Attempts to describe aesthetic artefacts through informational models have existed at least since the late 1950s; but they have not been as successful as their proponents expected nor are they popular among art scholars because of their (mostly) quantitative nature. However, given how information technology has deeply shifted every aspect of our world, it is fair to ask whether aesthetic value continues to be immune to informational interpretations. This paper discusses the ideas of the late Russian biophysicist, Mikhail Volkenstein concerning art and aesthetic value. It contrasts them with Max Bense’s ‘information aesthetics’, and with contemporary philosophical understandings of information. Overall, this paper shows that an informational but not necessarily quantitative approach serves not only as an effective means to describe our interaction with artworks, but also contributes to explain why purely quantitative models struggle to formalise aesthetic value. Finally, it makes the case that adopting an informational outlook helps overcome the ‘analogue vs digital’ dichotomy by arguing the distinction is epistemological rather than ontological, and therefore the two notions need not be incompatible.

中文翻译：

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克服信息美学：捍卫艺术品的非定量信息理解

至少从1950年代末开始就尝试通过信息模型描述美学文物。但是它们并没有像支持者所期望的那样成功，也没有（因为）（主要是）定量的特性而在艺术学者中广受欢迎。但是，鉴于信息技术如何深刻地改变了我们世界的各个方面，因此可以公平地质疑美学价值是否仍然不受信息解释的影响。本文讨论了已故的俄罗斯生物物理学家米哈伊尔·沃尔肯斯坦（Mikhail Volkenstein）关于艺术和美学价值的观点。它与Max Bense的“信息美学”以及当代对信息的哲学理解形成了鲜明对比。总体，本文表明，信息性但不一定是定量的方法不仅是描述我们与艺术品互动的一种有效手段，而且还有助于解释为什么纯定量模型难以形式化美学价值。最后，它认为采用信息观点有助于克服“模拟与数字”二分法，理由是这种区别是认识论的，而不是本体论的，因此这两个概念不必矛盾。