Aesthetic paradigms of interactivity and immersion in digital audiovisual art of the metamodern era

Ihor Pecheranskyi

Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts, Kyiv.
ORCID ID 0000-0003-1443-4646

DOI:

Keywords: interactivity, immersion, aesthetic paradigms, metamodernism, digital audiovisual art, VR/AR/XR, procedural generation, metaverses.

Abstract.

This scholarly contribution aims to scrutinize the trajectory of interactivity and immersion, conceptualized as aesthetic paradigms within digital audiovisual art during the period spanning 2000–2010. The analysis is anchored by an examination of seminal works and pivotal technological platforms characteristic of this era. The methodological framework is constructed upon a synthesis of the metamodern concept (T. Vermeulen, R. van den Akker), the media-archaeological approach (F. Kittler, S. Zielinski), and actor-network theory (B. Latour). This tripartite theoretical amalgamation facilitates the understanding of interactivity and immersion not merely as technical attributes but as fundamental aesthetic paradigms. The principal academic contribution resides in the conceptualization of interactivity and immersion as paradigms that establish normative frameworks, evaluative standards, and blueprints for creative problem-solving within the digital era. Furthermore, it identifies their intrinsic connection to metamodern sensibility, characterized by an “oscillation” between sincerity and irony, and between autonomy and constraint. These paradigms fundamentally reconfigure the role of the spectator, transitioning them from a passive recipient to an active co-creator, thereby dissolving the ontological demarcation between corporeal existence and mediated reality. Their evolutionary trajectory delineates a progression from constrained, finite systems offering a limited repertoire of choices (e.g., branching narratives) to expansive, open systems characterized by procedural generation and algorithmic adaptation. Metaverses, in this context, manifest as the quintessential environment for the comprehensive synthesis of both paradigms. Within these emergent digital ecosystems, the individual viewer ultimately assumes multifarious roles: co-author, co-proprietor, and co-habitant of the digital realm.

Author‘s biography.

Ihor Pecheranskyi

Doctor of Philosophical Sciences, professor, Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts, Kyiv

ipecheranskiy@ukr.net

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The article was received by the editorial office on 03.05.2026.
The article was accepted for publication after review on 28.05.2026.
The article was published on 16.07.2026.

Vol 29 No 1 (2026)

Section: THEORY AND HISTORY OF CULTURE.