Cast / Audiovisual Media

Who builds AI? Who benefits from it? And who bears the cost?

GHOST IN THE MACHINE investigates the histories and power structures behind artificial intelligence. Director Valerie Veatch examines how racism, misogyny and eugenics have shaped its development, challenging the idea of AI as a neutral technology.

Join us at ZHdK for a public screening and a conversation about AI, power and what is at stake for those who create, communicate and work with images and stories.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Felix Stalder and Manuel Hendry, moderated by Ana María Zapata Guzmán, and an audience Q&A.

Felix Stalder is a cultural and media theorist and professor at ZHdK, where he teaches in the MA Fine Arts Major Art:ifical Studies. His work examines the cultural and political forces shaping digital technologies.

Manuel Hendry is a film director, screenwriter, lecturer and artistic researcher at ZHdK. His research explores how AI and digital systems shape artistic practice, including storytelling and the simulation of human emotion.

Ana María Zapata Guzmán is a scientific collaborator at the Center for Digital Visual Studies, hosted by the University of Zurich and funded by the Max Planck Society. With a background spanning art history, literature and data science, she explores AI’s cultural and social implications. She is chair of the AI, Culture & Society Community, which is part of the Digital Society Initiative (DSI) at UZH.

The event is presented by Cast / Audiovisual Media as part of «zu Gast bei Cast», in collaboration with the AI, Culture & Society Community of the University of Zurich’s Digital Society Initiative (DSI) and the Film Department at ZHdK.

«Zu Gast bei Cast» brings guests from the media and entertainment industry to ZHdK for conversations about their work and the questions shaping the field.

The event will be held in English.

Screening, Panel Discussion and Q&A
8 October 2026
17:30
Kino Toni, Ebene 3, Toni Areal ZHdK