In continuation of the critical interaction debates hosted by transmediale, this panel discusses new critical methodologies of interactivity in transcultural media art. It investigates classical and ancient, esp. Asian aesthetics as ‘cool aesthetics’. The notion of 'cool' is borrowed from the cultural media theorist McLuhan who described ‘cool’ or ‘cold’ media as stimulating participants to complete auditive or visual media content, in sharp contrast to ‘hot’ media that degrades the viewer to a merely passive or non-interactive receiver. Asian countries have developed a tradition on their own to explore types of ‘cool’ or ‘ambiguous’ aesthetics. For instance, the concept of ‘ma’ in Japan Is interactive, insofar as interaction takes place between viewer and image by means of a projective imagination. We would like to remediate these classical strategies of mental interactivity in various cultures and explore them in the context of technical, physical, electronic, and interactive media.