Electronic art without electricity?

Turn the power off!

To recap the elements of electronic art, if we throw ourselves to the extent of the utmost analysis, finally we can reach to the electricity. Is it really impossible to imagine the artwork with interactivity and other machinic traits, but without electricity? And can’t we engross ourselves to create the interactive art form without electricity? I think it is not different from premising the illusion without artificial light. Regardless of the machinic traits which comes from the computing machinery and reality-augmenting devices, still we have chance to inquire the new media art without electricity. And still questions are remained. Is this question worth to ask in the area of new media art?

Let’s go back to the moment of the invention of internet. The inter-textuality that is regarded as bloomed from the advert of internet, was exactly mentioned by Bartes for more than 20 yrs before the internet age. In the same context, it makes sense that the retinal art in the age of computing machinery has its own aesthetic or philosophical concepts and novelty and has theoretical background.

The traits of new media art are always investigated from the aspect of electronic devices. But if those materialistic traits are engenders from the newness which lies inside the immaterial characteristics, It will be possible to re-posit the hidden aspects of electronic art as result of socio-cultural changes.

Richard Baquié. Sans titre. Étant donnés, 1°) la chute d’eau, 2°) le gaz d’éclairage (Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon, 1991)