger, Marcel, de Beauvoir and Sartre on ‘separation with communion’, freedom, authenticity, self-creation, absurdity, angst, nothingness, the ‘look’ of the stranger, being-for-others and being-towards-death.

The argument highlights the complementary and intersecting concerns of cybernetics and Existentialism, and how fusing insights and knowledge from these fields can throw new light on fundamental aspects of media art. The paper contends that far from being outmoded, cybernetics and Existentialism are not only alive and well, but of increasing importance to artistic practices, and to our understanding of the entire history of media art.