Comics as computation

Nowadays, anyone can generate stunning algorithmic illustrations with a few inspired keywords. In the fast-evolving world of computational creativity, the potential impact of AI technologies on comics, a medium that has historically served as a laboratory for today’s global entertainment industries, is a case in point. With the term "synthetic comics," I propose to describe comics content that was generated, modified or manipulated in a highly automated manner by way of machine learning. While this emergent practice certainly challenges the established craftsmanship traditions, it forces us to requalify comics in terms of Big Data, and to revise the extent of automation in the comics industry’s history. In tune with emergent trends and weak signals in the fast-changing nature of computational creativity, this talk ambitions to advance an understanding of comics as a large ontology of non-photographic, metadata-rich imagery. The medium’s informatization has important cultural and economic considerations, intensely more so in countries where comics is an essential part of their popular cultural heritage, and where there is a collective stake in what its future(s) would look like. Ilan will also be presenting some of his earlier published work of conceptual comics, and more recent work that was co-created with emergent AI.