Chapter Introduction

Overview & Synopsis

Intermedial Agencies: The Crucial Role of the Arts in Shaping Media Dynamics explores how the arts continuously redefine and facilitate cross-media transformation through intermedial interactions. Drawing primarily on semiotics and neomaterialist approaches, López-Varela Azcárate and Martínez-Falero examine the symbiotic relationship between artistic innovation, material change, and evolving technologies, particularly digital media and AI. Through diverse case studies spanning historical and geographical contexts, the volume interrogates not only material and medial boundaries but also the shifting sociocultural landscape of intermedial dynamics. In response to complex technological and ecological challenges, the research situates human creativity within co-creative processes that engage the non-conscious co-agencies of non-humans and more-than-human. Unlike existing literature, this volume adopts a truly interdisciplinary approach, bridging semiotics, art history, comparative literature, media studies, and cultural theory. It offers theoretical insights alongside a wide range of contemporary artistic practices, many of which address habitat destruction, environmental degradation, biotechnology, and other urgent concerns. Essential for scholars, students, and engaged readers, the book highlights a sociocultural shift towards a symbiotic, planetary, and sustainable paradigm—one that rethinks the responsible interrelations between knowledge systems, material intermedial practices, and human creativity within digital and AI-driven co-creation.