Diffractive Art Practices: Computation and the Messy Entanglements between Mainstream Contemporary Art, and New Media Art

Prophet, Jane and Pritchard, Helen. 2015. Diffractive Art Practices: Computation and the Messy Entanglements between Mainstream Contemporary Art, and New Media Art. artnodes, 15, [Article]

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Abstract or Description

We engage with Karen Barad’s notion of diffraction (2007) to re-evaluate the relations between mainstream contemporary art (MCA) and new media art (NMA)1 that have been discussed for many years as part of a somewhat contentious debate. Our diffractive reading highlights both large and small but consequential differences between these art practices. We do not smooth over the tensions highlighted in earlier discussions of NMA and MCA. Instead we use Barad’s term ‘entanglement’ to suggest that there are generative ‘entanglements’, as well as productive differences, between these practices. We extend the debate by considering which differences matter, for whom (artists, gallerists) and how these differences emerge through material-discursive intra-actions. We argue for a new term, diffractive art practices, and suggest that such art practices move beyond the bifurcation of NMA and MCA to partially reconfigure the practices between art, computation and humanities.

Item Type:

Article

Identification Number (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.7238/issn.1695-5951

Departments, Centres and Research Units:

Computing
Sociology

Dates:

DateEvent
2015Published

Item ID:

17521

Date Deposited:

23 Mar 2016 08:52

Last Modified:

29 Apr 2020 16:16

Peer Reviewed:

Yes, this version has been peer-reviewed.

URI:

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/17521

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