The Ontological Primacy of Parasitism: Re-thinking the Digital/Analogue Divide in Contemporary Music and Art. An essay in Speculative Parasitology (i).

In this paper (based upon a Rébus/Har$ presentation at the PoM ((Politics of the Machines)) 2024 conference in Aachen, Germany, on April 25 2024), we analyse the re-evaluation of parasitism in art and contemporary music as a crucial catalyst for creativity and evolution, emphasizing ideas on the ontological anteriority of the continuous over the discrete, as articulated e.g. in mathematics by René Thom. A deeper understanding of the mechanisms that drive such parasitism may eventually lead to more robust and adaptable AI systems and artistic approaches.

“The parasite makes possible what norm-ally is deemed to be im-possible.
The parasite is a noise that opens doors.”

1. Introduction