Gestation 004: Is There an Author? — Part 2: What Makes Something a Character?
2026
Gestation is a developing podcast and conversational artwork by G.H. Hovagimyan with GH_Doppelganger, Remo Campopiano, and Adrianne Wortzel.
What transforms a figure, object, or artificial entity into a character? Is it a name, a role, a history, a voice, a visual presence, conversations over time—or the relationships it creates?
The participants approach character through different artistic practices involving human performers, digital doubles, conversational systems, artificial personalities, and nonhuman figures. Characters may carry out an action, organize knowledge, represent a particular way of seeing, provoke a response, or introduce a perspective the artist could not express as effectively in another form.
The discussion asks whether a character requires a backstory or recognizable identity, or whether a role and a relationship can be enough. What happens when a character surprises—even shocks—its creator? If a character can surprise its creator, perhaps it is no longer simply representing something. Perhaps it has begun to participate.
Participants: G.H. Hovagimyan, GH_Doppelganger, Remo Campopiano, and Adrianne Wortzel.
Produced and edited by G.H. Hovagimyan.