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Creativity is a trading zone: Charting the everyday co-construction of algorithmic agency

The medialab welcomes Gabriele de Seta for the next seminar on March 18, 2025. He will present his work on generative AI creator communities and analyze the status of the creativity discourse.

Event, Research Seminar

Salle K.011, 1 place Saint Thomas d'Aquin 75007 Paris

Abstract

In the contexts of algorithmic automation, machine learning and artificial intelligence, the concept of "creativity" has become a convenient and effective discursive trap. On the one hand, the word has seemingly infinite explanatory power, as its use becomes self-explanatory and self-justifying: computational tools can enhance creativity, facilitate creation, and unleash the user's creative potential. On the other hand, creativity precipitates unsolvable debates: can machines be creative? Do algorithms create art? Has artificial intelligence become more creative than humans? Drawing on ongoing fieldwork in generative AI creator communities, this talk sidesteps these questions and instead examines the status of the creativity discourse as this concept is co-constructed by actors including tech companies, users, and commentators. My central proposal is that, following Peter Galison's formulation, creativity is a "trading zone" - not as much a concept to be defined or a property to be measured, but a site of active negotiation where multiple sociotechnical practices and imaginaries coexist before stabilizing.

Biography

Gabriele de Seta is, technically, a sociologist. He is a Researcher at the University of Bergen, where he leads the ALGOFOLK project (“Algorithmic folklore: The mutual shaping of vernacular creativity and automation”) funded by a Trond Mohn Foundation Starting Grant (2024-2028). Gabriele holds a PhD from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica and at the University of Bergen, where he was part of the ERC-funded project “Machine Vision in Everyday Life”. His research work, grounded on qualitative and ethnographic methods, focuses on digital media practices, sociotechnical infrastructures and vernacular creativity in the Chinese-speaking world. He is also interested in experimental, creative and collaborative approaches to knowledge-production.

Practical information

This seminar will take place in person and in French, on Tuesday, March 18th, from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM, in room K.011, 1 Place Saint-Thomas d'Aquin.

Registration is mandatory via this link.