8 From the Gesamtkunstwerk to the Gesamtdatenwerk

The dissolution of genre boundaries has been accelerated by the use of digital media. In his article Behaviourist Art and the Cybernetic Vision, the British artist Roy Ascott predicts: There is reason to suppose that the unity of art, science, and human values is possible; there is no doubt that it is desirable. More specifically we propose that an essentially cybernetic vision could unify and feed such culture.^[31]

Digital technologies enable artists to assemble images, sounds, and texts into interactive environments. Borrowing from Richard Wagner, Ascott calls this synthesis of the arts in digital space the Gesamtdatenwerk — the integrated data work.^[32]