A glorious non-binary computation 1 (Wild Data) #15/15

Libby Heaney
A glorious non-binary computation 1 (Wild Data), 2023
HD video with audio, 3D model of oak tree
TRT: 1 minute 17 seconds

Libby Heaney offers audiences a non-binary computational massage through undulating waves of wild data.

Slimy big tech companies dominate the digital landscape. Their cold, capitalist models rely on binary, outdated modes of classification, leading to well-documented biases and societal polarization, preventing people from using technology in collective and radical ways.

The artwork counters this by inviting audiences to reimagine controlling surveillance capitalist practices. Hovering over a CGI river in a wild digital landscape, GAN models trained on magic, ghost in and out being. There and not there at the same time, they are suggestive of a post-human, affective and emotional way of using technology.

The way oaks support themselves when they are old by growing “limbs” that touch the ground and giving their heavy trunks a stable base inspired thinking about what supports emancipatory data from a capitalist grip.

The sound track - a non-human techno - best listened to through headphones - was produced generatively by AI (WaveGAN) and Heaney’s self-written quantum computing code. The full, playable artwork Wild Data was generously supported by Mozilla Foundation and will be launched in Spring/Summer 2023.

Libby Heaney is a British artist and PhD quantum physicist known for her pioneering work on AI and quantum computing. She works on the impact of future technologies and their link to society and the environment and is widely known to be the first artist to use quantum computing as a functioning artistic medium. Her work has been featured internationally, including in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Tate Modern, London; Light Art Space, Berlin and Somerset House, London.

EPOCH presents, XENOSPACE, a ground-breaking and experimental virtual exhibition that features seven artists exploring the collaborative boundaries between AI and machine learning within their creative processes.

The title “XENOSPACE” alludes to an unusual or unfamiliar environment. EPOCH has processed 360 equirectangular panoramas through Stable Diffusion, generating the subsequent AI-assisted environments that serve as the backdrop for the artworks.

XENOSPACE responds to a significant moment in the field, as it reflects on the growing relationship between humans and machines and the impact of AI on creative expression. The exhibition serves as a benchmark, showcasing the expansive collaborative potential of AI and machine learning in contemporary art practices and exhibition building. – chatGPT