The intangible material of interactive art: agency, behavior and emergence

This paper presents a conceptual analysis of some of the basic notions for the practice of interactive art and the relations among them. A sound understanding of these notions is essential for the creation of the aesthetics of artistically behaving systems. Interactivity, agency, behavior and emergence are presented as the building blocks of this practice, understanding that they are at least as important as the materials that physically instantiate the pieces and installations that constitute the body of interactive art. Interactivity is defined and confronted to the metaphor of the conversation and to the idea of designing interactive systems with artistic purposes. The notions of agency, behavior and performativity are reviewed through the reading of Andrew Pickering’s account for the ontology of Cybernetics and in relation to interactive art practices. Finally, the concept of emergence and Peter Cariani’s emergence-relative-to-a-model are presented as a theoretical framework with which the analysis and creation of unexpected and non pre-designed behaviors in interactive systems can be based.