Individuation, Art and Interactivity Starting with Gilbert Simondon

Abstract

The aim of the article is to show the fruitfulness of Gilbert Simondon’s theory of individuation as a tool for analysing the aesthetic-artistic experience made possible by new technologies. Interactivity is the category to qualify those works based on computer systems whose form is determined by the intervention of the user or by signals coming from the environment. The reflection under the profile of aesthetics has long since begun to reckon with Simondon’s thought, developing his analyses on the mode of existence of technical objects. Here we intend rather to show how the concepts and expressions at the centre of his theory of individuation are also rich in ideas for the study of an aesthetic-artistic experience in which the category of relation assumes a constitutive value and in which the processual aspect of the artwork prevails over its object dimension.