Research seminar: 'comics, embodied trace and haptic encounter, from artifact of reproduction to algorithmic outcome'

Comics involve the body in performances that are simultaneously haptic and tactile, imaginative and material. This seminar considers how indexes of materials and embodiment are translated through photographic, digital and machine learning technologies into embodied encounters sited on the surfaces of visual narratives.

Through a consideration of a variety of comics, including examples from my practice in which I utilise materials such as crayons, embroidery and pyrography, I will argue that imaginative tactile engagement with material surface represents an under-considered register through which comics communicate. I will consider the future of this register at a moment when AI image generation technology renders these indexical encounters ontologically ambiguous.