From Science To Séance

In the first part, Dorin Budușan presented a counter-history of science and technology by focusing on their entanglements with magic and religion, problematizing some established ideas about the relationship of our contemporary world with rationality and disenchantment.

The presentation also focused on the symbolic thinking of astrology as a historically rich way of deriving meaning from a relationship between the material reality and human interpretations of its movement.

With the help of Sofia and Dorin, the participants collectively created their own divination system based on a combination of common astrological elements and personal contributions. The system was, then, put in use, with the participants asking some of their most pressing questions and formulating answers together.

The session ended with an open discussion on the relationship between divination and supposedly rational processes of prediction, the meaning of collective interpretation, and the complex material basis of all systems of thinking.

Slow AI focuses on developing strategies to address colonial and extractive histories embedded in current AI systems, by applying the concept of ‘slowness’ to a fast technology. It is a project initiated by Mariana Fernández Mora and a collaboration between the Visual Methodologies Collective (HvA) and the Sandberg Institute (GRA). 

In collaboration with ARIAS Amsterdam and generously funded by the Centre of Expertise Creative Innovation, Slow AI aims to contribute to a more equitable and sustainable technological landscape.

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