On the Potential of Potential Inherent in AI-glitches
Joana Prochaska
During the FIBER Symposium Latent Assemblies, which took place in December 2024, six artists discussed how they integrate AI into their practice while addressing critical socio-cultural issues. Drawing on these talks, Joana Prochaska highlights how AI glitches can reveal hidden spaces and inspire creative emergence. In the first bit of this two-part paper, she explores AI’s transformative potential in the arts, its ability to uncover latent spaces, and its role in fostering creativity.
In a world where the divide between the digital and real world is more blurred than ever, we need to learn to coexist with artificial intelligence (AI). The dance between techno chauvinism and techno pessimism has become increasingly complex. While it becomes more and more important to critically question the socio-cultural and environmental impact of AI, we also need to accept that AI is omnipresent in our lives and will only play an increasingly bigger part. In this paper I seek to showcase the transformative powers of AI within the arts, its ability to unveil latent spaces and allow for creative emergence. Thinking generative AI through the lens of Legacy Russell’s notion of ‘glitch feminism’ in which the “glitch is celebrated as a vehicle of refusal, a strategy of nonperformance” I argue how glitches make room for realizing new realities. During the FIBER Symposium Latent Assemblies six artists introduced us to how they incorporate AI in their practice while addressing critical and socio-cultural questions about the use of AI. Drawing on these artist talks, I showcase how glitches within AI can unveil latent spaces and foster creative emergence.
Glitch Feminism
In her manifesto, Glitch Feminism Russell defines the glitch as an active and generative word that “implies movement and change from the outset; this movement triggers error” (p. 29). According to this notion, glitches are moments of rupture that challenge rigid systems and create space for alternative possibilities. “Glitch feminism asks: Can a break be a form of building something new? Can our breaking shit be a correction, too?” (113) Glitch feminism views these disruptions as opportunities to challenge societal norms and foster fluidity and multiplicity. This framework aligns closely with the latent spaces inherent in AI, where infinite possibilities exist between defined vectors, allowing for the discovery of hidden patterns and relationships.
Latent Spaces
A latent space in AI represents the relational space within machine learning algorithms where patterns, connections, and interpolations are generated. These spaces are inherently analogical, enabling infinite interpolations and fostering relational understandings. Like glitches, latent spaces disrupt norms, exposing underlying patterns and offering alternative narratives. Latent space in AI represents the potential for infinite vectors between points, analogous to Glitch Feminism’s embrace of fluidity and multiplicity in identity and systems. It parallels the space of the glitch, where disruption enables new, unforeseen possibilities.
The Power of Unpredictability: AI as Collaborator
During the symposium, artist Lorem described AI as an interlinguistic tool, connecting disparate elements and giving voice to the missing. By relinquishing control over outcomes, artists can embrace AI’s potential for emergence — a process where unforeseen creative possibilities unfold. This mirrors the ethos of Glitch Feminism, which celebrates the fluid and the unpredictable as sites of resistance and creation.
In her work, artist and musician Farzaneh explores the unpredictable nature of working with AI, especially in the context of life-electro-musical composition. During her talk she emphasized the power that lies within this unpredictability, highlighting the importance of collaborative destabilization, where AI-human encounters speculate on presential knowledge — a direct, immersive form of understanding. Catastrophic forgetting, which can be seen as a glitch in itself, then gives space to emergence. According to Fazaneh, perceiving AI not as a tool to mimic human behaviour but as a collaborator and an entity with an entirely different world view allows us to invite emergence in our projects. In this way we can see AI as double generative; it not only generates outputs but also vitality as it generates reaction and interpretations of the user.
Portrait XO echoed this sentiment, highlighting AI’s ability to thrive on glitches. In her work, nonsensical outputs often evolve into meaningful forms, challenging the notion of AI as merely mimetic. Instead, AI becomes a tool for hybrid creativity, merging human virtuosity with computational innovation. Unpredictability allows us to focus on emergence, allowing creative processes to unfold in unexpected ways rather than predetermined outcomes. Through the concept of glitch feminism, AI becomes a tool for generating new forms of knowledge representation beyond functional or utilitarian goals. While a glitch is commonly perceived as an error, a faulty overlying, Russell argues that the glitch allows us to ‘perform and transform ourselves in an infinite variety of identities.’ This gives room for ruptures which can be incredibly productive.
Intertextuality and Fluid Narratives
In his artist talk, Lorem, whose work focuses on exploring states of consciousness, talked about how he incorporates the concept of intertextuality in his work. Rooted in Timothy Morton’s concept of ecology as text, Lorem views texts and their meanings as inherently relational and interdependent. Similarly, latent spaces in AI disrupt the binary of creator and creation, fostering collective, non-individualistic narratives. As he said during his talk, “It does not matter to which extent the outcome is your own creation and to which extent it is the machine’s; it is more about thinking about a reality that is less individualistic.” This aligns with Glitch Feminism’s call to resist individualism and embrace collaborative, relational modes of existence.
Other artists in the symposium agree and see AI not as a tool but as a collaborator. In other words, AI does not merely mimic human behaviour but they see it as an entity with an entirely different world view. Nevertheless the agency of the artist always overpowers the agency of AI (Frazaneh).
Portrait XO, a researcher, artist and awarded musician, who has integrated machine learning and data-driven technologies into the core of her audiovisual practice agrees. Within her work, AI thrives on glitches; it may start with nonsensical outputs but eventually make sense. The goal is to move beyond using AI solely to explain the world. Within their practice they are leveraging AI’s ability to merge and synthesize diverse inputs to create new forms of sound. AI brings human virtuosity in dialogue with computational code. This hybridity expands music as an expressive tool beyond words.
Augustina Woodgate’s question, “How can we get away from text prompts to a process of creation where we do not care about the output?” challenges the prevailing utilitarian approach to AI. This shift emphasizes the importance of process over product, advocating for practices that prioritize exploration, experimentation, and emergence. By disengaging from the need for predefined results, artists can unlock the full potential of AI’s generative capabilities. This approach aligns with the principles of glitch feminism, which celebrates disruption and fluidity. It reframes the creative process as a dialogic interaction where AI becomes an active participant, co-shaping outcomes that resist easy categorization or interpretation.
Conclusion
The glitch and the latent space both expose underlying patterns, disrupt norms, and offer opportunities for alternative narratives. The glitch, as framed by Glitch Feminism, offers a new lens through which to understand the potential of AI errors. Glitches and latent spaces disrupt norms, foster creative emergence, and challenge individualistic narratives, opening up new possibilities for relational, collaborative art. By embracing the unpredictable and the fluid, we can see AI not as a mimic of human behavior but as a collaborator with a distinct worldview. In doing so, we unlock the potential inherent in AI-error, transforming flaws into opportunities for innovation and resistance.
Joana Prochaska is an emerging writer and researcher with a profound interest in environmental humanities, cultural analysis and artistic research. With an interdisciplinary background in Politics, Psychology, Law and Economics and Comparative Cultural Analysis, Joana writes about the intricate relationship of humans, environment and more-than-human species in the digital age.
