Thinking the Work of Art and Technology

Abstract

Heidegger’s critique of technology is motivated by his decade-long philosophical confrontation with Friedrich Nietzsche. Understanding this critique entails following the development of the confrontation from Heidegger’s essay on “The Origin of the Work of Art” (1935/36) through his self-criticism regarding “The Question Concerning Technology” in 1957/58, insofar as two competing accounts of Nietzsche, the hermeneutics of creative thought, and the artist’s role in the artwork’s understanding emerge in parallel along the way. Following these parallel trajectories allows for a rapprochement of the two thinkers’ conceptions of artistic agency that acknowledges the power of technology as an ontologically creative force, a unique example of which is found in the massive open online artwork produced by the recent collaborative event on Redditblog.com entitled “r/Place.”