Re-Writing in the Era of AI: Art Writing Symposium

About this event

For decades, the adage “all good writing is re-writing” justified the practice of laboring over draft versions of research papers, articles, museum labels, curatorial essays, book manuscripts, and many other modalities of writing in and for the Arts. On a base level, the culture of drafts exists simply to catch grammatical errors, to ensure that a text is “proofed.” Writing and reviewing drafts also encourages a practice of savoring words and ensuring that the content presented matches the author’s intention. In the era of AI, there is an implicit notion that “fast writing” is in style, a method where form and content can be achieved in a fraction of the time associated with human-generated writing. This culture of “beating the clock,” devoting less time to writing also potentially calls into question the process and value of “re-writing.” Are re-writing practices now anachronistic or do they still exist but in altered form? Does re-writing still serve a function and, if so, how is it defined? Is AI good at re-writing or is this where authentic human-generated writing practices still exist – in the realm of reviewing, editing, and tweaking text? This symposium explores the topic of re-writing in all its definitions and guises – from practice to method.