Listen, Scoundrels!
Sean Carroll, hosted by Sean Clark

Summary

Sean Carroll presents "Listen, Scoundrels!", an exhibition drawn from his doctoral research at De Montfort University with the Computer Arts Archive, exploring how generative artificial intelligence can support radical curation of archival material. He describes how he used Google Notebook LM to synthesise audio overviews and ChatGPT to thematically analyse PAGE, the early Computer Arts Society magazine, surfacing visceral, politically charged and critical voices that a human reader might overlook. This process yields five calls to action: reject institutional apathy, weaponise art against technology, reclaim the artist's power over technology, break free from the art market system, and create art that intervenes in the world. Carroll argues that AI should not merely automate archives but act as a conversational, interpretive partner—one that requires careful, critical human stewardship. He acknowledges anxieties about technological change, yet insists that artists must engage with emerging tools rather than surrender their development to corporate or military interests. The event becomes a wider dialogue about the Computer Arts Society's radical heritage, the limits of treating AI as a neutral tool, and how contemporary digital artists might recover a critical, politically engaged practice.

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