Computer Art and Actor-Network TheoryActants and Intersubjective Associations in Scene

This paper investigates how Actor-Network Theory contributes to the innovation of aesthetic states in artistic production and proposes a theoretical framework for the creative process in terms of computer art.

This paper is a result of a PhD thesis that establishes associations between the Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and computer art. ANT originated from research investigating the dynamics of knowledge production within a laboratory with the use of technological artifacts where humans and nonhumans, called actants, were analyzed with the same level of importance. Computer art finds its roots in information theory and in the sign systems that are proposed as objects from the perspective of informational aesthetics, as stated by Abraham Moles and Max Bense.

The research articulates concepts known as actant, association, translation and inscription, from ANT, based on definitions presented by Bruno Latour, and the terms repertoire of elements, message, object and aesthetic states, from informational aesthetics. Developing the analysis of interactive installations of the author’s own creation, most of them being applied in theatrical staging, the research investigates how ANT contributes to the innovation of aesthetic states in artistic production and builds a theoretical framework that collaborates to the creative process in terms of computer art. Expanding informational aesthetics with ANT, the research proposes an aesthetic of associations, which takes a different view focusing on the connections established between the actants participating in the art object.

Supplementary Material

Computer Art and Actor-Network Theory: Actants and Intersubjective Associations in Scene (.pdf 6 MB)
[Click to Download] This supplement presents the main ANT concepts applied in the research, the explored art works and how they are related to the writings of the philosopher Vilém Flusser.