Ghost Writer

The Ghost Writer writing machine uses a programmed neural network to produce an ongoing narrative written in the artist’s handwriting. The narrative is based on an original stream of consciousness text by the artist that reflects on the prospect of separating the mind from the body and being resurrected as an artificial life entity or digital clone.

The original narrative also includes a database of seminal works by prominent critical theorists, scientists and philosophers that engage with the mind/body problem and notions of the posthuman. Over time, the AI engine will re-combine and re-write the original story to produce a new text.

The work encourages viewers to consider what constitutes identity and the self, and how consciousness may be altered if transferred into a machine or alternative technological body. Can you replicate and transfer consciousness into a machine? Would a digital copy of a mind be a form of preservation rather than a continuation of consciousness existence?