Medienästhetik, Simulation und ‹Neue Medien›

Abstract

The notion of ‹media aesthetics› emerged not until the 1990s – at least in the German discussion. There is a relation between this emergence and the diffusion of so-called digital ‹New Media› during the same period. In the discourses of the 1990s this relation is discussed quite explicitly, especially the role of computer simulation is underlined. The attempt of this essay is to reconstruct this historical conjunction and to show how the digital repetition and transformation of established media transformed these into forms – thereby constituting literally ‹media aesthetics›. A medium like photography for example becomes a form citable in computer generated film. New forms of media art also operate according to that principle, as can be shown with regard to Thomas Ruff's JPEG-Series. The essay concludes by critically assessing recent discussions connected to the ongoing development of ever more and different forms of digital ‹New Media›.