Digital Interactivity

Abstract

This chapter concerns the distinctive and distinctively prominent forms of interactivity realized in digital art. The focus is on the complex relation between interactivity in the visual arts and the inherent replicability of digital representation. First, I show that, despite appearances to the contrary, replicability and interactivity are compatible in the case of digital images. To do this, I argue that an artwork’s appreciative display—the structure by which the work is intended to convey its artistic content—comprises not just the materials of the work but also their uses. Then I can explain both the transmissibility of the digital image—in terms of a single display type—and the interactivity of the digital image in terms of the boundaries for modifying instances of the type in question. Once this explanation is in place, I look at ways in which the combination of transmissibility and interactivity—a combination that is unique to images that are digital—has significance for the interpretation and social function of art.