12 May 2023
“Broken Machines & Wild Imaginings” – JUNGE AKADEMIE fellows present installations on AI
Exhibition, Hanseatenweg
2 June – 9 July 2023
Opening: Thursday, 1 June 2023, 7 pm
In the exhibition “Broken Machines & Wild Imaginings“ the JUNGE AKADMIE presents ten installations by its international fellows engaged in artistic research on the topic of artificial intelligence. The focus is on speculative and experimental practices that articulate and explore the dynamics of power and ethics in the context of AI. The large-scale works, some of them interactive in nature, exhibited in the Akademie der Künste at Hanseatenweg, make use of a wide range of media ranging from animation, video, computer gaming, drawing, sculpture, poster, sound/composition to textiles. The participating artists will present performances at the exhibition’s opening on 1 June 2023, guide visitors through the exhibition on 11 dates and present additional aspects of their work in the accompanying programme.
Against the background of the broad and controversial discussions currently taking place on both the revolutionary potential but also the ethical problems of artificial intelligence, the artists present their viewpoints of AI, referencing social, historical, cultural or political experiences, values and stories that have not (yet) been sufficiently addressed. In response to the fragile reality of machines, they create poetic worlds and playful concepts as well as strategies of repair. Themes range from deep-sea cables as historical power conduits to indigenous technologies and cosmologies, AI-based human models, queer and decolonial computing and the issue of digital immortality.
The American artist Sarah Ciston crocheted a labyrinth to show the meaning of scale and size in the context of AI: 36,672 crocheted stitches are juxtaposed against large language models (LLMs) made up of 175 billion parameters. The Bulgarian queer-feminist artist Petja Ivanova incorporates moisture sensors into custom-made clothing. When worn, the sensors measure the moisture in the crotch area and transfer it to a screen where it is shown as 3D ecologies featuring different weather patterns and fauna. Brazilian artist Pedro Oliveira explores technologies such as the dialect recognition software that the German migration authorities have been using for undocumented asylum seekers since 2017. The Indian artist Aarti Sunder presents an artistic examination of the conditions of critical infrastructure based on deep-sea cables, which she reads as historical conduits of colonial power. In her video installation, the Indonesian artist Natasha Tontey communicates indigenous principles, values and ideas about technologies through spiritual worlds and beings.
With works by:
Sarah Ciston, Sara Culmann, D’Andrade & Walla Capelobo, Petja Ivanova, Pedro Oliveira, Sahej Rahal, Aarti Sunder, SONDER (Peter Behrbohm and Anton Steenbock), Natasha Tontey, Tin Wilke & Laura Fong Prosper
The show brings together the artistic results of the fellowship programmes “AI Anarchies” and “Human Machine”. The one-year programme „AI Anarchies“ is made possible with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media for the promotion of AI and is supported by an international advisory board. In addition to the exhibition, the programme encompasses an artists-in-residence programme as well as the Autumn School, which took place in 2022. The fellowship programme „Mensch Maschine“ was launched in 2019 and is a cooperation with E.ON-Stiftung’s VISIT Programme and, since 2022, with E-WERK Luckenwalde. The programme will be extended by an additional two years. The JUNGE AKADEMIE bundles the Akademie der Künste’s fellowship programmes.
Cooperation partners: E-WERK Luckenwalde, VISIT, ZK/U-Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik, Weise7, Haus für Poesie
More information on the exhibition and the accompanying programme is available at hier
Exhibition details:
Broken Machines & Wild Imaginings
Opening: Thur 1 June 2023, 7 pm
Exhibition duration: 2 June – 9 July 2023
Tue – Fri 2 – 7 pm, Sat & Sun 11 am – 7 pm
Free admission
Guided tours with artist talks: Tue & Thur 5 pm
Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg 10, 10557 Berlin
Tel. (030) 200 57-2000, info@adk.de
Press contact:
Brigitte Heilmann, Tel. 030 200 57-1513, heilmann@adk.de
Mareike Wenzlau, Tel. 030 20057-1566, wenzlau@adk.de
The fellows will be available for interviews.
Press photos for download: here