Occult Computing for Artists: An introduction
Symposium:
Session Title:
- Ghosts & Supernatural 2
Presentation Title:
- Occult Computing for Artists: An introduction
Presenter(s):
Venue(s):
Abstract:
Abstract (long paper)
The text A Guest + A Host = A Ghost once appeared in black print on a green wrapper around a candy given out by Duchamp at an exhibition. This artwork is considered as a point of departure because of its timely connection to theurgical performance and occult computing. The alarming ability of people and organizations to misappropriate and recolonise wild configurations and marvelous tactics, condensing them into a homogenous version for easy digestion, is not to be overlooked. In this genealogy the act of creating is defined, like most things in the twentieth-first century, by acts of consumption. The artwork from which this paper transcends epitomizes the notion of a code and cypher key and thus gives insight into the arcane and ubiquitous nature of central technologies existing among us (and their cultural, political and occult substructures). Precisely relating to the manifold of time in which we exist, this small monograph, albeit briefly, both critiques and draws parallels between contemporary computer culture, performance and arcane cultural practices such as; cyphers and their simultaneous concurrence and conflict with present-day modes of expression in contemporary art forms.
