SSP Forum: Cat Fergesen (M.S. Candidate) + community social

The
Symbolic Systems Forum
(community sessions of SYMSYS 280 - Symbolic Systems Research Seminar)
presents

The Work of Art in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Cat Fergesen (M.S. Candidate)
Symbolic Systems Program
(Primary Advisor: Jessica Riskin, History; Second Reader: Joshua O'Rourke, Philosophy)

+ A community social

Monday, November 17, 2025
12;30-1:20 pm PT
Computing and Data Science Building (CoDa), Room E145
In-person event, not recorded

Note: Lunch is provided, if pre-ordered, only for members of SYMSYS 280, but others are welcome to bring a lunch and eat during the presentation.

Abstract:

This paper situates generative AI within a longer genealogy of reproductive technologies by drawing on Walter Benjamin’s 1935 essay, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." Benjamin presented an early theorization of how media infrastructures reorganize the conditions of visual production, transform modes of reception, and reshape the cultural function of art. According to Benjamin, mechanical reproduction dissolves an artwork’s “aura," which can be described as its singular presence, cultural positioning, and grounding in human labor. The destruction of an artwork's aura transforms both artistic practice and the social perception of art. Nearly a century later, generative AI intensifies this existing dynamic. Generative models produce "new" images based on vast datasets of human-made works but obscure their original authorship and context as a consequence of design. This technological shift reorders visual culture: it accelerates the erosion of aura, normalizes absentminded modes of reception, and enables new regimes of commodification and control. This paper uses Benjamin's framework to argue that image synthesis with generative AI marks a new phase in the politics of visual representation.

The talk with be followed by a comunity social with dessert refreshments for attendees.