Intermedial microtexts in the Anthropocene. From Aesthetics to Ethics

Abstract:This article explores the multidimensionality of intermedial microtexts from the perspectives and intersections between new materialisms and aesthetics. The objective is to rethink the ethical aspects behind posthuman micronarratives based on the mapped relations that are simultaneously material (between things) and semiotic (between concepts). Focusing on the case of intermedial microtexts, a transductive phenomenon occurs that enhances mechanisms of coagency. This study explores two projects that give visibility to nonhuman co-agency. I begin with an examination of the voice of the digital machine, as mediated in Mez Breeze's "Anthropo[S]ceney||AnthropO[bs]cene", and continue with a cut-up photomontage in "Grandmother Poem" by Andrejs Kulnieks. Both microtexts highlight the complex exchanges between nature, culture and semiosis. Both micronarratives lead readers through an intermedial journey, crossing the ocean of posthumanities from Australia to Canada.