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Themesicon: navigation pathAesthetics of the Digitalicon: navigation pathCybernetic Aesthetics
 
 
 
 
 

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aesthetic states (distributions and/or arrangements).» [7] Bense distinguished four methods within the aesthetic synthesis: the semiotic, the metric, the statistical, and the topological. The semiotic method is based on the examination of the sign; the metric method, as a sculptural principle, uses parameters such as width, length, number, or ratio in order to define a global structure—the micro-aesthetic—that takes material form as the gestalt or form of the work; the statistical method generates local structures, or a kind of micro-aesthetic; and the topological method, based on relational principles, is directed at variations of a certain gestalt.

By introducing concepts such as micro- and macro-aesthetic, Bense made clear the gap between a subjective valuation of the art object and a new aesthetic based on objective information and sign systems. Macro-aesthetic means a perceptive and representative reflection upon the work in direct reference to the art object, whereas micro-aesthetic treats the indirect relationship, which is based on signs and processes, between theory and work. The close relationship between Bense’s aesthetic thinking and

 

the theories of modern physics are evident both in the terminology (micro- and macro-physics) and in the concepts. His theoretical starting point is the replacement of aesthetic values derived from the tradition of a subjectivemetaphysical understanding of art with the objective analysis of the material circumstances of a work. For Bense, aesthetic objects are not purely of a physical nature. This concept is fundamental, since it interprets the aesthetic process as being one of information. It replaces earlier aesthetic interpretative methods with a technique of observation and communication. In other words, works of art are viewed as the mediators of information (aesthetic information): «Works of art, it might also be said, are a special (that is to say established, not given) class of ‹carriers› of the ‹aesthetic information›.» [8] The concept of information should here not be understood to mean an unquantifiable message or communication, but an informational content measurable in the transmission and storage of messages. All information on whose transmission communication is based, is built up by means of ‹signs.› Abraham André Moles occupies a place alongside Max

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