Digital interaction as opening space for aesthetics of consciousness

Abstract

Abstract In this research we will examine the paradox nature of self-reference. This concept appears in the form of pure feedback loops in language and mathematics and naturally extends towards many different domains such as biology, sociology, art and philosophy. The basic elements of human experience show the manifestations of such loops. Their results are noticeable in internal or external, mental or body processes. Our interest with these loops focuses on the domain of brain processes in observing, thinking and interpreting as it is meticulously analysed in the books Gödel Escher Bach and I Am a Strange Loop. Through the interactive artistic experiments ‘Ouroboros VR Self-Reference Apparatus’ by John Bardakos (2015) and ‘Anima’ by Elhem Younes (2016) we explore applied and theoretical concepts and experiences in logic, dream aesthetics and the human creativity. These experiments were conducted using ‘perception’ as a natural model of aesthetics generator via self-reference. Within this model, the loops were enriched with an artistic metamorphose of data from measurements of the human space to the aesthetic objects in the virtual space. Through the quantifiable perception feedback loop and the digital interaction, the spectator changes his role and becomes an active artist expressing himself or herself to a digital output with the support of data. The now post-conscious artist, with the use of visual and audio-visual tool sets, observes the fusion of art technology and aesthetics being transformed into basic elements that form consciousness.