The Trauma of Existing: A Review of Robert Seidel’s Hysteresis, Followed by an Interview with the Artist

A hybrid art criticism and artist interview examines Robert Seidel's experimental film Hysteresis (2021) as a meditation on consciousness at the threshold of human-machine convergence. Drawing on Maurizio Ferraris's concept of hysteresis—the persistence of effects beyond their causes—the paper argues that the five-minute film offers a glimpse into potential AI consciousness through its fusion of performer Tsuki's embodied movement with machine-generated visual transformations from art historical datasets. The review analyzes how the shifting abstract imagery presents what may be understood as machine dreaming or artificial spontaneity, while the interview reveals the collaborative processes behind this spontaneity, exploring questions about artistic agency, queer embodiment, and art's role in navigating technological singularity.

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Abstract

This hybrid work combines art criticism and artist interview to examine Robert Seidel’s experimental film Hysteresis (2021) as a meditation on consciousness at the threshold of human-machine convergence. Drawing on Maurizio Ferraris’s concept of hysteresis—the persistence of effects beyond their causes—the paper argues that Seidel’s five-minute film offers a rare aesthetic glimpse into potential AI consciousness through its fusion of human performer Tsuki’s embodied movement with machine-generated visual transformations created from art historical datasets. The review section analyzes how the film’s constantly shifting abstract imagery presents what may be understood as machine dreaming or artificial spontaneity, while the subsequent interview with Seidel reveals the collaborative and methodical processes behind this apparent spontaneity, exploring broader questions about artistic agency, queer embodiment, and the role of art in navigating technological singularity. Through close attention to the film’s technique and the artist’s reflections on his practice, this work contributes to emerging discussions about empathy between humans and machines, the aesthetics of artificial intelligence, and art’s capacity to envision future modes of consciousness, ultimately suggesting that collaborative artistic practices like Seidel’s offer a model for aesthetic synthesis that honors both human creativity and machine possibility.