Technoetic Magick
Technoetic Magick:
Explorations of the uncanny double as a noetic and magickal
system through the complementary lenses of AI image-generation
and AR
Lila Moore
Cybernetic Futures Inst.
Old Gloucester Street, London
PAPER REVIEWS
First Review
Dr. Lila Moore's paper presents a deeply philosophical and innovative approach to understanding the intersections of technology, art, and the metaphysical. Moore's exploration is grounded in a rich historical and theoretical context, drawing from Freud's concept of the uncanny double, the spiritual and occult traditions in art, and contemporary technoetic practices. The paper delves into how AI and AR technologies can be employed to investigate and evolve the concept of the uncanny and magickal double, offering a fresh perspective on the role of technology in expanding the boundaries of artistic expression and spiritual exploration.
The strength of the paper lies in its ability to weave together a diverse array of disciplines—ranging from psychoanalysis and art history to digital media and spiritual practice—into a coherent narrative that challenges conventional perceptions of technology and its potential for creative and spiritual inquiry. Moore's use of AI image generation and AR as tools to explore the metaphysical aspects of the double introduces a novel methodological approach that blurs the lines between the material and the immaterial, the real and the imagined.
Moreover, the paper's philosophical underpinnings provide a robust theoretical framework that elevates the discussion beyond mere technological innovation to address deeper questions about consciousness, identity, and the nature of reality. Given the paper's originality, interdisciplinary breadth, and the author's compelling integration of theory and practice, a score of 3 (strong accept) is well-deserved.
Second review
A highly relevant, and well-researched paper that introduces the fascinating concept of the double, both from an art historic, theoretical and conceptual perspective, as well as from a contemporary lense through the practice of AI image generation. The paper is well written, images and annotations are highly relevant, and the topic could not be of more interest to the EVA London audience.
A strong accept for a brilliant submission.
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Abstract
The evolution of art forms and theories has coincided with scientific discoveries and technological developments. In 1896-1914, Kandinsky attributed the emergence of spiritual and occult abstract art to scientific discoveries about the atom. He equated the discovery of the division of the atom to a split in his soul that mirrored the breakdown and fragmentation of the whole world. Intriguingly, the fragmented modern psyche is evident in Freud's ‘The Uncanny’ (1919), which resulted from an encounter with his double and resistance to both the latter and the manifestations of modernity, primarily anthropomorphic automata. In the early 20th century, cinema technology unleashed opportunities for depicting the double and apparitional phenomena. Maya Deren expressed the notion of the fragmented psyche as divided into magickal doubles in her poem ‘Death by Amnesia’ (1942) and her films, especially Meshes of the Afternoon (1943). In the second part of the 20th century, the notion of the double returned through Roy Ascott's technoetic formulations of viable reality intersecting wet (organic) and dry (digital/virtual) media and noetic systems. From a technoetic perspective, current AI models for image training and generation offer further routes for investigating and evolving the uncanny and magickal doubles, their environments and systems. This paper offers a few explorations of the double as psychological, noetic and magickal systems through the complementary lenses of AI image-generation and AR.
AI art. AR art. Technoetic arts. Freud. Uncanny double. Maya Deren. Tomb of Perneb. Kandinsky. Imaginal. Psychospiritual.
Moore, L. 2024. 'Technoetic Magick: Explorations of the Uncanny Double as a Noetic and Magickal System through the Complementary Lenses of AI Image-Generation and AR. Proceedings of EVA London 2024, Electronic Visualisation and the Arts. Electronic Workshops in Computing, pp. 232-239.
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