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Instead of speculating on what a yet unknown art is, I feel more compelled to respond to what I perceive as a growing tendency in the contemporary art world which I am sure is setting the pace and substance of the future: "cyberarts".
The term "cyber" derives from the Greek kubernare that refers to the "act of controlling a ship" where the "pilot" was referred to as kubernetes. Kubernare is also the root of the word "government" which refers to composite acts of control as well as the organization / entity that is charged with that task. The mathematician Norbert Weiner defined cybernetics as the study and strategic deployment of communicative control processes within complex systems constituted by hierarchically ordered entities. Thus, he initiated a revolutionary development in the way we have come to think about information and control. Cybernetic systems are thus conceived as information flows between distinct, constituted entities such as humans, computers, animals and even environments. The flow of information was conceived as a principle explaining how organization occurs across and within multiple, hierarchical levels. This meant that seemingly bounded entities could be translated / codified into information, thereby enabling interfaces and easy interaction between them. It is, in fact, arguable that in the last two decades, a large amount of technological innovation has been towards greater cyberneticization. This means that in addition to innovations that allow existing technologies to become integrated with each other through cross-platform operability, the "new" element in many "new technologies" has been exactly their ability to hybridise previously separate functions, e.g. web-integrated mobile phones, biochips, artificial life, etc. This translatability, or desire to translate different physical entities and processes into information, as well as the control afforded therein, distinctly characterizes and enables what have come to be called cybertechnologies.
Thus, the term cyberarts refers to all art forms, practices and processes that are produced and mediated by the continuing developments in cybertechnologies, specifically in information, communication, imaging, experiential, interface and bio-technologies. The cyberarts as defined by contemporary art practice include the following: digital imaging (whether as digital painting, digital photography and digital video); computer animation; holographic art; virtual reality environments, including gaming; robotic arts; net-art, including works in hypertext and telematics; human-machine interfaces (e.g. cyborg technologies); bio-arts that employ biotechnologies (e.g. DNA music, transgenic art, artificial life); computer music & sound arts; and hybrid art works involving interaction with other art forms (e.g. theatre, dance, installations, etc.).
And while the contemporary manifestations of cyberarts are limited to the mentioned examples, it is possible to foresee a future in which cybernetic desire would proliferate to mediate a larger range of experiences and expressions.
Gunalan Nadarajan
Singapore
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