/RESEARCH & CREATIVE PRACTICE
Blessed is the Machine (2023-2024)
Collaboration with Gabi Schaffzin as Culture Industry [dot] Club
Commissioned Installation for the imaginary i exhibition at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, WI
Collaboration with Gabi Schaffzin as Culture Industry [dot] Club
Commissioned Installation for the imaginary i exhibition at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, WI
Blessed Is The Machine is our (myself and Gabi Schaffzin) first major museum commission. To capture the scope, detail, and historical research for the project, we created a site specifically for the piece, so please do visit that if you are curious to learn more.
The wall text, written in collaboration with the inimitable Chrstina Brungardt, who was the curator of the exhibition and director of the Museum at the time, does a good job of briefly explaining the gist of the project (I do encourage you to visit the project’s website to learn more, though—I promise it’ll be fun):
Our artist lecture (February 2024), titled, “Art, Computing, and AI: How the Proverbial Sausage Is Made and Why You Should Worry about the Proverbial Sausage Making Process,” was an honor and a blast to deliver. In watching it, you’ll get a flavor for what our installation was like, as well as the underlying ideas behind the project. As a bonus, you’ll also get to hear me rant about the difference between socialism and state capitalism.
The wall text, written in collaboration with the inimitable Chrstina Brungardt, who was the curator of the exhibition and director of the Museum at the time, does a good job of briefly explaining the gist of the project (I do encourage you to visit the project’s website to learn more, though—I promise it’ll be fun):
In 1909, E.M. Forster, the famed British author, wrote the only piece of science-fiction he would ever write—a novella titled The Machine Stops. Forster’s story anticipated most of the technological underpinnings of our society today—the Internet, telepresence (e.g., Zoom or FaceTime), virtual reality, augmented reality, and streaming music and video. But far from a technological utopia, Forster’s story was a warning. Citizens of this new state see themselves as members of a technologically advanced society; instead, they are living in a dystopian world.
Blessed is the Machine by Culture Industry [dot] Club is an interactive installation that examines our relationship to artificial intelligence. Within the gallery, visitors are presented with the avatar of an always-listening artificial intelligence. By conversing with the AI, it infers the content, emotion, and expression of the visitor before sending this new data through a product recommendation algorithm. The process is visualized in the space through an instantaneous display of shifting information. The real-time data harvesting is manifested in a cacophony of screens flashing code, flip boards rattling out information, and printers spitting out a record into a growing pile of paper. Meanwhile, the avatar talks to the viewer about the social and political system that produces a reliance on—and the strange consequences that accompany—the seeming convenience of AI-powered services. Visitors can, nonetheless, take home a receipt that includes a personalized product recommendation, complete with a convenient QR code.
Our artist lecture (February 2024), titled, “Art, Computing, and AI: How the Proverbial Sausage Is Made and Why You Should Worry about the Proverbial Sausage Making Process,” was an honor and a blast to deliver. In watching it, you’ll get a flavor for what our installation was like, as well as the underlying ideas behind the project. As a bonus, you’ll also get to hear me rant about the difference between socialism and state capitalism.
