GLITCHES #2: Elias Hirschl and Hanna Hamel followed by Adi Gelbart
GLITCHES. Readings, talks & music on (pop) cultural digitalization
“We are living in a computer-programmed reality [...] and the only clue we have to it is when some variable is changed, and some alteration in reality occurs.” (Philip K. Dick)
In readings, talks, and music, the three-part event series GLITCHES explores the specific disruptive phenomena in (pop) cultural digitalization—from deep fake and hyper irony to AI-produced music, social media literature, and live programmed algorithms.
‘Glitches’ are disruptions of the virtual world that make us doubt experienced reality: where does the matrix begin and where does it end? What is real, and what is a simulation? Are we living in a world that is generated by computers? As part of post-digital pop culture, the ‘glitch’ has been consciously employed as an aesthetic stylistic device in various art forms. But we are also continuously confronted with glitches in our everyday lives of laptop video calls and digital avatars, alter egos that will soon transfer our entire lives into the virtual meta matrix universe. The line between these ‘worlds’ becomes increasingly blurry. Who is still capable of telling the difference between machine-generated literature and music and manmade art? IS IT A GLITCH?!
A cooperation between the Museum of Communication Berlin and the ZfL project Neighborhood in Contemporary Berlin Literature as part of the exhibition #neuland. Ich, wir & die Digitalisierung.
The event is part of the series Spielräume der Gegenwartsliteratur organized by the research project Neighborhood in Contemporary Berlin Literature at the ZfL, which is held between April and June in cooperation with various partners in Berlin.
Program
18.00 Introduction to the exhibition
#neuland. Ich, wir & die Digitalisierung
19.00 Reading & Talk
How do glitches enter the novel?
In the post-digital present, no form of writing remains unaffected by the new media and technical conditions. But how do glitches enter the novel? And how do we transfer our online avatar into reality? Elias Hirschl’s novel Salonfähig (2021) presents us with an unreliable narrator who guides us through a world of electoral campaigning in Austria, a world in which virtuality and reality are constantly shifting. The author reads from his novels and speaks with literary scholar Hanna Hamel (ZfL) about political self-presentation, digital assembly line work, and the states of consciousness of the internet.
20.30 Concert
Adi Gelbart Poems by Alpha
With Poems by Alpha, Adi Gelbart presents his musical poetry compositions written by Alpha, a computer-based AI. AI Alpha is programmed to do exceptionally bad on the Turing test and does not even try to imitate human lyrics. Alpha is a machine and does not apologize for being one! Gelbart’s music, on the other hand, strives for emotional and harmonic depth and thereby closes the gap between the creative artistic intelligence and the human audience. At the Museum of Communication Berlin, Gelbart will present a solo show originally composed for string ensemble as well as earlier compositions.
