Signaletic, haptic and real-time material

This introductory article to the following “cluster of articles” proposes to apply the term “signal” as a theoretical and analytical category for a new approach to the bearings of electronic and new media in particular. As the term “sign” was formerly developed from linguistics, the term signal was developed from Norbert Wiener's writings on mathematics and cybernetics. The electronic signal is a technological fact dating back to the telegraph that in a substantial way set the agenda for contemporary (popular) culture (electronic music, youth, and performance culture) and further facilitated the digital code and the Internet. In this article, as well as in the following articles, the term signal is above all applied in its broader sense to explore possible signaletic modes and characteristics in contemporary art and new media culture. It is thus a key point that technological implications could never be causal to aesthetic variations and cultural modes. Departing from this, this article explores artistic and cultural manifestations from the 1960s and onward in the light of the signal in order to analytically grasp the changes or supplements to the sign that in a contemporary culture is bringing new forms of events and affects to the fore.