ARS ELECTRONICA ARCHIVE – AI LAB

The European ARTificial Intelligence Lab (AI Lab) is a follow-up project to the European Digital Art and Science Network, a creative collaboration between scientific institutions, Ars Electronica and cultural partners throughout Europe that unites science and digital art. The European ARTificial Intelligence Lab follows on from this and addresses visions, expectations and fears that we associate with artificial intelligence. The consortium consists of 13 cultural institutions from Europe with Ars Electronica as coordinator. This online archive provides an overview of all activities carried out during the project's lifetime from 2018 to 2021. It also provides information about the network itself, the residency artists and juries, and the project partners involved. The AI Lab is co-funded by the EU program "Creative Europe (2014-2020)" and by the Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport.

Artist Residency at Edinburgh Futures Institute 2020 - Anna Ridler (UK), Caroline Sinders (US) 2020

Artist Residency at Edinburgh Futures Institute 2020 - Anna Ridler (UK), Caroline Sinders (US)

This year, Ars Electronica’s residency and the “Experiential AI” research cluster at the Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) – part of the University of Edinburgh – was conceived and developed in partnership with the Edinburgh International Festival. With the aim of supporting artists in the research of AI systems. The theme of the residency is Entanglements – fair, moral and transparent AI. In 2020 the residency goes to Anna Ridler and Caroline Sinders for their project “AI isn’t Artificial but Human”.
• Info: Anna Ridler (UK), Caroline Sinders (US): AI isn´t Artificial but Human
online / Edinburgh Future Institute, Edinburgh (UK) / Ars Electronica, Linz (AT)
01.03.2020 - 30.09.2021

Year of creation

2020

Urls

Press: https://ars.electronica.art/press/en/2020/04/08/ridler-sinders-residency/
AE Blog: https://ars.electronica.art/aeblog/en/2020/03/26/ai-is-human/
Inside Futurelab: Cypress Trees, A Beginning – guest presentation by Anna Ridler & Caroline Sinders: https://ars.electronica.art/homedelivery/en/inside-futurelab-cypress-trees-a-beginning-guest-presentation-by-anna-ridler-caroline-sinders/

Start:

Mar 01, 2020

End:

Sep 30, 2021

Info:

• Internal Project: AI Lab Online Archiv

European ARTificial Intelligence Lab, Anna Ridler (UK), Caroline Sinders (US)

Myriad (Tulips) & Mosaic Virus / Anna Ridler (UK)

Mosaic Virus is a moving image piece, each frame generated by AI, that responds to the price of bitcoin.
Bitcoin has been described as "worse than the tulip mania,” the Dutch craze for buying tulip bulbs in the 1630s. Now, crypto currencies are still seen as a potential speculative bubble with prices fluctuating wildly. Drawing together ideas around capitalism, value, and the tangible and intangible nature of speculation and collapse, my work brings together these two very different, yet surprisingly similar moments in history. This is accentuated by the use of AI as a material, which is going through its own cycle of hype and speculation.
As the tulips bloom, some reveal a striped appearance. In nature, the mosaic virus causes stripes in a tulip petal, which increased their desirability and helped cause the speculative prices during the period of “tulip mania.” However, in this piece, the stripes seen on each tulip are dependent on the value of bitcoin—changing over time to show how the market fluctuates.

Credit: Emily Grundon

This project was commissioned by IMPAKT within the framework of the EMAP/EMARE program with support of the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

Random Seed: Using Gardening as a Metaphor for Machine Learning in a Creative Practise

AI Lab Artists-in-Residence Anna Ridler and Caroline Sinders, together with scientists from Edinburgh University’s Futures Institute, will discuss how the language, imagery and practicalities of gardening can be used to better understand the use of AI and machine learning in a creative practice, by covering issues such as labour, creativity and what it means to own something that is grown.

Cypress Trees, a beginning Anna Ridler (UK), Caroline Sinders (US)

How can AI help us to face the climate crisis and other entwined challenges? This machine-learning-generated moving image piece gives insights into the complexity of data sets and raises questions about deforestation and the politics of climate change, memory and loss. Anna Ridler and Caroline Sinders created a special dataset of the Bald Cypress on the gulf coast of the USA, where both have family ties. These trees, which can live thousands of years, are currently considered to be “threatened” by climate change.

Photo: tom mesic

Cypress Trees, a beginning / Anna Ridler (UK), Caroline Sinders (US)

Photo showing the project "Cypress Trees, a beginning" by Anna Ridler (UK) and Caroline Sinders (US) at the Theme Exhibition "Digital && Life".

How can AI help us to face the climate crisis and other entwined challenges? This machine-learning-generated moving image piece gives insights into the complexity of data sets and raises questions about deforestation and the politics of climate change, memory and loss. Anna Ridler and Caroline Sinders created a special dataset of the Bald Cypress on the gulf coast of the USA, where both have family ties. These trees, which can live thousands of years, are currently considered to be “threatened” by climate change.

Photo: tom mesic