Summary

63

Mutual Actions

Spring / Summer 2008

This issue proposes a reflection on two distinct yet overlapping phenomena: interactivity – which refers primarily to the relation between the individual and the machine, particularly in technological artworks requiring the spectator’s participation – and interaction, which instead calls to mind a relationship between individuals, specifically between the artist and members of the public, and is made evident in multimedia and video works, web art, and participative works.

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Image de la couverture du numéro Esse 116 Immersion

Current Issue

Immersion

Winter 2026

This issue is interested in all forms of immersion in contemporary art. How are artists critically engaging with immersive technologies? Conversely, what kinds of practices are challenging technology in their pursuit of immersion? How are these experiences breaking down the boundaries between spectator, body, and art? We put forward proposals that rely on listening and sustained attention rather than on amplification and sensory overload – works using devices that are sometimes relatively simple and non-invasive, sometimes a little more elaborate, but in which participation is, with a few nuances, neither passive nor devoid of critical thinking.

Cover: doux soft club
bleu de lieu, 2023-2024.
Photo: Cléo Sjölander, courtesy of the artists

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