057. Mat Dryhurst: Speculative aesthetics in the algorithmic age

About this episode

Mat Dryhurst discusses speculative aesthetics and the implications of algorithmic culture in the context of Anglofuturism.

We are not in the King Charles III Space Station this week. We are in Harriet Green’s sister station, which is a less reliable bit of lore but a more useful studio. Into it comes Mat Dryhurst: English conceptual artist, Berlin resident, collaborator with Holly Herndon, co-founder of Spawning AI, and the rare guest willing to tell Anglofuturism that Greek statues of ourselves might be a sign of stuckness rather than civilisational vigour. The episode explores * Why Greek statues in the space station might be a symptom of Anglofuturist stuckness * Strange Rules in Venice and the end of art as a separate autonomous category * Michael Levin, two-headed worms, and why everything starts to look like a communication protocol * Ken Stanley, PickBreeder, and why greatness cannot be planned * Aston Villa, the Europa League, and why old forms stop meaning what they once meant * Instagram and the infinite feed as the actual cultural event of the past 20 years * Oman banning advertising and the politics of cognitive security * The Call, choirs, consent, and participatory AI * Why Bauhaus was not a look, and why commissioning “a future aesthetic” misses the point * Progressive elitism, Channel…

People in this episode

Hosts: Tom Ough, Calum Drysdale

Guest: Mat Dryhurst

Topics covered

• speculative aesthetics
• algorithmic age
• cognitive security
• participatory AI
• cultural events
• art and autonomy
• Anglofuturism

Keywords

• Anglofuturism
• speculative aesthetics
• algorithmic culture
• cognitive security
• participatory AI
• art
• Instagram
• Bauhaus

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Spawning AI, Channel 4

Books & works: Bauhaus

Places: Venice, Oman, Harriet Green’s sister station, King Charles III Space Station, Instagram

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