PT Journal
AU Freund, P
TI The Wager of the Algorithm: Towards a Performatic Gesture
SO ArteActa
PY 2025
VL 8
IS 1
DE digital performance; algorithmic processes; halting problem; performance theory; prompt; digital art; expanded practice; glitch; instrumentality; artificial intelligence; appropriation art; generative art; performativity; code art; word and image
AB The fantasy of the algorithm and, by extension, artificial intelligence imagines that each performs by executing an operational task. Yet, based on its inherent computational structure, the digital performance fails to live up to its instrumental promise. This failure foregrounds an occasion for artistic intervention. "The Wager of the Algorithm: Towards a Performatic Gesture" presents a theoretical statement (illustrated via artwork by the author) in which the overall exposition underscores a dialectic within instrumental reason itself. The "prompt" names are a shorthand for the fulcrum of this problematic.
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