A Rhythmic Time for the Digital

ABSTRACT

For the past twenty years, different theoretical accounts in the humanities have either denigrated the digital as precipitating the recession of reality, praised it for constructing new cultural identities, or understood it to empower sensory perception. Broadly speaking, whether positive or negative, most theorists of the digital have tended to focus on a somewhat traditional understanding of technology as separate from the human body, one that enables, extends, addresses or severs, but remains consistently external. This article explores the idea of a rhythmic virtual movement that lurks in the unknown and “unthought” dimensions of experience, in particular it considers how digital art environments can act as an expression of rhythmic time.