星空传媒视频

Interactive Media Arts

INTRODUCTION

The following elements were presented in courses such as听Interactive Arts 鈥� Local to Global,听The Networked World, and to some extent听The Interactive Experience听in which we explored the relationship between art and technology and how they have informed each other in history. We do this by looking at how and why artists and designers of various geographical, temporal, and cultural backgrounds push the limits of emerging technologies in their practices.

Looking at Artificial Intelligence from the perspective of听, and exploring the relationship between the brain as inspiration, model for A.I. and conversely A.I. and technology as metaphors by which we attempt to understand the functioning of our minds, I presented the cybernetic prototypes that are the analog ancestors of the software-based neural networks which form today鈥檚 narrow A.I. that has become ubiquitous in recent years. We explored how and why artists are experimenting, deconstructing, and commenting on these technologies in various ways in their contemporary practices.

 

SANTIAGO RAM脫N Y CAJAL鈥橲 DRAWINGS OF NEURONS

To introduce the cybernetic prototypes, a short video clip describing the 1st drawing of neurons by Santiago Ram贸n y Cajal who produced about 3000 beautifully detailed sketches of the microscopic brain that continue to shape our understanding was presented to students.

Source:

听| History of Science, 2014.

Play from 1:54 to 3:24 to show a 3D simulation of threshold neurons work.

 

 

BRAIN IN A BAG: PERFORMING THRESHOLD NEURONS

Threshold neurons are a key component of many prototypes created by cyberneticians in the 50s. Nothing works better than to involve the (volunteers) students in an awkward yet humourous embodied performance to make them understand and remember what they are.

The Brain in a Bag听activity is just that. It involves 1, 2, 3 or more groups of 7 volunteers

Source:

鈥淭he Brain-in-a-Bag Activity,鈥澨�Teaching London Computing: A RESOURCE HUB from CAS LONDON & CS4FN听(blog), November 21, 2014,听.

• Activity Sheet:听听摆笔顿贵闭
• 厂濒颈诲别蝉:听听摆笔笔罢闭

 

 

BIRTH OF A.I. IN CYBERNETICS

Today鈥檚 relatively recent developments in A.I. are strongly rooted in cybernetics. Explaining how the 2 domains are at once linked and distinct can be done by studying the work of Prof Paul Pangaro a teacher of HCI (Human-Computer Interfaces) design. His听contains many essays,听, diagrams,听,听,听听and interviews in which he compares and contrasts the 2 fields.

Prof Pangaro also recently created a reproduction of an early prototype by Gordon Pask visible听

 

 

CYBERNETIC PROTOTYPES OF THE 50’S

鈥檚听,听, conferences and his book 鈥�鈥�听describe what he has coined as an 鈥淥ntological Theatre鈥� where threshold neurons form the bases of prototypes the 1^st听and second wave of British cyberneticians experimented with. In this book, Pickering describes prototypes that give very distinct analog interpretations of these threshold neurons and show how quickly they display seemingly autonomous complex behaviors as they interact with their surroundings. I presented 2 of them: William Grey Walter鈥檚 Tortoises (1948) and Gordon Pask鈥檚 Musicolor Machine (1953).

Wiliam Grey Walter who was one of the 1^st听neuroscientists to use EEG machines in his day job at a hospital created the famous Tortoises Elsy and Elmer he names 鈥渕achine speculatrix鈥� presented as a new species in this听.

 

 

 

Gordon Pask, the inventor of 鈥溾�� also used threshold neurons to create the 鈥溾�� that projected lights that responded to the inputs of a musician. The threshold neurons were used to modify the response of the machine to a given melody creating the sense that the machine could get bored if the musician鈥檚 melody was too repetitive, thus encouraging variations. This is described as giving the musician a sense that the machine he interacted with had agency. Musicians reported losing a sense of time and entering a state that Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has described as听听a pleasurable immersion into a creative activity.

 

 

A.I. AND ARTISTS AS CRITICS, RESEARCHERS, INVENTORS, ACTIVISTS, ETC.

In his book听,听听warns against our tendency to anthropomorphize and present technical objects as antagonistic. He emphasizes the alienation that results in the loss of knowledge about and control of the tools workers have to deal with as craft are industrialized and automation become the prevalent mode of production. but for him (contrasting with Marx鈥檚 understanding of alienation) it is the lack of understanding of the workings of technical objects听that is at the core of this alienation and loss of agency.

As the curator听听has pointed out in her recent presentation at Mutek Montreal, artists working with A.I. take on the role of activists, inventors, researchers as well. (Fuchs 2019) I presented a selection of artworks that display a range of postures towards A.I.

 

 

KEN FEINGOLD鈥橲 ARTIFICIAL STUPIDITY

鈥檚 work explores the artistic potential and limitations of Chatbots. His approach is听l and self-reflexive as describes in many听听and听听published about his work.

 

 

 

 

MAKING KIN WITH THE MACHINE ESSAY A.I. AND INDIGENOUS ONTOLOGIES

Lewis, J. E., Arista, N., Pechawis, A., & Kite, S. (2018).听Journal of Design and Science.听

鈥淢an is neither height nor centre of creation. This belief is core to many Indigenous epistemologies.鈥� is the opening sentence of this听essay that听presents new ways of thinking about A.I. as the authors challenge the听hard distinctions between humans and everything else.听Multiplicities are privileged over singularities and the emphasis is placed on听figuring out how to treat this new non-human kin respectfully and reciprocally because they are 鈥�one nodal point in a number of different relations that you are enmeshed in鈥� as Kite puts it.

Concept maps are sometimes described as fitting the structure of our minds better than the linear nature of written text, providing an alternative way of revealing connections and helping students see how individual ideas form a larger whole. Leveraging the grasping potential of groups, students are guided through the process of creating a collaborative map that presents the key concepts and ideas articulated in the text using post-it notes, colors, shapes, and arrows on a large piece of paper. The听conversations听that the creative process necessitates is the focal point of the exercise, not the end result. Maps are then presented and discussed by each group with the class.

听and听听also presented their work on A.I. during a听at MUTEK Montreal in September 2019

 

 

KATE CRAWFORD & TREVOR PAGLEN

Co-founder of the听听with听,听听also works with the investigative artist听听on many projects including听听鈥�The Politics of Images in Machine Learning Training Sets.

They created artworks such as听听and the exhibition听听visible (12 Sep 2019 鈥� 24 Feb 2020) at Fondazione Prada in Paris.听In this听, Kate Crawford and Trevor Palgen explain how they explore how 鈥渉umans are represented, interpreted鈥�, and 鈥渃odified and听how technological systems harvest, label, and use this material鈥�.

In 2018, Crawford also worked with听听on the 鈥渁natomical case study of the Amazon echo as an artificial intelligence system made of human labor鈥澨�听part of a series of 鈥�鈥�听maps. This map uncovers the physical and tangible yet invisible aspects of A.I. production as well.

 

 

[MULTI鈥橵OCAL] SYSTEM EXPERIMENT

[]听听is a feminist project to Develop a Collective Non-Binary Synthesized Voice听By Stina Hasse J酶rgensen, Alice Emily Baird, Frederik Tollund Juutilainen, Nina Cecilie H酶jholdt & Mads Pelt.

The project is described in detail in this paper presented at EVA Copenhagen-听in 2018:听

This project demonstrates the use of readily available open-source tools as well as affordable materials that give students an example of work within their reach.

 

 

LIST OF SOURCES AND PRESENTATION PDF’S

During my time as a听Dawson AI fellow,

I presented a keynote at the听Humanities and Public Life Conference:

I took part in the round table听

participated in the Ped Day and presented to the CoP group听

 

Sam Charrington鈥檚 podcast听TWIML听has been very helpful during my research. His team created a great playlist in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement accessible here:

Here are more sources:

>ect 4 Technology Post Heidegger.鈥澨�>ect Podcast听(blog), January 28, 2016.听

鈥淎lleys of Your Mind: Augmented Intelligence and Its Traumas.鈥� Accessed February 7, 2020.听.

Brain in a Bag (Higher Quality). Accessed February 7, 2020.听.

Campbell-Dollaghan, Kelsey, Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan, and Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan. 鈥淭his AI Dreams in Tulips.鈥� Fast Company, September 17, 2018.听.

鈥淐V Dazzle: Camouflage from Face Detection.鈥� Accessed February 7, 2020.听.

-. 鈥淓xcavating AI.鈥� Accessed February 7, 2020.听.

McCorduck, Pamela.听Machines Who Think: A Personal Inquiry into the History and Prospects of Artificial Intelligence. 2 edition. Natick, Mass: A K Peters/CRC Press, 2004.

Meyer, Story by Robinson. 鈥淎nti-Surveillance Camouflage for Your Face.鈥澨�The Atlantic. Accessed February 7, 2020.听.

ANNA RIDLER. 鈥淢osaic Virus.鈥� Accessed February 7, 2020. http://annaridler.com/mosaic-virus.

Pangaro, Paul. 鈥淧aul Pangaro, PhD.鈥� Accessed February 7, 2020. http://pangaro.com/index.html.

Pasquinelli, Matteo. 鈥淭hree Thousand Years of Algorithmic Rituals: The Emergence of AI from the Computation of Space,鈥� n.d., 12.

Pickering, Andrew.听The Cybernetic Brain: Sketches of Another Future. Chicago, Ill: University of Chicago Press, 2011.

Prada, Fondazione.听KATE CRAWFORD | TREVOR PAGLEN: TRAINING HUMANS | Osservatorio Fondazione Prada, 2019.听.

Press, The MIT. 鈥淎rchitectural Intelligence | The MIT Press.鈥� Accessed February 7, 2020.听.

Santiago Ram贸n y Cajal: Biography of a Great Thinker | History of Science, 2014.听.

The Art of Neural Networks | Mike Tyka | TEDxTUM. Accessed February 7, 2020.听.

Teaching London Computing: A RESOURCE HUB from CAS LONDON & CS4FN. 鈥淭he Brain-in-a-Bag Activity,鈥� November 21, 2014.听.

The Future of Cybernetics | Paul Pangaro. Accessed February 7, 2020.听.

What Is DeepDream? 鈥� With Mike Tyka. Accessed February 7, 2020.听.