The Literariness of New Media Art – A Case for Expanding the Domain of Literary Studies
Abstract
This article explores media-related aspects of literariness and examines them on the basis of spoken and written language in new media art, in order to rethink the role of philology. The working hypothesis is that new media art does, in fact, possess the potential for literary analysis; the article is therefore intended as a case for the expansion of literary studies, its paradigms and methodologies.
Literature, poetic structures and elements play a significant role in many new media artworks – a fact that has been overlooked so far by both media studies and literary scholarship. The article investigates this new, complex interdisciplinary field in an exemplary analysis. To expand the application of literary studies to new developments in the arts, including new media art working with language, one has to acknowledge that orally performed texts are as complex in their aesthetic presentation and poetic signification as written and printed literary works, and are therefore to be viewed as just as relevant subjects of research.
In the introduction (part one), the research question will be contextualized within contemporary trends in research, in particular within discourse concerning the ›pictorial turn‹. It will be argued that the impulse to analyze audiovisual art from the standpoint of art history (Bildwissenschaft) or media studies generally overlooks or underestimates linguistic and literary components. However, in these artworks it is often the complex interplay between orality and scriptuality that creates poetic effects.
The second part of the article will introduce the concept and genres of new media art and distinguish four central aesthetic strategies that are relevant for ›philological‹ analysis: (1) the integration of written texts or printed words with a poetic intention into new media art; (2) the use of verbalized language in an explicitly poetic manner; (3) the handling of pre-existing works of literature and their transformation into audiovisual art; and (4) the exploration and adaptation of literary genres by new media artists.
The concept of literariness in literary theory will be discussed in the third part of the article, as it has been developed, amongst others, by Russian formalists, the Prague school and various literary scholars in the English and German speaking realm. The general aim will be the application of these notions of literariness to the poetic use of language in new media art. The main focus will be on the notion of poetic ›deviation‹ (Abweichung) and the increased self-referentiality of poetic language that is created by way of a »foregrounding of the utterance« (Mukařovský 2007, 19). Overall, poetic language can be perceived as such if it is ostentatious or if it intentionally creates alienation, a heightened awareness of its materiality, or an ›aesthetic surplus‹ that exceeds the mere communicative act.
In the parts four to six the article will then analyze three recent video art works: Keren Cytter’s single-channel video Dreamtalk (2005), Freya Hattenberger’s video performance installation Pretty Girl (2008), and Magdalena von Rudy’s single-channel video Regnava nel silenzio (2008). These works have been chosen as divergent and aesthetically innovative pieces by young and upcoming female new media artists working in the German cultural context, and as representative examples for a recent trend in video art to generate complex narrative and aesthetic structures that strongly rely upon language. The three works will be examined in close readings focusing on the use of language and literary structures, both in scriptural and in oral language.
It will be shown that these video artworks integrate elements from all three literary genres – drama (e. g. choral speech, teichoscopy), poetry (repetitions, parallelisms, rhyme, semantic ambiguieties, etc.), and epic prose (narrative voices, literary ekphrasis). Furthermore, it is argued that these new media art works create and make use of an ›aesthetic surplus‹ by way of a highly conscious and ostentatious use of language that is viewed and presented as an artistic material and a poetic ›tool‹. They also raise the question of agency inasmuch as all three video works play with inauthentic or figurative discourse, which is either articulated by someone else and only performed second-hand, or presented as ›re-presentation‹ as such. Moreover, in two of the three works discussed the speakers are not conceptualized as characters articulating ›themselves‹ at all, but as mere vocal instances mediating external content. Such experimental work with language definitively exceeds existing parameters of figural speech and character analysis both in film analysis and narratology. The language used by the speakers refers to its act of articulation as such, or works with iterations and other forms of language ›deviation‹ in actio. With regard to the concept of literariness, such linguistic strategies must be considered poetic.
References
Anz, Thomas, Abweichung, in: Klaus Weimar et al. (ed.), Reallexikon der deutschen Literaturwissenschaft, vol. 1, Berlin/New York 2003, 7–9.Suche in Google Scholar
Ars Viva 08/09. Inszenierung – Mise en scène: Keren Cytter, Manuel Graf, Simon Dybbroe Møller, Tris Vonna-Michell, catalogue Visual Arts Prize of the Kulturkreis der Deutschen Wirtschaft, Ostfildern 2008.Suche in Google Scholar
Bachmann-Medick, Doris, Cultural Turns. Neuorientierungen in den Kulturwissenschaften, Reinbek 2006.Suche in Google Scholar
Benthien, Claudia, Medialität, Materialität und Literarizität der Stimme in der Videokunst, in: KulturPoetik. Zeitschrift für kulturgeschichtliche Literaturwissenschaft 11.2 (2011), 221–239.10.13109/kult.2011.11.2.221Suche in Google Scholar
Benthien, Claudia, The Subjectification of Disaster in Video Art: »Incidence of Catastrophe« by Gary Hill, in: Isabel Capeloa Gil/Christoph Wulf (eds.), Hazardous Future: Disaster, Representation and the Assessment of Risk, Berlin/New York 2012 [in print].Suche in Google Scholar
Boehm, Gottfried (ed.), Was ist ein Bild?, Munich 1995.Suche in Google Scholar
Bolter, Jay David/Richard Grusin, Remediation: Understanding New Media, London 1999.10.1108/ccij.1999.4.4.208.1Suche in Google Scholar
Broeker, Holger (ed.), Gary Hill. Selected Words: Catalogue raisonné, catalogue Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Cologne 2002.Suche in Google Scholar
Burda, Hubert/Christa Maar (eds.), Iconic Turn. Die neue Macht der Bilder, Cologne 2004.Suche in Google Scholar
Butler, Judith, Excitable Speech: A Politics of the Performative, London/New York 1997.Suche in Google Scholar
Chion, Michel, The Voice in Cinema, trans. by Claudia Gorbman, New York 1999.Suche in Google Scholar
Dinkla, Söke, Virtuelle Narrationen. Von der Krise des Erzählens zur neuen Narration als mentales Möglichkeitsfeld, 2004, http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/themen/medienkunst_im_ueberblick/narration/1/ (17.04.2012).Suche in Google Scholar
Eagleton, Terry, Literary Theory, 2nd ed., Oxford 1996.Suche in Google Scholar
Eder, Jens, Die Figur im Film. Grundlagen der Figurenanalyse, Marburg 2008.Suche in Google Scholar
Eder, Jens, Dramaturgie des populären Films. Drehbuchpraxis und Filmtheorie, Hamburg 1999.Suche in Google Scholar
Eder, Jens/Fotis Jannidis/Ralf Schneider (eds.), Characters in Fictional Worlds: Understanding Imaginary Beings in Literature, Film, and Other Media, Berlin/New York 2010.10.1515/9783110232424Suche in Google Scholar
Epping-Jäger, Cornelia/Erika Linz, Einleitung, in: idem. (eds.), Medien/Stimmen, Cologne 2003, 7–15.Suche in Google Scholar
Fabb, Nigel, The Non-linguistic in Poetic Language. A Generative Approach, in: Journal of Literary Theory 4.1 (2010), volume ›Literary Studies and Linguistics‹, 1–18.Suche in Google Scholar
Fischer-Lichte, Erika, Auf dem Wege zu einer performativen Kultur, in: Paragrana. Internationale Zeitschrift für Historische Anthropologie 7.1 (1998), volume ›Kulturen des Performativen‹, 13–32.Suche in Google Scholar
Forster, Edward Morgan, Aspects of the Novel, London 1990.Suche in Google Scholar
Freya Hattenberger, catalogue Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Stipendium Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Calbe 2012.Suche in Google Scholar
Fricke, Harald, Norm und Abweichung. Eine Philosophie der Literatur, Munich 1981.Suche in Google Scholar
Fricke, Harald, Potenzierung, in: Jan-Dirk Müller et al. (eds.), Reallexikon der deutschen Literaturwissenschaft, vol. 3, Berlin/New York 2003, 144–147.Suche in Google Scholar
Genette, Gérard, Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method, trans. by Jane E. Lewin, foreword by Jonathan Culler, Oxford 1980.Suche in Google Scholar
Gibson, Ross/Theo van Leuween/Norie Neumark (eds.), Voice: Vocal Aesthetics in Digital Arts and Media, Cambridge, Mass. 2010.Suche in Google Scholar
Goffman, Erving, Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience, New York i.a. 1974.Suche in Google Scholar
Helmstetter, Rudolf, Lyrische Verfahren. Lyrik, Gedicht und poetische Sprache, in: Miltos Pechlivanos et al. (eds.), Einführung in die Literaturwissenschaft. Stuttgart/Weimar 1995, 27–42.10.1007/978-3-476-03544-8_4Suche in Google Scholar
Hörisch, Jochen, Ende der Vorstellung. Die Poesie der Medien, Frankfurt, Main 1999.Suche in Google Scholar
Jäger, Georg, Avantgarde, in: Klaus Weimar et al. (eds.), Reallexikon der deutschen Literaturwissenschaft, vol. 1, Berlin/New York 1997, 183–187.Suche in Google Scholar
Jäger, Ludwig, Intermedialität – Intramedialität – Transkriptivität. Überlegungen zu einigen Prinzipien der kulturellen Semiosis, in: Arnulf Deppermann/Angelika Linke (eds.), Sprache intermedial. Stimme und Schrift, Bild und Ton, Berlin/New York 2010, 301–324.10.1515/9783110223613.299Suche in Google Scholar
Jana, Reena/Mark Tribe, New Media Art, trans. by Uta Grosenick, Cologne i.a. 2006.Suche in Google Scholar
Kargl, Reinhard, Wie Film erzählt. Wege zu einer Theorie des multimedialen Erzählens im Film, Frankfurt, Main i.a. 2006.Suche in Google Scholar
Keren Cytter, catalogue Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Vienna, Nuremberg 2007.Suche in Google Scholar
Krah, Hans, Einführung, in: Zeitschrift für Semiotik 27.1/2 (2005), volume ›Selbstreferenz und literarische Gattung‹, 3–22.Suche in Google Scholar
Lahn, Silke/Jan-Christoph Meister, Einführung in die Erzähltextanalyse, Stuttgart/Weimar 2008.10.1007/978-3-476-05056-4Suche in Google Scholar
Lehmann, Annette Jael, Kunst und Neue Medien. Ästhetische Paradigmen seit den sechziger Jahren, Tübingen 2008.Suche in Google Scholar
Lehmann, Hans-Thies, Postdramatic Theatre, trans. by Karen Jürs-Munby, London/New York 2006.10.4324/9780203088104Suche in Google Scholar
Levin, Samuel R., Interne und externe Abweichung in der Dichtung, in: Jens Ihwe (ed.), Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik. Ergebnisse und Perspektiven II.2: Zur Linguistischen Basis der Literaturwissenschaft, vol. 1, Frankfurt, Main 1971, 343–357.Suche in Google Scholar
Louis, Eleonora, Sprache in der bildenden Kunst, in: Jenny Holzer und die Macht des Wortes, I can’t tell you: Xenon for Duisburg, Ostfildern 2004, 30–35.Suche in Google Scholar
Martin, Sylvia, Video Art, ed. by Uta Grosenick, Cologne 2006.Suche in Google Scholar
Meyer, Petra Maria (ed.), Acoustic Turn, Munich 2008.10.30965/9783846743898Suche in Google Scholar
Mitchell, W.J.T., Picture Theory. Essays on Verbal and Visual Representation, Chicago 1994.Suche in Google Scholar
Mitchell, W.J.T., Der Pictorial Turn, in: Christian Kravagna (ed.), Privileg Blick. Kritik der visuellen Kultur, Berlin 1997, 15–40.Suche in Google Scholar
Mukařovský, Jan, Standard Language and Poetic Language, in: Paul L. Garvin (ed.), A Prague School Reader on Esthetics, Literary Structure and Style, selected and trans. by idem., 3rd ed., Washington, D.C. 2007, 17–30.Suche in Google Scholar
Newman, Michael, Moving Image in the Gallery since the 1990s, in: Stuart Comer (eds.), Film and Video Art, London 2009, 86-121.Suche in Google Scholar
Niederhoff, Burkhard, Focalization, in: Peter Hühn et al. (eds.), the living handbook of narratology, Hamburg 2011, http://hup.sub.uni-hamburg.de/lhn/index.php/Focalization (17.04.2012).Suche in Google Scholar
Paul, Christiane, Digital Art, London 2003.Suche in Google Scholar
Peleg, Hila (ed.), I was the good and he was the bad and the ugly: Keren Cytter, catalogue KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin/Frankfurt, Main 2006.Suche in Google Scholar
Rajewski, Irina O., Intermediality, Intertextuality, and Remediation: A Literary Perspective on Intermediality, in: Intermédialités 6 (2005), 43–64.Suche in Google Scholar
Rühling, Lutz, Fiktionalität und Poetizität, in: Heinz Ludwig Arnold/Heinrich Detering (eds.), Grundzüge der Literaturwissenschaft, 6th ed., Munich 2003, 25–51.Suche in Google Scholar
Rüth, Uwe (ed.), Hide and Seek: Magdalena von Rudy, Preisträgerin des 12. Marler Video-Kunst-Preises. Videos und Installationen 2002-2007, catalogue Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten, Marl 2007.Suche in Google Scholar
Sachs-Hombach, Klaus (ed.), Bildwissenschaft. Disziplinen – Themen – Methoden, Frankfurt, Main 2005.Suche in Google Scholar
Saße, Günter, Literatursprache, in: Hans P. Althaus/Helmut Henne/Herbert E. Wiegand (eds.), Lexikon der Germanistischen Linguistik, vol. 4, Tübingen 1980, 698–706.10.1515/9783110960846.698Suche in Google Scholar
Scheuermann, Barbara J., Erzählstrategien in der zeitgenössischen Kunst. Narrativität in Werken von William Kentridge und Tracey Emin, Cologne 2005.Suche in Google Scholar
Schulz, Martin, Visual Culture und der Pictorial Turn, in: idem., Die Ordnungen der Bilder. Eine Einführung in die Bildwissenschaft, Munich 2005, 85–96.Suche in Google Scholar
Schulze, Holger (ed.), Sound Studies. Traditionen – Methoden – Desiderate. Eine Einführung, Bielefeld 2008.10.1515/9783839408940Suche in Google Scholar
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty, Can the Subaltern Speak?, in: Cary Nelson/Lawrence Grossberg (eds.). Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, Urbana, Il. 1988, 271–313.10.1007/978-1-349-19059-1_20Suche in Google Scholar
Stafford, Barbara Maria, Good Looking: Essays on the Virtue of Images, Cambridge, Mass./London 1996.Suche in Google Scholar
Van der Heide, Bart, Zwei Filme von Keren Cytter – »Dreamtalk« und »The Victim«, in: Keren Cytter, catalogue Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna/Nuremberg 2007, 22–28.Suche in Google Scholar
Van Peer, Willie, Poetizität, in: Jan-Dirk Müller et al. (eds.), Reallexikon der deutschen Literaturwissenschaft, vol. 3, Berlin/New York 2003, 111–113.Suche in Google Scholar
Wagner, Peter (ed.), Icons, Texts, Iconotexts: Essays on Ekphrasis and Intermediality, Berlin/New York 1996.10.1515/9783110882599Suche in Google Scholar
Wandhoff, Haiko, Ekphrasis. Kunstbeschreibungen und virtuelle Räume in der Literatur des Mittelalters, Berlin/New York 2003.10.1515/9783110896275Suche in Google Scholar
Weigel, Sigrid, Die Stimme als Medium des Nachlebens: Pathosformel, Nachhall, Phantom. Kulturwissenschaftliche Perspektiven, in: Doris Kolesch/Sybille Krämer (eds.), Stimme. Annäherung an ein Phänomen, Frankfurt, Main 2006, 16–39.Suche in Google Scholar
Wettengl, Kurt, Questioning the World, trans. by Tim Nevill, in: Freya Hattenberger, catalogue Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Stipendium Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Calbe 2012, 18–22.Suche in Google Scholar
DVDs / Discography
Cytter, Keren, Dreamtalk, single-channel digital video, 11’19, 2005; DVD screening copy provided by gallery Schau Ort/Christiane Büntgen, Zurich.Suche in Google Scholar
Hattenberger, Freya, Pretty Girl, two-channel video installation, 2’40, 2008; DVD screening copy with three files (demo version of the installation, screen with face, projection with text) provided by the artist.Suche in Google Scholar
Rudy, Magdalena von, Regnava nel Silenzio, single-channel digital video, 7’00, 2008; DVD screening copy provided by the artist.Suche in Google Scholar
Webpages
http://schauort.com/keren-cytter.htmSuche in Google Scholar
http://www.freyahattenberger.de/Suche in Google Scholar
http://www.magdalena-von-rudy.de/Suche in Google Scholar
© 2012 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Titelseiten
- Special Issue: Literary Theory and Media Change
- The Literariness of New Media Art – A Case for Expanding the Domain of Literary Studies
- Making Digital Poetry: Writing with and through Spaces
- Performing the Poet, Reading (to) the Audience: Some Thoughts on Live Poetry as Literary Communication
- The Implied Book and the Narrative Text: On a Blind Spot in Narratological Theory – from a Media Studies Perspective
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Titelseiten
- Special Issue: Literary Theory and Media Change
- The Literariness of New Media Art – A Case for Expanding the Domain of Literary Studies
- Making Digital Poetry: Writing with and through Spaces
- Performing the Poet, Reading (to) the Audience: Some Thoughts on Live Poetry as Literary Communication
- The Implied Book and the Narrative Text: On a Blind Spot in Narratological Theory – from a Media Studies Perspective
