The Philosophy of Experiential Artifacts

Introduction

Ancient Greeks used one word, techne, to designate both technical and artistic practices. It is only in modern times that art gained autonomy, becoming the object of one philosophical discipline: aesthetics.

The Challenge of Modern Media

However, the emergence of mass media, and then of digital media, has brought art close to technology, challenging its autonomy. In this situation, some basic philosophical questions about art regain centrality:

1. Why art?
2. What is art for?
3. What is the role of art in a technological society like ours?

Traditional vs. Contemporary Views

The traditional answer stresses the uniqueness of art, pointing to the essential difference between artworks and technical artifacts. The increasing interchange between art and technology, however, encourages us to question this statement, pursuing an alternative strategy.

Hypothesis on Artworks

The hypothesis is that artworks belong to a technical kind which has been overlooked so far: the kind of experiential artifacts whose function consists in triggering experiences. Art is severed from technology only if one focuses on artifacts such as drills or lathes whose function consists in producing concrete effects.

Connecting Art to Technology

Yet, once experiential artifacts have been recognized, one can fruitfully connect art to technology, rethinking forms of art as techniques for generating different types of experiences.

The PEA Project

The PEA project launches the philosophy of experiential artifacts as a new area of inquiry in which the relationship between art and technology can be properly theorized, thereby offering a new conceptual toolbox for historical and empirical research.

Methodology

This will be done through a fourfold methodology in which:

• Aesthetics and the philosophy of mind analyze the experiences that experiential artifacts are meant to trigger.
• Metaphysics and the philosophy of technology investigate the structure in virtue of which they perform this function.

Conclusion

PEA will thus reconceptualize artworks as technical artifacts that we value for the way in which they enable us to enrich, share, and coordinate our experiences.