John McIntyre
Published: 21 January 2019
How the integration of ‘smart’ digital technologies into creative practices has blurred the lines between human and nonhuman creativity, bringing into question the subjectivity of authorship.
University of Glasgow
How the integration of ‘smart’ digital technologies into creative practices has blurred the lines between human and nonhuman creativity.
While previous theorists have assumed the author of a work to be solely human, I intend to dismiss this anthropocentric view in favour of a posthumanist approach that accounts for the creative contributions of technology. Utilising the work of Vilém Flusser and other media theorists, I will introduce the concept of authorial agency being shared between humans and technology, and further explore this relationship in a number of works from across contemporary digital media - including digital artwork, film and moving image works, technologically altered performances, video game development, and electronic literature.
Through observations, textual readings, and in-depth interviews with artists, I intend to study how automation both liberates and limits creative freedoms in production, while also altering the aesthetic and conceptual qualities of a work of art. These investigations will inform further discussions on the ethics and legalities of such creative practices, as well as the role of human creativity in an increasingly technological environment.”
First published: 21 January 2019