Eighteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

This paper presents a case study of “cultivated” algorithms, a body of work by german/canadian artist G. Muehleck. The artwork series ‘Inked Kelpies’ uses as its starting point of production various organic materials, here it is sea kelp/algae. In a synthetic digital environment the material undergoes an algorithmic transformation suggestive of some futuristic growth. Recent developments in chat GPT provide some astonishing knowledge creation, and it is in this light, that I discuss Muehleck’s practice, as visual posthuman entanglement. The theoretical frameworks I draw from include New Materialism, Object Oriented Ontology, Affect Theory and Critical Posthumanism. I propose to provide visual creative practice as a model to further these theories. Creative visual practice can help us understand these complicated speculative utterances and in conclusion we will define some of the affordances of the new digital symbiotic and hybrid aesthetics.