The post-digital labyrinth. Understanding post-digital diversity through CGI volumetric aesthetics

Abstract

Coined in 1998, the term post-digital has been used and discussed in several heterogenous disciplines and debates, to the point that it has now ramified into diverse, confusing and overlapping definitions and purposes, which constitute what I have called the post-digital labyrinth. Considering the theoretical works on post-digitality published up until the mid-2010s, I propose five different approaches to the post-digital condition: 1) digital expansion and the end of fascination; 2) the rejection of the narrative of techno-positivist progress; 3) the radical criticism of binarization; 4) the acceleration of a purely digital aesthetic and 5) the contemporary zeitgeist, our current affective map. I make use of CGI Volumetric/3D contemporary art to illustrate each of these approaches. Finally, I conclude that the worth of the post-digital resides in its heterogeneity. The lack of a narrow definition is precisely an opportunity for more diverse creation.