Art as expanded thought of its infinitive potential

Masa Jazbek
Masterarbeit, 2014
Interface Cultures

The subject of my master thesis investigation is the space and human state that is between the real and virtual world; the mental position of a human-computer  interface that turns us into something that is rather inhuman. The technological approaches in art discussed in my thesis are digital technologies as a medium in widely varied fields of human reality: communication, entertainment, science, and art. The interface is the gate leading humans into cyberspace, connecting us to the matrix while simultaneously, because of its particular formations, leaving us in an empty space that is between the real and virtual world.

My research unfolds through the paradigm of digital-virtual images. The research is not only about how virtual images are constructed – I am most interested in how we - humans beings - are constructed; how we perceive things in the world, how we interact with the world, and how we are part of the larger whole that includes not only our own position in the world but also the mental states that we experience when we are confronted with things that we don't exactly understand e.g. self-knowledge and self-awareness. I am interested in what is inside the self and how it manifests itself in virtual worlds.

The thesis is justified by the philosophical views of Gillez Deleuze and Paul Virilio, sociological views of Sherry Turkle, an evolution scientist Richard Dawkins, and artists such as Ken Goldberg and Oliver Grau.  Through my analysis I am looking for relations/semblance in those art works that are addressing similar topics as my thesis.