Texts of Discomfort
ICIDS 2020 Art Exhibition
The ICIDS 2020 Art ExhibitioN presents interactive digital artworks that explore this year’s curatorial theme Texts of Discomfort. The guideline for art works follows Barthes's concept Text of Bliss,
“the text that imposes a state of loss, the text that discomforts... unsettles the reader’s historical, cultural, psychological assumptions” (Barthes 1973, p12).
Interactive digital art works that generate discomfort through their form and/or their content may actually inspire radical changes in the way we perceive the world.
Regarding the form, there has been plentiful discussion and debate around the joys and pains of digital, interactive non-linear storytelling. Many theorists, for example Janet Murray, have argued that digital interactivity offers THE way forward in terms of providing a more true depiction of the human experience of life through narrative. But many, for example Sven Birkerts, have also argued that interactivity simply breaks the imaginative ‘spell’ for the reader and destroys the sense of absorption that is desired. We wonder, where has the art reached in terms of its ability to give real narrative pleasure while being disruptive and discomforting?
At the same time, unsettling artworks are needed in a world that is living highly uncomfortable and complex times. In one of the most discomforting years of recent history, due to the pandemic of COVID19, we wondered therefore, where has this diverse art of digital, interactive storytelling reached in terms of its ability to give narrative pleasure, whilst at the same time unsettling us to re-think our preconceptions of narrative and narrative’s subjects? We think the works presented here demonstrate the richness of digital art and its power to move and stimulate.
We also look forward to meeting you in the live discussions, at which the artists will also be present, to discuss how these brilliant artworks have made you feel. Were you happily settled, or did the pieces exhibited here cause you to pause and re-assemble your assumptions? We are sure you will find much to enjoy and reflect upon in this year’s selection.
