Video: Caro & Kaspar

Spooky Interaction at a Distance: Telematic Afrofuturism

Keynote by George Lewis

How can togetherness be shaped at a distance? This is not just the big question of a pandemic period. In his keynote, George Lewis critically dissects the history and potentials of telematic improvisation. In doing so, he draws on his experience as a composer of interactive computer music and explains how latency can augment rather than lessen the pleasure of improvising together over the Internet. From NASA vehicles on Mars to Einstein’s “spooky action at a distance,” he traces an arc all the way to Cuban Santería as a proto-telematic technology of the black diaspora.