Cybernetics, or Ghosts?

Michael Salu and James Ginzburg in conversation with Lina Martin-Chan

00:00

Free entry

This session presents a literary anthology inspired by Italo Calvino’s 1967 essay »Cybernetics and Ghosts,« which provocatively suggested that writing could one day become a computationally reducible process, speculating that machines might eventually become sophisticated enough to reimagine the singular author’s human’ parameters’ and write literature with the same dexterity as us.

Edited by writer and artist Michael Salu, the anthology Cybernetics, or Ghosts? includes 15 short stories by writers across the globe that reimagine Calvino’s ideas in the context of modern AI and creativity. What will become of the human author? With the digital age now spanning decades and computation determining almost every aspect of our lives, do we think clearly and imaginatively enough about our relationship with machines?

Subtext co-founder James Ginzburg complements the book with a sister music compilation, responding to the anthology’s stories with contributions from the label’s current and forthcoming artists, as well as from artists that were instrumental to the label’s beginnings. The compilation—featuring voices like PYUR, Roly Porter, Zi​ú​r, KMRU & Aho Ssan—mirrors the text’s inquiries with a polyphonic exploration of technology’s impact on art and culture.

In conversation and including short readings and clips from the compilation, Salu and Ginzburg will present this rich, intricate web of collective and sonic storytelling, contemplating the many ways myth and technology shape the human condition.

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