Automation Culture:
Intersections between Art, Automation, and Living Systems

17th-19th November 2023
The University of Western Australia, Perth.
Keynote: Prof. Gunalan Nadarajan (University of Michigan)
CFP Submission Deadline: March 6th, 2023

Since the dawn of mechanical automation there has been a desire to explore the creative potential of automated processes. Some of the most note-worthy examples of clockwork automata from the eighteenth century are figures who are made to perform ‘creative’ tasks, such as drawing, writing poetry, or playing a musical instrument. Even earlier, mechanical fountains depicted birds singing and in more recent times we see an interest in AI-generated art, or AI’s seemingly creative approach to games such as chess.

These fascinations are based on the assumption that automation is framed and usually discussed in the realm of the non-living that attempts either to emulate/mimic life-like properties such as movement, the appearance of sentiency/creativity, and metabolism, or express mechanic qualities that goes beyond the abilities of the living. When these categories are hybridised, troubled or blurred, automata seem both remarkable and unsettling.

This conference discusses thought experiments and case studies which metaphorically and literally transgress the relationship between art, automation and living systems (human and non-human), focusing on processes of automation in food systems, care-giving, judgement, and labour. By troubling the categories of art and automation, can we change the way we approach the increasing automation of life and culture?

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