Browser Art. Navigating with Style

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Inge Hinterwaldner
• Subject Area: Art History
• Term: from 2019 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 421515359

The research project investigates the genre of art browsers as procedural image machines. To this end, a phenomenological participatory approach is complemented with a computer-supported visualization method in order to create analytical views of 'underlying' design levels. This requires expertise from the fields of visual design, computer science, software studies and art history or image studies. The uncovering of the individual functionality of the program mechanics is pursued by testing different available visualization and analysis tools, as well as by developing visualizations especially tailored to Internet browsers. This project pursues several goals simultaneously:a) Visualization as a method: Internet browsers are viewed from two sides. In addition to the intended 'appearance' (the interface on the monitor), further image-based accesses are opened up as additional information. The information for the visualization is extracted from the existing program code in the sense of a technical 'reverse engineering' and then reproduced in a way that is 'application-oriented' for the humanities.b) Theory formation: The aim is to put the formation of theory on a different basis by means of the newly gained insights, and to obtain new criteria for design and criticism. What ideas about the image arise from the precise tracing of the processes that produce it? Domains of creativity that have so far been ignored come into view; an aesthetic of these browsers-as-picture machines includes program performance centrally. Procedural outputs are inseparable from this substructure, which allows addressing strategies of transparency versus opacity/obsurance; norm versus deconstruction with respect to the GUI. The topology of the digital image as a combination of surface and subface will undergo an essential extension, because subface is so far only a 'black box' term. c) Criticism of methods: The testing of new methods also requires the reflection of the means used, which in the present case means in particular to carry out a critique of visualization. What is needed are approaches that cultivate a thoughtful handling of the visualization (techniques) available or to be developed. It is crucial to be aware of what can and cannot be learned from it. Every kind of representation inevitably favours an interpretation. Therefore, technological enthusiasm and the courage to try out new ways must be complemented by possibilities for critical reflection and evaluation of the scope and consequences.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 2172: The digital Image