www.cmu.edu/news: Carnegie Mellon University's Miller Institute for Contemporary Art will present "Paradox: The Body in the Age of AI," an exhibition curated by Miller ICA Director Elizabeth Chodos. The exhibition includes national and international artists who work across a wide range of media to explore issues connected to technology and the body. It draws out the tension and porous boundaries between the artificial and corporeal, the digital and physical, the technological and the tactile.
7 comments:
I am glad to have just read the article, the opening for this exhibit is in an hour so I will try to attend it! I am always intrigued by the complexity of the brain, and how our bodies are constantly reacting to our environment even when we are unaware of it. There are many pathways in our brain that we learn to understand better through trying to replicate it in technology. I love that this exhibit features the use of so many different mediums. I feel that single perspective representation of humans can not be truly accurate, for we are such complex creatures who sense in various different ways. This makes me wonder how much we can truly replicate ourselves. This exhibit brings about questions of intelligence, reminding me of the book “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” by Philip K. Dick. This topic has infinite ways to discuss and ponder what the future will be, and the comparison of what the people of the past thought humans would try to bring into the world using technology compared to what truly happens will also reveal much about what we think of ourselves as humans.
As a CMU student, I was very excited to see an article published about the exhibition, Paradox: The Body in the Age of AI, that is opening very soon. Exhibition is all about exploring what is means to connect technology with the human body. It tears down the questions that come with comparing digital and physical by presenting it through an exhibition. I find this exhibition interesting because I had never thought of exploring those two spectrum as well as putting them together. I think the purpose of this exhibition is to make the audience think about things they normally would not on their own. Chodos said, "Paradox explores the primacy of the human body as it's poised on the precipice of a potential fusion with artificial intelligence.” I think this thesis is one that is very complex as they presentation echos. I find it admirable that they were able to take a specific question and turn it into an entire exhibit that the audience can physically experience and remember.
I must admit, despite it being right next door to Purnell, I have yet to go see any show at the Miller ICA. However, this show looks incredibly interesting. I am fascinated by the interplay between art and technology, but moreover, I am interested in the artist's take on the conversation between the naturalist and primal nature of the human body and technology. I grew up with people who, in my opinion, valued natural, organic things "untainted" by humans, to the point, in my opinion, of somewhat demonizing science and technology. The types of people who did not let their children watch TV or use computers until their teens and, unfortunately, the types of people who didn't vaccinate their children. While that did instil a deep appreciation of nature and the natural world, I have also swung somewhat in the other direction, and now have a fierce love of the sciences and the amazing things advancements in science have given humans the ability to do.
It's interesting to me that as a culture we are collectively afraid but simultaneously enthralled with the development of technology. We want to move things forward, but we also want to slow things down to understand the implications of the technology we are developing. AI inherently terrifies us. The concept of having a machine that has a personality and feelings makes us question our own reality and morals, and the concept of having an AI capable of overpowering us all also scares us. This has been a large driving factor on the forefront of the art we've been creating lately, between Ex Machina, Westworld, and other art that's been created to question this disconnect between us and our machine counterparts. I imagine that this art installation will function in much a similar way. As we get closer to creating a real Artificial Intelligence, we will continue to discuss what that means to us. We've already started blurring those lines between human and machine, from new advancements in prosthetics to machines that we use to keep us alive. As this technology advances, we will continue to reimagine our identities, and where the line between human and machine truly is.
This sounds like a fascinating exhibit. I can’t wait to see it now that it’s open. I don’t often think about the possibility of merging AI with humans so I’m genuinely curious to see what others are thinking. Also, I wonder how our perception of AI changes throughout cultures. Since AI is extremely modern and futuristic technology I don’t think about how it interacts with culture. However I understand that our perception changes based on the culture we were raised in. Also, I’m interested in how our physical sensory experiences of the world changes our awareness. The things we experience subliminal must have a huge impact on our lives. I hope this art piece can bring awareness to these aspects of our life. Maybe we can gain an understanding and incorporate it into theater. Knowing how every aspect influences could allow us to create a more powerful theater experience for the viewer.
Having such easy access to exhibits like this makes me so happy! I think the conversation of the limitations of human intelligence within the mind and body has been explored for decades. This reminds me of the 2014 movie, Lucy. Scarlett Johansson portrays a woman that ends up digesting a very potent drug, which causes her to use “more” of her brain capacity. The exploration of the human mind is so interesting because of the fear factor that comes with it. The conversation of the human placement in the world and how far we can push our own complex body and mind scares a lot of people. The talk of artificial intelligence developing also scares people. The development of machines and robots is rapidly increasing, this fact is shown through the arts. Like the Miller gallery, movies like Ex Machina (as Lenora said) and I, Robot explores the means of this artificial intelligence.
I went to the Miller Gallery for the first time since I came to CMU yesterday, and I really wish I had gone more over the past two years here. I did not realize that there are three floors and that the exhibits are as large as they are. I think this one especially is particularly intriguing and I was surprised by the variety of art they have there at the moment. There were so many different viewer guided and interactive pieces that made this sort of out of the box concept much more accessible and easier to understand than I thought it would be by putting the viewer in the art. With all of this new technology being used in industry as a whole, I love seeing some of that used to make art as well. I think there are often amazing collaborations that come from the combination of new tech and different artistic mediums.
Post a Comment