Evocations that haunt the computer interface

Abstract

Although computers are rationalist, they recall the occult in answering users’ invocations with evocations. Invocations call non-humans for signs during crises. Outputs are evocative signs with affective impact and meaning. While legacy media are evocative, transporting or broadcasting signs, invocational media creates networked cybernetic relations in a lively quasi-magical communication. This article evaluates the evocative intensity of two invocational works that recall the mystical heritages of technology: Silent Hill, a horror video game series, and Ai-Da, a robot artist.