Digital Culture & AudioVisual Challenges

Summary: Bridging Physical and Artificial Spaces, the Digital Techniques provided a new design paradigm for artistic exploration and the implementation of new forms of art that may be taught in University via the introduction of new design frameworks. In this paper we present our proper practice as educators and makers in providing such 'Extending Arts' frameworks in the University since 2013.

Abstract: The extended use of digital technologies in physical and artificial environments where biological systems and objects coexist, has enabled artists to design and implement new forms of art that we call “Extended Arts”. We define this as a space, where the physical meets the digital, and a process that brings together art, design, and technology. ‘Extending Arts’ can be thought as a practice and an educational process that applies a holistic design approach to the domain of creative arts and focus in bringing together artists, scientists and philosophers. Extending content, for instance, may be supported by games narratives, hybrid creative approaches, multimodal interfaces, user experience, open source coding, strategic networking with the public and the artistic community. In this paper we present our experience and findings from this systematic exploration of the Artistic Practice as educators and makers. The research took place during the in-course colloquium sessions we organized in parallel to our university courses in the past 8 years and during a series of Summer Schools on Extended Arts (XARTS 2013, XARTS 2015, XARTS 2017) organized by the Department of Product and Systems Design Engineering of the University of the Aegean at Syros.

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