Hybrid Space, Hybrid Rhetoric: Spatial Rhetoric in Post-Technological Art

Abstract

This inquiry investigates the Western-centric bias in spatial rhetoric, defined here as the study of how spatial arrangements construct persuasive arguments, within post-technological experimental art, art that engages with the cultural and material conditions after the initial novelty of techno-mediation has subsided. To counter this bias, I propose a cross-cultural theoretical framework that integrates East Asian artistic philosophies with Western critical perspectives. My analytical approach addresses a tendency within Western models to prioritise singular perspectives and linear temporal progressions when interpreting complex hybrid spatialities, which this dissertation defines as environments blending physical and techno-mediated elements, and layered temporalities. I incorporate East Asian spatial philosophies, such as Shanshui’s fluid temporalities and the “water-stone” dialectic, to analyse these specific artistic characteristics. I synthesise Eastern philosophies with Western critical perspectives into an analytical framework termed the deep-shanshui lens, which integrates the methodologies of chrono-topographic rhetoric and deep mapping. The proposed cross-cultural framework structures the convergence and iterative refinement of the study’s theoretical propositions and practice-based artistic explorations. I re-evaluate rhetoric as an embodied, universal spatial phenomenon and interrogate the “spatial turn,” an existing paradigm in the humanities. I iteratively forge and validate this cross-cultural framework for spatial rhetoric through a practice-led, abductive research methodology, which involves forming explanatory hypotheses from observation. Within this cross-cultural context, I introduce “chrono-topographic rhetoric” and “deep mapping” as analytical tools. These conceptual instruments dissect how post-technological systems reconfigure spatio-temporal experience and its connections to memory and cultural identity. My two artistic series, “Post-Bits Human Universe” and “Post-Lingnan School of Paintings,” provide sites for the cross-cultural framework’s practical application and iterative refinement. Analysis of the artworks demonstrates how the projects utilise East Asian logic to develop tools for making post-technological art. My iterative and reflective practice-based inquiry culminates in the proposed cross-cultural theoretical framework, now practice-informed and designed to foster a more inclusive and reflexive interpretation of hybrid art forms in contemporary artistic practices interacting with the nexus of space, technology, and cultural heritage.