Between the Fear and the Fall: Malabou, Art, and the Symptomatic Plasticity of AI

This article proposes a new theoretical model for interrogating the relationship between technology and subjectivity at the dawn of a post-pandemic age. Through the lens of art, Catherine Malabou’s concept of plasticity is aligned with Slavoj Žižek’s notion of the symptom. First, Žižek’s critical reading of Malabou is used as the basis for a symptomatic interpretation of plasticity. A reversal of this perspective—reading Žižek back through Malabou—then allows for a plastic reading of the symptom, which is finally extended into an analysis of AI. This crossing of conceptual threads remodels Žižek’s theoretical “short-circuit” as a more malleable—infra-disciplinary—exchange.