Arjen Mulder: From Image to Interaction (2010)
In From Image to Interaction, Arjen Mulder traces evolutionary lines in the fine art of the past five hundred years that have led directly to the interactive art of today. He investigates the origins of modern art from Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo to Kandinsky, Mondrian and Paul Klee, whom he regards not only as great artists but above all as great media theorists. In the process, he discovers how the models these illustrious predecessors built are still actively being used in the fields of contemporary art known as electronic art, video art, machine art, digital art, media art, and even “the art formerly known as media art.” Step by step, Mulder develops a surprising perspective on the genealogy of art from 1910 to 2010 and the role and value of visual culture and design in the present. He analyses the feelings and experiences evoked by painting, photography, digital media and the interactive arts in a previously unseen manner. In compact, clear style he works out a theory of art not as an expression of the worldview of its time but as a discoverer and researcher of it.
Arjen Mulder’s previous books include the acclaimed Understanding Media Theory: Language, Image, Sound, Behavior (2004), used at numerous colleges and universities, as well as essay collections in Dutch such as Het fotografisch genoegen (“Photographic Pleasure”, 2000) and De vrouw voor wie Cesare Pavese zelfmoord pleegde (“The Woman Cesare Pavese Committed Suicide for”, 2005), which critics have praised for its originality. Arjen Mulder teaches media theory at the Utrecht Graduate School of Visual Art and Design (MaHKU) in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Moderation: Sabine Breitsameter
...Arjen Mulder´s neues Buch From Image to Interaction: Meaning and Agency in the Arts (2010) rekonstruiert traditionelle Kunstgeschichte indem es die Wurzeln und Zukunft interaktiver Medienkunst beleuchtet. Wenn Mulder über „Vermittlung als neue Veranwortung“ spricht, beschreibt er damit wie die interaktive Kunst von Gruppen wie Knowbotic Research, die Passivität des technisch visuellen Mediums von Fotographie, Film und Video, als auch der Konzeptkunst von Duchamp bis Sol Lewitt, überwunden hat. Mulder bietet eine umfangreiche Interpretation interaktiver Kunst seit den 1960ern und zeigt dabei, dass es dabei nicht nur um die aktive Einbindung des Publikums („Verhaltensinteraktivität“) sondern auch um die Entwicklung neuer Formen und Strukturen („formale Interaktivität“) geht, welche die Voraussetzung für eine neue Welt schaffen.
Moderation: Sabine Breitsameter