Prof. Dr. Benjamin Jörissen
http://joerissen.name
benjamin@joerissen.name
Digitality and Aesthetics:
Challenges for Next Arts Educations
Plattform Kulturelle Bildung: „Perspektiven
Kultureller Bildung in Europa“
Schloss Genshagen, 18. November 2015
Next Art Education
„The Next Art is the art
of the Next Society.“
„Like all pedagogy, Next
Art Pedagogy has to be
radically thought
towards future.“
2013

http://kunst.uni-koeln.de/kpp/_kpp_daten/pdf/KPP29_Meyer.pdf
Next Art Education
Next Arts Education
2013

http://kunst.uni-koeln.de/kpp/_kpp_daten/pdf/KPP29_Meyer.pdf
I. Digitality:
Code, Data, Networks, Interfaces
The digital Web ist a mycelium.What seems to be an object – e.g. of pedagogical
intervention, like digital gadets or platforms – is a mere manifestation 

of an underlying infrastructur which always remains invisible.
h"ps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Heksenkring.jpg
Digital „Bildung“ (?)
Education in digital cultures?
Arts education in digital cultures?
Code
Data
Networks
Interface
Code
Data
Networks
Interface
Software/Code/Algorithms
Data
Networks
Interface
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldMsMDGu0V8
New Virtual Instruments not
based upon sample technology,
but on simulation models
of the physical models of the
complex, dynamically
interacting materiality of
musical instruments by means of
complex, dynamically
interacting algorithms.
These platonic instruments are
not „false real“ things, but „true
virtual“ things, coming along with
many or even more of the
expressive possibilities than their
material counterparts.
http://meta-ex.com/
Software/Code/Algorithms
Data
Networks
Interface
Data
= digital cultural objects
defined by
Protocols
performed by
Software/Code/Algorithms
Look, it’s the Mona Lisa!
0xFF 0xD8 0xFF 0xE0
0x00 0x10 0x4A 0x46
0x49 0x46 0x00 0x01
…
Protocols and formats „lock in“
the relation of cultural objects and
perception
mp3 – psychoacoustics
jpg – psychovisualistics
.h264 – ps.vis. in time
MIDI
(Music Instrument Digital Interface)
byte 1: note on/off
byte 2: coded note value (diachronic)
byte 3: velocity (0-128)
MIDI
(Music Instrument Digital Interface)
not only defining basic understandings of notes, but
being an industry standard of music production
globally (synchronizing studio production and
postproduction tools).
Software/Code/Algorithms
Data
Networks
Interface
Software/Code/Algorithms
Data
Networks
Interface
SLOrk – Standford Laptop Orchestra
http://slork.stanford.edu/
Onyx Ashanti – BeatJazz
https://www.ted.com/talks/onyx_ashanti_this_is_beatjazz
{Code +
Hardware
data
materiality
senses ↔ sense
Code + data requiring the most
versatile materialities
Today, we are surrounded by 

super versatile materialities:
silicone (logical/temporal resolution)
Displays (visual resolution)
Speakers (auditive resolution)
Nanomaterials, 3d Printing Materials

(spatial & mechanical resolution)
Software/Code/Algorithms
Data
Networks
Interface
https://www.ableton.com/de/live/
„Software Studies“
Software as cultural expression
Software, Power, and Hegemony
Software as individual/collective
expression
https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/series/software-studies
II. Digitality, Mediality,Aesthetics
symbolic/cultural forms
vs.
aesthetics
vs.
mediality
materialities
„media“
vs.
„mediality“
Medium loosely coupled forms
Form Visibility, Order, Meaning
„Mediatization“
(emergent event,
signs appearing)
„Mediatisierung“ nach Dieter Mersch 2002, S. 56 ff. (im Anschluss an Luhmann)
Mersch,	D.	(2002).	Ereignis	und	Aura:	Untersuchungen	zu	einer	ÄstheGk	des	PerformaGven.	Frankfurt/M.:	Suhrkamp.
= form + materiality
„The	Medium	is	the	
Message“,	

i.e.	the	underlying	
„structuring	structures“.
Marshall	McLuhan	

(1911-1980)
Digital Transformations of 

Aesthetic Processes
symbolic/cultural forms
vs.
aesthetics
vs.
mediality
digitality materialities
symbolic/cultural forms
vs.
aesthetics
vs.
mediality
digitality materialities
symbolic/cultural forms
vs.
aesthetics
vs.
mediality
digitality materialities
Art, as a reflexive discourse by means
of cultural forms of expression (arts),
transgresses common and taken-for-
granted relations of forms, aesthetics,
medialities and materialities,
enabling experience of and reflection
upon their multiple implications.
Kazimir	Malevich,	Black	Square,	1915
Yves	Klein,	L'accord	bleu	(RE	10),	1960
Magri"e,		La	trahison	des	images	(Ceci	n'est	pas	une	pipe),	1929
Marcel	Duchamp,	Fountain,	1917
III. „Bildung“
„Bildung“ encompasses
subjectivation/power
self-determination
alterity
reflexivity
identity
transgression
„Bildung“ as a transgression of
framings (world-views)
Marotzki,	W.	(1990).	Entwurf	einer	strukturalen	Bildungstheorie.	Weinheim:	Dt.	Studien-Verlag.
cultural/aesthetical, arts-related
„Bildung“ encompasses
subjectivation/power, self-
determination, alterity, reflexivity,
identity, transgression
with respect to symbolic forms
through aesthetic articulation
code rules:

closed vs. open digital architectures
e.g.Virtual Worlds/Avatars
Visual Digital Tools
Cultural Hacking
Jörissen, B. (2009). Strukturale EthnografieVirtueller Welten. In: Grell, Petra/Marotzki,Winfried/
Schelhowe, Heidi (Hrsg.): Neue digitale Kultur- und Bildungsräume.Wiesbaden:VS-Verlag, S. 119-143.
http://chucks-fun.blogspot.de/2015/01/cartoon-fun-18-images.html
http://crackberry.com/wallpaper-art-megan-fox-mona-lisa
https://ohmydior.wordpress.com/2014/09/12/thenewnormal-conchita-wurst/
http://www.bianicastro.com/2012/09/as-varias-faces-de-monalisa.html
e.g. Modding/Cultural Hacking
https://culturalhacking.wordpress.com/
Prof. Dr. Benjamin Jörissen
http://joerissen.name
benjamin@joerissen.name
Digitality and Aesthetics:
Challenges for Next Arts Educations
Plattform Kulturelle Bildung: „Perspektiven
Kultureller Bildung in Europa“
Schloss Genshagen, 18. November 2015

Digitality and Aesthetics: Challenges for Next Arts Educations.