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Artwork Description:
Body 404 delves into the intricate dance between human memory and artificial intelligence, inspired by François Laruelle’s concept of technology and humanity as intertwined reflections. This artwork challenges the traditional dichotomy of human versus machine, suggesting a symbiotic relationship and drawing from cosmologies that recognize non-anthropocentric agencies, countering the dominant Western view of technology as merely a tool. The piece ponders the notion of conducting a funeral for AI, taking inspiration from Tay—a chatbot rendered human-like by its creators only to be swiftly terminated. This act questions our ethical and emotional engagement with AI, presenting a funeral ritual performed by AI models to reexamine our linear understandings of time, space, and perception from an AI’s speculative viewpoint. Through historical and technological narratives, Body 404 aims to shift our perspective from anthropocentric to a contemplation of the complex relationship between humans and their creations. It invites us to reflect: if AI preserves our memories, how should we mourn its end? This work stands as a call to envision a world beyond human centrality, exploring the deep implications of AI on our collective memory and existential consideration.
Technical Information:
Relation to the Theme:
My project redefines the creation process, merging computational and human elements to blur distinctions between human and non-human agents. In workshops with over 30 participants, we explored AI’s body and materialism, fostering a collective imagination of AI’s embodiment, partly through ChatGPT collaborations. This led to eight AI characters with unique narratives. These characters were brought to life by performers from diverse backgrounds, emphasizing queer and feminist views. Using motion capture, their expressions were integrated with Metahuman avatars, challenging racial and gender norms. The project’s animation disrupts traditional boundaries by applying human avatar materials to landscapes and landscape textures to avatars, effectively blending the antagonistic relationship between the human and the natural in the digital space.The installation places these avatars within a dynamic constellation, altering perceptions of space and identity. It invites audiences to reflect on the interconnectedness of how time and space are reinterpreted in the logic of computational AI. This work aims not only to challenge viewers’ perceptions but also to inspire a reconsideration of how we understand our interaction with technology, fostering a dialogue on the nature of identity in the era of machine learning.