Digital Rare and Imaginary Libraries: Some Critical Approaches to Text-to-Image Books
Proposal Type
Individual Talk
Location
Hypertexts & Fictions
Start Date
July 2026
End Date
July 2026
Abstract
As Montfort, Bertram, Whalen and others have shown, computer-generated works have a long history tracing back to texts considered the origin of the field of electronic literature. The transformation of computer-generated works of literature into print books also has a decades old history that encompasses dedicated presses, book series, and one-off individual titles. In most of these cases, however, the focus of creation and critique has been largely put on the production at the level of text. Much less attention has gone to the creation of synthetic “physical” books via text-to-image models.
In an Ulises Carrión-like fashion, the work of two digital artists and poets, Sasha Stiles and Richard Carter, bring to the forefront the critical distinction of books as texts and books as objects within the debates of Gen A.I. Stiles’s project, Biblio-Tech (2023-2024), is an NFT library of synthetic rare books with most showing highly elaborate material qualities. In contrast, Carter’s These Books Do Not Exist (2025) is a collection of ordinary looking page spreads from art books and technical manuals published as a PDF.
The presence of “imaginary” books—books that only exist within other books—is not rare in the history of literature. In electronic literature, similarly, the print book has been a common material metaphor used to navigate, organize, or visually adorn a work. In all these cases, however, the fictional books serve various functions within another work. In Stiles’ and Carter’s projects, the synthetic “physical” books are the work.
In this presentation, I examine the visual poetics of these two projects. I query how the idea of the digital rare book is evoked via generative processes and either exploited as in Stiles’ project or downplayed as in Carter’s. Ultimately, I investigate how each artist approaches the liminality of a synthetic book existence and its affective allure and rejection.
Digital Rare and Imaginary Libraries: Some Critical Approaches to Text-to-Image Books
Hypertexts & Fictions
As Montfort, Bertram, Whalen and others have shown, computer-generated works have a long history tracing back to texts considered the origin of the field of electronic literature. The transformation of computer-generated works of literature into print books also has a decades old history that encompasses dedicated presses, book series, and one-off individual titles. In most of these cases, however, the focus of creation and critique has been largely put on the production at the level of text. Much less attention has gone to the creation of synthetic “physical” books via text-to-image models.
In an Ulises Carrión-like fashion, the work of two digital artists and poets, Sasha Stiles and Richard Carter, bring to the forefront the critical distinction of books as texts and books as objects within the debates of Gen A.I. Stiles’s project, Biblio-Tech (2023-2024), is an NFT library of synthetic rare books with most showing highly elaborate material qualities. In contrast, Carter’s These Books Do Not Exist (2025) is a collection of ordinary looking page spreads from art books and technical manuals published as a PDF.
The presence of “imaginary” books—books that only exist within other books—is not rare in the history of literature. In electronic literature, similarly, the print book has been a common material metaphor used to navigate, organize, or visually adorn a work. In all these cases, however, the fictional books serve various functions within another work. In Stiles’ and Carter’s projects, the synthetic “physical” books are the work.
In this presentation, I examine the visual poetics of these two projects. I query how the idea of the digital rare book is evoked via generative processes and either exploited as in Stiles’ project or downplayed as in Carter’s. Ultimately, I investigate how each artist approaches the liminality of a synthetic book existence and its affective allure and rejection.
Bio
Élika Ortega is assistant professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her work focuses on digital literature and media, cultural hybridity, reading practices and books, digital humanities, and multilingualism in academia. Élika is also a botmaker. Her Twitter bots dedicated to the work of Mexican writer and artist Ulises Carrión were included in the Antología LitELat Vol 1 and have been revived on Bluesky as @BotCarrión. Her book Binding Media. Hybrid Print-Digital Literature from across the Americas was published by Stanford University Press in March 2025. Élika is also part of the editorial collective for the Electronic Literature Collection Vol. 5. https://elikaortega.net/