Intertextuality between retrieval database artworks and other mass-produced texts

Retrieval database artwork, unlike other artwork, does not present fixed, preset and stable contents because it is made through retrieving external data in different socio-cultural context and combining them into the artworks' content. To some degree, retrieval database artwork results from the continual play of meaning resulting from mass cultural production. Therefore, this article aims to address the intertextual relationships between retrieval database artworks and other mass-produced texts. After a brief review of the main concept of intertextuality, we address why intertextuality is essential to understanding retrieval database artworks. Then, the intertextual methods used in retrieval database artworks are analyzed, and questions of intertextuality in such artworks are discussed. The article concludes that although retrieval database artwork is without artist-made content, it does rely on other cultural productions. The meanings and relationships of retrieval database artwork are ever-changing as the artwork is executed. In other words, the works are constantly shaped and reshaped by the dynamic intertextual relationships between the work and its ongoing retrieval of content.