Technology and Metaphor: Poetics in Intermedia Composition

In the digital arts, technology is often treated as a tool in service of an artistic goal. Yet this perspective creates the illusion of neutrality, framing technology as passive or benign. Such a naive utilitarian view can obscure both the problematic structures embedded within our technological systems but also the rich aesthetic, cultural, and metaphorical dimensions they hold. In my work as an intermedia composer, I approach technological systems as metaphorical spaces: environments where the often unseen dynamics of technological systems can be dramatized, aestheticized, and brought into critical focus. In this talk, I will trace the evolution of my use of light in composition, examining works such as Drop (for string octet, strobe lights, and electronics), Decoder (for MIDI drums and scrim projections), and Dark Ethnography (for MIDI flashlights and cello). In these pieces, light becomes a medium through which hidden technological processes, and our relationships to them, are made visible. Rather than relegating technology to the background, these works aim to “cast light on” it, foregrounding its material presence and symbolic charge to cultivate a deeper poetics within intermedia composition. I will also share pedagogical strategies that stem from this approach, considering how rethinking technology’s role can open up new creative possibilities in compositional practice.