Digital Art's Critical Potential in an Age of Surveillance

A 2013 art press editorial by Michel Jaffrennou and an unnamed co-author examines the state of digital art two decades after their first special issue on new technologies. They argue that digital art must resist the pervasive control systems of geolocation and surveillance, citing philosopher Giorgio Agamben on modern dispositifs. The text references Dan Schiller's claim that the US agency IANA assigns IP addresses, while IETF and IAB set technical standards, and a massive cybersurveillance center is being built in Bluffdale, Utah. The authors note that in 1999, the Prix Ars Electronica went to Linux Torvalds for free software, but now suggest Julian Assange deserves such an award. They explore the paradox of digital culture: while it produces endless copies, each file has a unique URL, potentially redefining originality and aura. The editorial calls for revisiting the relationship between digital and contemporary art, introducing the concept of a 'coefficient of numericity' after Marcel Duchamp. Works by Xavier Veilhan, Jeff Koons, and Takashi Murakami rely on sophisticated digital technologies. The text advocates for an expanded art and design encompassing urban environments and production contexts, exemplified by media labs and locative media in cities like Enghien-les-Bains and Issy-les-Moulineaux.