A work in progress-exhibition by Critical Data students from the Interface Cultures department of the University of Art and Design, Linz, Austria
Exhibition duration: June 16th 2023 – July 6th, 2023
Opening with the Artists:
June 15th 2023, 18:00 (followed by drinks reception)
Location:Computational Creativity Hub (CCH), Maison du Savoir Administration Building (ground floor),
Belval Campus, University of Luxembourg 2 Avenue de l’Université, L-4365 Esch-sur-Alzette
Workshop and Poster Presentations: June 15th 2023, 13:00 – 17:00
Location: Maison du Nombre,1.030 (1st floor), Belval Campus, University of Luxembourg 6 Av. de la Fonte, L-4364, Esch-sur-Alzette .
General info:
In the context of the collaborative lecture Critical Data of the Interface Cultures department, students of the Kunstuniversität Linz exchanged ideas with professors and PhD candidates of the University of Luxembourg, Faculty of Science, Technology, and Medicine, Department of Computer Science in the summer semester 2023. The students developed works that looked critically at how data is used when deploying deep learning computer programs and how machine learning is influencing society: e.g. in the way we think about how memories might be influenced by AI, how diversity can be approached through data, how the status of in-between in datasets can be visualized and contribute to quality questions in data, how questions of gender can be unlearned and how value can be created while seeing the unseen. The students trace the different voices and worlds at the intersection of art and technology in a speculative manner and question forms of perception of people vs. machines.
Together with the initiator of this program, Prof. Manuela Naveau, the students were invited to Luxembourg not only to exhibit the resulting works in progress in the Computational Creativity Hub but also to present artistic/scientific posters related to their research and discuss their work in joint reflection rounds.
During the summer semester, the students were supported by the initiator of this program, Prof. Manuela Naveau from Kunstuni Linz and Daniel Karpati, PhD candidate at the University of Luxembourg, who facilitated this collaboration together with his supervisor Prof. Christoph Schommer a renowned expert of machine learning and Professor in Artificial Intelligence.
To show and materialise their works in the University of Luxembourg’s exhibition space, the students also exchanged ideas with Prince Yaw Gharbin, PhD candidate at the University of Luxembourg (supervisor: Prof. Christoph Schommer), who supported the set-up of the works-in-process.
The exhibition is featuring the following works and students:
Viktória Angyal (HU/AT)
Reconsolidated
Memories
While retrieving a memory, it becomes susceptible to modification. Upon subsequent retrievals, we recall the altered version from the previous retrieval rather than the initial experience itself, which is known as reconsolidation. “Reconsolidated Memories” is an interactive installation that uses the artist’s personal archive to show how memories are processed and manipulated by the brain. Images distort and morph together,
highlighting the dynamic nature of memory. As visitors watch longer, memories
become more distorted, reflecting the phenomenon of reconsolidation.
Bio:
Memories, self-identity, origins, and the mind are recurring topics in Viktória Angyal´s practice. With a background in graphic design and photography, Viktória’s work transcends traditional boundaries through diverse mediums.
Website: https://viktoriaangyal.com/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/angyalviki/
Behiye Erdemir & Ozan Tezvaran (TR)
Dataset
of In-between
What is hidden in the transition areas in the datasets and the categories? Unlike
traditional dataset that has distinct and separate entities, is it possible to show the hidden ones? Dataset of In-between delves into the intricate world of facial Expressions by synthesizing a new dataset through the exploration of latent space representations of data prepared for the detection of emotions. The work highlights the complexity of reducing concepts to singular, isolated Expressions utilizing Machine Learning.
Bio:
Behiye Erdemir is currently doing her MA in Interface Cultures at Kunsuni Linz with a
background in engineering focusing on Deep Learning. She explores absurd-yet-plausible approaches to electronic devices and software by intervening in their
predetermined design.
Ozan Tezvaran is a designer with a passion for visual and sonic arts. Having participated in exhibitions across Europe & Turkey, he continues to push the boundaries of his creative pursuits to create engaging experiences for audiences.
Jelena Mönch & Miguel Rangil (DE/ES)
Unlearning Gender
Language
founds realities. Deployed vision machines encapsulate, label and categorize
bodies through words. Image processing machines classify bodies that fit into a
binary worldview of gender, and those subjectivities that are not able to fit
into the schema become invisible.
“Unlearning Gender” is a project that speculates on alternative modes of categorisation as a strategy of resistance to algorithmic-binary normalization. Through the symbolic hacking of the computer vision interface, the project aims to escape from gender and break with the technosocial binarisms embedded in technology.
Bio:
Miguel Rangil is a transmedia artist who focuses both his research and artistic
production on new contemporary strategies to address a critical exploration of
artificial intelligence and the consequences of its operationalisation in various spheres of human experience.
IG: https://www.instagram.com/rangilmiguel/
Jelena Mönch is a media artist who specializes in creating visually generative artworks that prioritize real-time interaction. Her work explores a range of themes, including digital artificial life, psychological disorders, and social constructs and phenomena.
IG: https://www.instagram.com/jelena_vj.vr.ar/
Linaá Pulido Barragan & Katherine Romero Martinez CO
Sonics Memories
There is no difference between celebration and dance, when our body feels the sound, the music triggers and the body tunes the memory. Sonic Memories is an interactive text and sound generation interface that narrates the artists’ childhood memories, and how it is related to the music, celebration and dancing in the Colombian context where they grew up. The artwork is being trained by AI with the lyrics of many Colombian songs which work as a curator of the different fragments created by the artists’ memories.
Bio:
Katherine Romero is a Colombian artist, her practice addresses issues such as gender inequality, memory and media practice as a pedagogical strategy. Her work spans image-making, playful installations, physical interfaces, data visualization and the relation between traditional art practice and technology.
webpage:http://katherine-romero-martinez.com/
Linaá Pulido Barragán “CO” is an Artist & Curator, focused on experimental visual & sound interactive media, installation & performance, currently doing her “MA” the interface cultures department at Kunstuniversitat, Linz Austria.
Her artistic work approaches concepts from science and philosophy around states of consciousness, perception, brain, dreams, light and darkness, through the duality poetic around digital and analogue media interfaces, having a particular interest in distorting reality in real-time.
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/linaa_pulidobarragan/
https://reactante.blogspot.com.co/
Kathrine Hardman “US”
E-Waste && <e_waste>
E-Waste && <e_waste> is a live audio-visual performance by Kathrine Hardman, exploring the painful world of online bigotry through the physical
metaphor of electronic garbage. During the performance, Hardman interacts with
a sculpture constructed of reclaimed electronic waste, the titular E-Waste.
This sculpture, capturing audio and video from within the E-Waste, stimulates
an audio-visual system, mixing the grating sounds of clashing garbage with
clips from a corpus of transphobic online videos. These painful videos and
harsh noises combine to depict the hateful waste of bigoted digital content, a
new <e_waste>.
Bio:
Kathrine Hardman is a multimedia artist creating interactive and performance works
exploring the experiences of queer bodies through experimental materials. She’s
in the final months of her master studies at the Kunstuniversität Linz, soon to
present her thesis on hair in interactive media.
Maria Orciuoli “IT”
Raindrop Price Index – You Cannot Refill A Sea With Tears “Raindrop Price Index” features two generative animations based on Earth’s evapotranspiration and precipitation measurements. Drawing from meteorology and price charts, the visual allure highlights human-centric perspectives, questioning data-driven decision-making on ecosystem valuation. Visitors find themselves reflected on the pixelated canvases amidst waves and contours shape-shifting at the rhythm of Earth’s water cycles, connecting humans to wider ecosystems. With homage to the Aral Sea tragedy, it kindles contemplation of the interplay between nature, society, and economic systems.
Bio:
With a background in economics and electronic arts, Maria Orciuoli’s practice involves working with data, software and hardware systems to engage with themes of consumer culture, nature’s phenomena and technology’s influence on human subjectivity.
Website: https://mariaorciuoli.xyz/