Kandinsky vs Kandinsky: the ontological status of the author in generative art

Light and shadows of digital reality. The image of the engineer in the 21st century

Abstract

The article addresses the problem of authorship in the context of generative art using the example of the project Revived Heritage, a digital reconstruction of lost works of art through artificial intelligence technologies. The main focus is placed on the ontological status of the author, who emerges here as a «digital ghost». Authorship is conceptualized as the result of a ritual of «technological spiritism», in which the creative process is distributed across multiple agents: software developers, project curators, viewers, and the AI itself as a productive tool. In this perspective, generative art is interpreted not as a continuation of traditional models of authorship but as their radical transformation. The theoretical framework of the study is grounded in Michel Foucault’s concept of the «author function» and Roland Barthes’ concept of the «death of the author». Building on these approaches, the article analyzes the shift from the author understood as a unique subject of creativity to authorship regarded as a dynamic process sustained by discursive, institutional, and technological practices. In this shift, the author is redefined not as an individual creator but as an ephemeral agent emerging at the intersection of human and non-human interaction. The analysis suggests new perspectives for rethinking creativity in the digital age, where the boundaries between the author, tool, and audience become increasingly blurred, and generative art establishes novel models of cultural memory and artistic communication.