Science can be beautiful. Art can be informative.
In NatureDocumentaries.org the motto “science can be beautiful and art can be informative” is a valued proposition. For instance, In Nomine Terra Calens: In the Name of a Warming Earth is an example for such kind of art-science integration that informs us about the most pressing global issue of our time: Global Warming. Refik Anadol is a successful data/media artist who in his own words “uses data as pigment” to create his visions. He “collaborates” with computers through artificial intelligence and machine learning to integrate vast amounts of data into fascinating poetic representations.
His visualizations have a spatial component and could be described as data sculptures such as the Bosphorus which draws its source data from high frequency radar records of Marmara Sea provided by Turkish State Meteorological Service with 30 minutes intervals. The sea surface activity data corresponding to 30 days was transformed into a poetic experience and visualized on a 12 meters by 3 meters long LED media wall.
The overarching theme in Anadol’s works is memories. As a random highlight of one of Anadol’s works, Latent History is a time and space exploration into Stockholm’s past, and ultimately present, using the deployment of machine learning algorithms trained on datasets from both archival and contemporary photographs. Through the exploration of photographic memories from the past 150 years, this exhibition aims to investigate and re-imagine collective memory, hidden layers of history, and the consciousness of a city that otherwise might remain unseen.
Philosopher Vilém Flusser considers the camera as a tool of intelligence. The device mimics eyes which process information and send neuronal electric signals to our brains. Latent History is a crosstalk between photography and machine intelligence. Refik Anadol allows us to re-examine not merely our external realities, but rather an alternative process to which we attribute artistic consciousness.
A digital photograph is an aggregation of pixels emerging into an image. Anadol endeavors to scale this relationship with a massive collection of photographs taken of Stockholm. Able to render millions of images, map their connections, and generate new understandings, Anadol believes we are now able to composite the discrete memories, experiences, and events of Stockholm into a new form.
Locations
Fotografiska, Stockholm, Sweden
Dates
July 8, 2019 – August 31, 2019
0 Comments
You can be the first one to leave a comment.