Abstract

This paper introduces a conceptual framework that situates media art as a means of facilitating existential encounters. Through a dualistic approach, it contrasts user interaction with reflection, the user with the exister, and the sensual experience with the existential realization. This framework acknowledges the complexity of digital throwness—a Heideggerian term reinterpreted to signify the overwhelming experience of digital environments—and juxtaposes it with the deliberate engagement of users with the digital world.

The paper reveals the potential of media arts for existential exploration and self-reflection. By examining the aesthetics of existential media artworks, the framework offers a novel lens to understand how art and technology can coalesce into a medium for existential realization. This new aesthetic paradigm urges a reevaluation of the role of media art, proposing that it can move beyond mere representation or narrative to become a means of accessing the deeper layers of the human condition in our increasingly digitized world.