Papers by Jan Løhmann Stephensen
transcript Verlag eBooks, Dec 31, 2024
In the introductory chapter entitled "Even an AI could do that" of the book Artificial Aesthetics... more In the introductory chapter entitled "Even an AI could do that" of the book Artificial Aesthetics: A Critical Guide to AI, Media and Design (2021-23), which is currently being published chapter-by-chapter on digital culture theorist Lev Manovich' homepage, Emanuele Arielli, Manovich's co-author, notes that while some sorts of art with more 'traditional' or 'classical' characteristics seem quite straightforward for an AI to reproduce, the oeuvre of Marcel Duchamp poses a set of perhaps unresolvable problems. In this paper, I will discuss how this argument on some levels makes good sense, whilst on other levels less so. In extension of this, I want to reflect on what the logic underlying Arielli's argument might tell us about how the 'project' of artificial creativity and artmaking is currently being perceived and pursued. Marcel Duchamp, the proto-post-conceptual contemporary artist? If artmaking performed by an autonomously working artificial intelligence has come to stand as 'the final frontier' of artificial creativity research (Colton & Wiggins 2012), the successful reproduction of Marcel Duchamp, given his status as arguably the most important artists of the 20 th Century, would be the pinnacle of such endeavours. But it actually would so for a number of other reasons than the ones Arielli suggests. As I will argue below, when I dive into the actual passage in "Even an AI could do that", Arielli extends his proposition concerning Duchamp to include contemporary art in general, thereby suggesting-quite reasonably, I would argue-that Duchamp should be considered some kind of proto-conceptual artist and hence also a precursor to contemporary art as so-called 'post-conceptual art'. This is for instance in accord with the perspective of Juliane Rebentisch, 1 who notes that contemporary art no longer seeks to conform to genres or traditions, and in this connection credits both the readymade and conceptual art for this 'turn', that has left (or enriched) us with an "unfathomable diversity of artworks" (2013: 1 All quotes from Rebentisch (2013) are my translation. 'Art' and 'creativity' as social categories-and their un-artificial Others Secondly, this perspective on the socio-historical character of making Duchamp into 'Duchamp' is much broader than just related to this particular artist, his oeuvre and his 'brand'. It is also applicable to the categories of art and creativity in general terms. Thus, I would argue, we should never speak of these phenomena as things that just are, in essentialist terms. ' Art-ness' or 'creativity' is a status that is conferred upon artefacts, practices or people-or for that sake: technologies-and in this way 'art' or 'creative' / 'creativity' are co-produced through social actions, which, to make matters even more complicated, are embedded in material, technological and ideological contexts. Hence, at least in principle, anything (or anyone) could become 'art',
Aarhus University Press eBooks, Jan 16, 2019
Aarhus University Press eBooks, Aug 1, 2016
Balkan Journal of Philosophy
Recently, heated discussions about artificial intelligence, creativity, and work have re-emerged.... more Recently, heated discussions about artificial intelligence, creativity, and work have re-emerged. Despite the dominant focus on the novelty of this entanglement, it is rich with history. In this paper, I will first introduce creativity as a historical and socio-culturally embedded concept, looking at how and why we have invented creativity in the guises we have. The focus will mostly be on the political and ideological backdrop of these historical processes–for instance how creativity was repeatedly cast as the positive counterimage of (industrial and bureaucratic) alienated labour, and hence stood in a complex relationship to automation, robotization, and so on. Based on this I will then discuss a series of scenarios that are related to the (perhaps) forthcoming automation of creativity, more specifically four ways in which automation might in different ways impact (the fields of) creative practices and labour.
Conjunctions. Transdisciplinary Journal of Cultural Participation, Feb 11, 2016
Peripeti, 2012
På vej mod det sanderske universitet? Universitetet har indtil for nylig relativt ubemaerket for ... more På vej mod det sanderske universitet? Universitetet har indtil for nylig relativt ubemaerket for den bredere offentlighed udviklet sig til en idéhistorisk og forskningspolitisk slagmark mellem groft sagt to fløje: På den ene side dem, som opfatter universitetet som, hvad man kunne betegne et "klassisk" videns-og vidensskabsbegrebs hovedinstitution. Og på den anden side den fløj, som anskuer denne institution gennem en mere pragmatisk, anvendelsesorienteret optik. Sidstnaevnte forståelse synes umiddelbart at have stået staerkest de senere årtier, hvor universiteterne rolle og identitet kan siges at have gennemgået-eller i det mindste påbegyndt-en transformation fra det autonome forskningsuniversitet funderet i Wilhelm von Humboldts ideer til en art samfunds-og erhvervsnyttig "rugekasse" (Entkowitz 2008: 27). En udvikling som typisk enten fremstilles som en tabs-og forfaldshistorie, hvor den intellektuelle akademikers hidtidige rolle som "menneskehedens funktionaerer", som Husserl betegnede det, nu er på vej mod en radikal devaluering (Luke 2005: 19), og hvor laeresaetninger som "viden for videns egen skyld", "forskningsprocessens autonomi" etc. (Fink 2003) mest af alt synes at klinge med som et residualt ekko af forne tiders vidensideal og status. Men altså også en fortaelling, som ofte i ganske betydeligt omfang er farvet af en romantiserende udlaegning af universitetets og dets vidensarbejderes hidtidige position og praksis-ofte graensende til det decideret kontrafaktiske, hvor eksempelvis Kants regulative ideer om universitetets normer og interne mekanismer fra Der Streit der Fakultäten (1798) naivt laeses som historisk dokumentation for den tids reelle praksis på de universitaere institutioner (Donald 2004). Eller modsat, så udlaegges denne bevaegelse som en påkraevet overgang fra noget foraeldet til noget tidssvarende og samfundsmaessigt nødvendigt. Dette er eksempelvis den forestilling, som tidligere videnskabsminister Helge Sander gav udtryk for, da han haevdede, at det "sanderske universitet"-dvs. dét, som opererer ud fra credoet "fra forskning til faktura"-"er der mere fremtid i end det humboldtske." (Pedersen 2007: 4). Men der kan helt sikkert også findes betydeligt mere begavede formuleringer omkring det reformerede universitets nye rolle, fx i Michaels Gibbons essay om "Science's New Social Contract With Society" (1999) eller Ken Robinsons Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative (2001), for blot at naevne nogle enkelte eksempler. Ken Robinsons bog er i denne sammenhaeng ganske symptomatisk. Centralt for (ny)tolkningen af universitetets identitet og rolle gennem det seneste årti har således vaeret begrebet "kreativitet" (jf. undertitlen på Robinsons bog), som sammen med dets tvillingebegreb "innovation" har vaeret på manges laeber, når talen er faldet på, hvad universitetet er/skal vaere for en størrelse. Det transformerede universitetet opfattes således som en vaesentlig grundsøjle i nutidens såkaldte kreative økonomi, der-som undertitlen på John Howkins indflydelsesrige bog (2001) opkaldt efter dette nye, økonomiske paradigme lyder-netop handler om "hvordan mennesker tjener penge på ideer". En udlaegning af nye økonomiske og samfundsmaessige vilkår, som tager afsaet i ganske fundamentale transformationer, som de seneste årtier har fundet sted i den måde, hvorpå vi forstår og begrebsliggør faenomenerne viden og kreativitet.
International Conference on Computational Creativity, 2020
This paper introduces the notion 'post-creativity' as a reference point for discussing the ways i... more This paper introduces the notion 'post-creativity' as a reference point for discussing the ways in which the computational simulation of creativity perpetually seems to hinge upon conceptions of creativity that are both much-too-human and non-contingent. Taking issue with the often implicit idea within the artificial creativity-agenda that creativity somehow exists before the fact, this paper, drawing upon Michel Foucault's notion of the 'dispositif', insists that we must keep a steady eye on the historicity of the ideas and practices of 'creativity' in order to fully comprehend the ways in which computational/artificial creativity is part and parcel of the perpetual recreation of creativity and hence, at best, contributing to a conceptual reverse-engineering of 'creativity'.
tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique. Open Access Journal for a Global Sustainable Information Society
With the increasing economic accessibility of 3D printers, the lessons learned and the logics cul... more With the increasing economic accessibility of 3D printers, the lessons learned and the logics cultivated on digital Web 2.0 now seem applicable to the world of material things. Released in early 2012 by the artist groups F.A.T. and Sy-lab, the Free Universal Construction Kit is a set of 3D drawings that enable everyone with access to a 3D printer to make connectors between intellectual property restricted toys like LEGO, Tinkertoys, and Fischertechnik. However, when describing this project as “reverse engineering as a civic activity”, it becomes obvious that the Kit’s greater agenda is not just to enable cross-over playing, but rather, to problematize and perhaps ultimately open up closed formats through critical appropriation. But how does that, for instance, conform with the fact that the connectors are parasitically attached to these toys, whose logic it is simultaneously defying? And which (implicit) notions of creativity and play are at stake in this project, and to what extent...
K&K - Kultur og Klasse, Dec 29, 2010
Conjunctions. Transdisciplinary Journal of Cultural Participation, 2014
In the introduction of Conjunction: Transdisciplinary Journal of Cultural Participation we introd... more In the introduction of Conjunction: Transdisciplinary Journal of Cultural Participation we introduce 1) the aim of the journal, 2) the journal’s conception of transdisciplinarity as an important precondition for understanding contemporary processes and dilemmas of participation, 3) important trajectories in the existing literature on participation that focus on participation as linked to technological changes, to democratic processes of transferring power, and to complex social situations calling for analytical and evaluative frameworks able to grasp multiplicity and competing interests, and 4) the theme and articles of the this special issue: cultural participation and citizenship.
Panoptikum, 2013
Paranoid, moi? Surveillance and the Popular Cultural Documentary
Authors research the ways in... more Paranoid, moi? Surveillance and the Popular Cultural Documentary
Authors research the ways in which surveillance discourse and studies on surveillance phenomena manifest itself in mainstream documentary filmmaking. The subject of this critical case study is David Bond’s Erasing David (2010), hybrid do-cumentary which aesthetics and conceptual roots are clearly embedded in the tra-dition of Michael Moore’s subjective, populist filmmaking. Pedersen and Stephen-son’s critical analysis of Bond’s documentary follows issues of both the form and the problematic way in which surveillance was represented and conceptualized by the filmmaker. In order to articulate their reservations they introduce a typology of discoursed and critical perspectives dominating the ways in which surveillance phenomena is usually introduced. Authors ask about the character of interrelations between documentary cinema (artistic practice), surveillance (social practice), and academic discourses on surveillance (theory), eventually sharing a comment on the efficiency of this theoretical and practical works that were intended as openly critical or subversive.
As the tenth anniversary of New Orleans' and arguably the United States' greatest disaster came a... more As the tenth anniversary of New Orleans' and arguably the United States' greatest disaster came and went on August 29 th this year, it is important to look critically at steps taken towards recovery in order to understand whether the massive eff orts undertaken within and outside our community have led to sustainability and resilience, and to inform ongoing and future recovery and revitalization eff orts. Our investigation draws from critical urban theory as defi ned by Brenner: "grounded on an antagonistic relationship not only to inherited urban knowledges, but more generally, to existing urban formations. It insists that another, more democratic, socially just, and sustainable form of urbanization is possible, even if such possibilities are being suppressed through dominant institutional arrangements, practices and ideologies" (Brenner 2012). Th e anniversary served as a celebration of resilience for local offi cials anxious to focus on the city's bright future and to let talk of a recovery-based economy lay behind us. On the ground, however, commemoration provided a pivot point in the thinking of local citizens, neighborhood groups, non-profi t organizations, and those that serve them. It serves as well as a locus for counter-narratives of inequity and removal, for anger at hospitals closed, schools reordered, and a hundred thousand residents permanently displaced. Th ese challenges are not new or unique to New Orleans, but the crucible of ten years of collaborative recovery work at the level of individuals, blocks, and neighborhoods allows us to organize and practice self-critique in the face of a changing economy, re-invented school system, upended healthcare structure, and other challenges. Our perspective is shaped by witnessing a decade of top-down planning eff orts, and by participating in offi cial attempts at community engagement in recovery; some eff ective, some wildly ineff ectual. While this work continues, now is a chance to refocus eff orts towards building strong communities with equitable access to economic opportunity. It is a moment to recognize the successes and failures in the means of creating recovery to this point, with a focus on social justice and implementing changes and improvements meant to address broader and deeper problems facing our neighborhoods and the city at large.
With the increasing economic accessibility of 3D printers, the lessons learned and the logics cul... more With the increasing economic accessibility of 3D printers, the lessons learned and the logics cultivated on digital Web 2.0 now seems applicable to the world of material things. Released in early 2012 by the artist groups F.A.T. and Sy-lab, the Free Universal Construction Kit is a set of 3D drawings that, when printed, enable everyone with access to a 3D printer to make connectors, “the missing links”, between intellectual property restricted toy concepts like LEGO, Tinkertoys, and Fischertechnik. However, when describing this project as “reverse engineering as a civic activity”, it seems obvious that F.A.T.’s greater agenda is not just to enable cross-over playing but rather to problematize and ultimately open up closed formats through critical appropriation. But how does that, for instance, conform with the fact that the connectors are parasitically attached to these toys, whose logic it is simultaneously defying?
In 2012 the Danish city of Aarhus was appointed European Capital of Culture for 2017. Th e appoin... more In 2012 the Danish city of Aarhus was appointed European Capital of Culture for 2017. Th e appointment was based on an ambitious programme that – under the headline Rethink – tried to set an agenda of societal transformation, mainly by seeking to increase the impact of art and culture, and to enhance civic participation at all levels of society. In this article we examine one of the fi rst attempts of Aarhus 2017 to realize these grand ambitions: ‘Th e Playful Society’, a series of micro grants aimed at enabling young people to make their own art/culture projects and participate in the overall Rethink project. Informed by theoretical distinctions between diff erent forms of participation, and the diverse interests invested in participatory processes, we investigate how the young cultural entrepreneurs and the artistic administrators of Aarhus 2017 separately, in conjunction, and sometimes even in opposition to each other, translated these overall ambitions into practice. We argue th...
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Papers by Jan Løhmann Stephensen
Authors research the ways in which surveillance discourse and studies on surveillance phenomena manifest itself in mainstream documentary filmmaking. The subject of this critical case study is David Bond’s Erasing David (2010), hybrid do-cumentary which aesthetics and conceptual roots are clearly embedded in the tra-dition of Michael Moore’s subjective, populist filmmaking. Pedersen and Stephen-son’s critical analysis of Bond’s documentary follows issues of both the form and the problematic way in which surveillance was represented and conceptualized by the filmmaker. In order to articulate their reservations they introduce a typology of discoursed and critical perspectives dominating the ways in which surveillance phenomena is usually introduced. Authors ask about the character of interrelations between documentary cinema (artistic practice), surveillance (social practice), and academic discourses on surveillance (theory), eventually sharing a comment on the efficiency of this theoretical and practical works that were intended as openly critical or subversive.
Authors research the ways in which surveillance discourse and studies on surveillance phenomena manifest itself in mainstream documentary filmmaking. The subject of this critical case study is David Bond’s Erasing David (2010), hybrid do-cumentary which aesthetics and conceptual roots are clearly embedded in the tra-dition of Michael Moore’s subjective, populist filmmaking. Pedersen and Stephen-son’s critical analysis of Bond’s documentary follows issues of both the form and the problematic way in which surveillance was represented and conceptualized by the filmmaker. In order to articulate their reservations they introduce a typology of discoursed and critical perspectives dominating the ways in which surveillance phenomena is usually introduced. Authors ask about the character of interrelations between documentary cinema (artistic practice), surveillance (social practice), and academic discourses on surveillance (theory), eventually sharing a comment on the efficiency of this theoretical and practical works that were intended as openly critical or subversive.