BakhtinsChronotope in New Interactive Art (A comparative study of two cultural samples)

The ever-expanding capabilities of the computer, digital art, and Internet such as scope, speed, and virtual interface interactivity have ushered in a new era in the use of new media for engaging the reader in semantic interpretation and socio-cultural issues. This paper presents a discourse analysis of two cases of interactive art based on the use of new digital media: “01” by Nadalian and “Emotional Traffic” by Benayoun. Both samples are herein compared according to “Bakhtin’sChronotope”. The concept of “chronotope”, also referred to as “time-space concept”, is derived from Einstein’s relativity theory and is used for describing the intrinsic connectedness of temporal and spatial relationships in literature. This paper drew upon printed and digital library sources, content analysis approach, and Bakhtin’sChronotope so as to conduct an analytical and comparative study on the two said samples. First, via an analysis of the interactions taking place in the samples, the principal discourse relationship in each case is extracted. Next, the temporal/spatial relationships in the works are dissected and analyzed. Then, through a comparative analysis, the similarities and dissimilarities between the two cases are discussed. And finally, the method whereby the interactive capacity of the Internet is utilized is explored. The results show that both cases enjoy the characteristics of Bakhtin’s dialogic discourse and showcase Bakhtin’s notion of self/other relations, as a structural hallmark of new art. In both cases, the time-space continuum while maintaining the relations between same time and same place, another time and same place, same time and another place, and another time and another place in accordance with Bakhtin’s theory is observed, which is closely dependent on the usage of the Internet and other cultural technological facilities.