RETHINKING AFFORDANCE

ASHLEY SCARLETT & MARTIN ZEILINGER

Rethinking Affordance was a multi-tiered project that brought together creative practice and theoretical analysis to develop an arts-based account of affordance, capable of encompassing algorithmic processes, objects and environments. Grounded in an expansive literature review and media theoretical analysis, the project was comprised of an exhibition, 2-day symposium, and workshop at Akademie Schloss Solitude (DE). It also informed a special issue of the journal Media Theory. Framing of the project is provided below, as well as information concerning who participated in its various components.

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Theoretical considerations of ‘affordance’ originate at the intersection of perceptual and cognitive psychology, specifically within the context of J.J. Gibson’s work from the mid-60s onwards. According to Gibson, ‘affordance’ sought to account for the actionable properties of a physical object or environment. An object’s affordances, in other words, describe its phenomenological qualities, projecting potential uses, delimiting possible actions, and signalling perceived functions. While discontinuities between established discourses on ‘affordance’ and its contemporary deployment have been widely identified and problematized (e.g., Evans et. al. 2017; Davis & Chouinard 2017; Samson & Soon 2015; Nagy & Neff 2015), the theoretical parameters of specifically digital affordances remain under-examined. As a result, despite its frequent application within the domains of, for example, HCI, media studies and contemporary design, ‘affordance’ continues to operate within a conceptual framework that largely ignores the specific grounds of contemporary computation, resting instead on the physicality, phenomenological accessibility, and perceived liveliness of objects (e.g., Wells 2002; Morineau et. al. 2009). Importantly, each of these defining characteristics are fundamentally incompatible with what are increasingly referred to as the processual, ‘deep,’ and unperceivable realities of algorithmic systems (Lovink 2014; Parisi 2013; Zielinski 2009). Deploying the concept of affordance without a reexamination of its digital specificity (for example when it comes to interaction design, user experience design, or software development) ultimately means to foreclose opportunities for generative critique, and limit the potential for creative, subversive, and radically different uses of digital artefacts and processes. 

In an effort to delineate and address gaps in contemporary criticism, our aim was to re-examine and correspondingly re-theorize of the concept of ‘affordance.’ Because ‘affordance’ is often positioned at intersections of design and implementation, we were particularly interested in approaches that bridged or combined theoretical and practice-based concerns. As the history of art reveals, artists’ and designers’ access to emerging digital technologies has always informed their scientific, industrial, commercial and rhetorical development (Patterson 2015; Kane 2014). We therefore invited both media theorists and media practitioners (artists, designers, curators, etc.) to join us in exploring the critical historical and contemporary valences of ‘affordance,’ with the following intersecting areas of inquiry as their focus:

  • Examinations of the historical and contemporary roles artists have played in shaping and delimiting the affordances of emerging digital technologies;

  • Theorizations of the contemporary realization of 'affordance' across and within digital and algorithmic contexts; and

  • Analyses of how creative practice can inform a critical rethinking of existing philosophies of affordance. 

The group exhibition and symposium included contributions by: Eric Cazdyn, Foci + Loci, FRAUD, Aline Guillermet, Özgün Eylül Isçen, Geroge Legrady, Olia LIalina, Laura Lotti, Shintaro Miyazaki, Frieder Nake, Antoni Rayzhekov, Ashley Scarlett, Jol Thomson, and Martin Zielinger.

The resulting special issue included peer-reviewed research articles by: Max Alvarez, Torsten Andreasen, Aline Vendela Grundell, Guillermet, Özgün Eylül Isçen, Olia Lialina, Laura Lotti, Michael Marcinkowski, Shintaro Miyazaki, Mark Nunes, Ashley Scarlett, and Martin Zeilinger.

PUBLICATIONS

Eds. Scarlett, A. & Zeilinger, M. (2019) “Rethinking Affordance,” Media Theory Special Issue. Vol. 3:1. Pp. 1 – 320

Scarlett, A. & Zeilinger, M. (2019) “Introduction: Rethinking Affordance,” Media Theory Special Issue: Rethinking Affordance. Eds. Ashley Scarlett & Martin Zeilinger. Vol. 3:1. Pp. 1 – 48.

PRESENTATIONS

“Realizing Affordance in the Techno-Industrial Residency,” Rethinking Affordance. Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany. June 7 – 9, 2018.

“Art and Affordance,” Invited Lecture at Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart. 2017

“Art, Technology and Affordance,” Re:Trace Media Art Histories Conference, Danube University, Austria. November 2017 (Co-presenter: Dr. Martin Zeilinger.)