As our lives and planet continue to be shaped by complex technological materials, systems and processes, the practices of technology and media-engaged artists are vital to understanding what lies behind the ‘front end’ of our contemporary digital condition. Although diverse in scope, new materialist philosophies share a common approach to flat ontologies that invite thinking across human, nonhuman, virtual and material actors connected via networks of agency, affect, power and desire. These terms provide a powerful way to counter the immaterial malaise as well as the disconnect between our planet and technological existence.

Argument

As our lives and planet continue to be shaped by complex technological materials, systems and processes, the practices of technology and media-engaged artists are vital to understanding what lies behind the ‘front end’ of our contemporary digital condition.

Although diverse in scope, new materialist philosophies share a common approach to flat ontologies that invite thinking across human, nonhuman, virtual and material actors connected via networks of agency, affect, power and desire. These terms provide a powerful way to counter the immaterial malaise as well as the disconnect between our planet and technological existence.

This Special Issue aims to develop new insight into the relationship between technology/media-engaged art practices and new materialist philosophy, which may illuminate existing work in this area, with the potential to develop new ontologies, epistemologies, ethics and aesthetics. The addressed lines of enquiry may include but are not limited to the following:

• What connections exist between NMP and technology/media-engaged art practices?
• How do artists working in this space engage with notions of the material and the virtual?
• What are the limits and critiques of NMP in relation to technology/media-engaged practices?
• How are NMP and technology/media-engaged art practices being used to explore climate change?
• How are these ideas and practices being used in non-Western contexts and perspectives?
• Using NMP to understand artist’s engagement with new and emerging technologies such as synthetic data, cloud computing, machine learning, computer simulation, mixed reality, blockchain, biotech and so on.

Guest Editor

Paul Dolan, Department of Arts, Northumbria University.

For more inforfmation about Dr. Dolan.

Submission guidelines

• Deadline for the submission of abstracts: 31 December 2022.

• Submission of final manuscripts: 28 February 2023. 
• Abstract and a short biography should be sent to Paul Dolan (paul.dolan@northumbria.ac.uk) and Sylvia Hao (sylvia.hao@mdpi.com)
• Final articles, in English only, should be at least 5000 words long; a 150-word abstract and 5 keywords should also be submitted.  
• Authors can include image files (tables, maps, graphs, photographs …) in ..jpg; they should ensure that images are free of rights (or that rights have been obtained).  
• Each article will be peer-reviewed by at least two anonymous referees.

For further inquiries, please contact: Sylvia Hao for Arts, Sylvia Hao (sylvia.hao@mdpi.com) and Editorial Office of Arts（arts@mdpi.com）