Paper short abstract:

We discuss our experimental walk-through article “In Depth: Roaming around the conceptual space of JODI’s .com browser”, 2024. This study takes the form of a digital multimedia game that hybridizes docu- and argumentation, and helps situating information and remembering it through embodied movement.

Paper long abstract:

This presentation critically discusses the intended epistemic-communicative scope of a multi-authored academic study about the seminal netart piece .com (2001) by the artist duo JODI. It intentionally took an experimental and a traditional form: a) In Depth: Roaming around the conceptual space of JODI’s .com browser, 2024 is an interactive walk-through article. This interactive Unity-based environment is a digital game version of b) an academic text. The reason for the two versions is given with the object of study, which is exposed to the threat of software obsolescence. To provide the first in-depth interpretation of this iconic early netart piece we needed to secure it by documenting it thoroughly. This produces lots of detailed information. Given the complexity of the artwork, this is a tough read, but possibly the only in-depth trace to survive. To make that digestible for scholars of the future, we opted to switch to play mode. Piling up information merely as text seemed too abstract for outsiders to keep track of. Thus, we invite the reader-player into the guts of the artwork, or more precisely, into our interpretation of it. We condensed knowledge into image clusters in which textual narration is anchored. We seek to activate memory and support understanding with explorable components and localized information parcels. What role do embodiment and situated knowledge play? How is it providing insight? Is our approach suitable to reach a wider audience? Could it serve as a model for programmed pieces with which humanists fill databases of the future?