Artificial Life: The Art of Automating Living Systems

Oron Catts, Sarah Collins, Elizabeth Stephens and Ionat Zurr Have you ever eaten food that appeared natural but then found out it was created in a lab or was genetically modified? Have you ever mistaken a deep fake video or AI voice for the real thing? You may have felt deceived or anxious about how closely we are now able to simulate and engineer the indices of life. Or you may have felt awe-struck by the ingenuity involved in creating the illusion of life, as you might feel watching an impressive magic trick. Distinctions between what is real or fake, or natural or artificial, seem to harden in direct proportion to cultural anxieties around this imagined boundary. This book explores the ways in which we tend to frame and imagine artificial life, through art, corporate marketing, popular culture, scientific discourse, film and other forms of expression and meaning-making. It argues, that through practices of framing, our understanding of what constitutes life is continuously being re-shaped. Oron Catts, Sarah Collins, Elizabeth Stephens and Ionat Zurr are the authors of Artificial Life: The Art of Automating Living Systems. ABOUT VIGNETTES Series Editors: Sarah Collins and Tony Hughes-d’Aeth The Vignettes series from UWAP is aimed at sharing the knowledges that are emerging in the contemporary university and that consider the complexities of modern life. Each book provides an image, or a vignette, of a particular phenomenon and how this is being thought through by intellectual practitioners in today’s academy. View the full series here. Book details ISBN: 978-1-76080-345-2 PUBLICATION DATE: 1 November 2026 FORMAT: B format paperback, 0.3kg, 165x120mm EXTENT: 112 pages RIGHTS: World CATEGORY: non-fiction, scholarly, humanities PRICE: $22.99 AUD incl GST