DAD´s Arthur Flexer gave a virtual lecture on our plans for the DAD exhibition opening early summer at the Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art. The lecture was given at the Austrian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence (OFAI), where DAD was also located during the first nine month. This last CRITICAL SPACE was conducted to get feedback about our plans to build exhibits documenting our engagement with the collections of the Glyptothek of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, the Volkskundemuseum Wien and the Belvedere. Results for these three case studies differ according to the level of interaction between curators and machine: from using natural language processing tools for research in museum databases to a symbiotic interaction between curators and algorithms to robots visiting museums autonomously.
The ensuing conversation centered around ways to include and document aspects of algorithmic bias and societal stereotypes existing in natural language models. We also discussed our approaches to turn digital findings into analog exhibits and how using a robot to explore the Glyptothek aligns with the public’s (mis)conception that AI is predominantly about building machines not software.
This includes a model of a weaving loom programmable by punch cards or a transparent model of the human brain.
There are also interactive stations e.g. trying to guess your emotional status via camera, which is appearantly not easy with visitors wearing masks due to COVID-19. You can also try to teach a dog/cat classifier by showing it respective pictures.
The top floor is dedicated to the intersection of AI and the Arts, concentrating on music, literature and visual arts.
On 12.11.2020 DAD’s Niko Wahl presented our intermediate results on the third research day of the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna. Due to COVID-19, this event was an online ZOOM meeting. The goal of the ]a[ research days is to give an overview of all ongoing research projects at the academy including discussions with all participating colleagues.
Niko Wahl gave a short introduction of our project and an overview of DAD’ s collaborations with three different museums, where we work with an archive of an ethnological journal, a fine arts gallery and the statues in the Academy’s Glyptothek.
Since our work with the Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art and with the Belvedere, Vienna, has already been documented in previous blogposts [1][2], lets turn to the presentation of plaster casts at the Academy‘s Glyptothek, which we explored with Dusty, an off-the-shelf household robot.
Many people associate Artificial Intelligence (AI) with the development of ever more powerful and dextrous robots, along with horror scenarios of these machines taking over the planet. In reality robots are a small part of AI which is rather dominated by machine learning software solutions powering your Internet search engine, the natural language interface to your mobile phone, online music, movie and product recommendations and many other everyday technologies.
On the other hand, many people already own robots with limited forms of AI, for instance vacuum cleaning robots. What if we confront such a household robot with a – supposedly obsolete – museum collection of historic plaster copies of famous statues, whose very physis seems to be made of dust.
The robot takes its own route through the museum space. Following its built-in algorithms it perpetually finds new ways through the collection. It seemingly decides for itself in what order to visit the museum objects, all the time metaphorically internalizing the objects of art while inhaling their dust.
Other visitors are free to follow the robot on its path through the museum space engaging with its exhibition narrative. They might benefit form surprising relationships between objects of art established by the often creative course of the robot. Smart last generation vacuum cleaning robots are able to share their sensory experiences with others of their kind. These shared experiences usually are measurements of objects and how to avoid them when traversing a room. But what if this cloud communication, usually not accessible to us, deals with objects of art instead of everyday items? Will meeting David or the Pieta change the robots’ discourse? What if the robot meets a portrait of itself?
On 12.11.2020 we will give an overview of DUST AND DATA at the third research day of the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna. This event will be online, attendance is free but you should register before the 4th of November. Our talk will include news about Dusty!
Do you remember Dusty, the vacuum cleaner robot that explored a model version of the Glyptothek during this spring’s COVID19 related lockdown? This summer Dusty was able to experience the real Glyptothek, using its somewhat limited artificial intelligence, basically trying to avoid obstacles on its way through the maze of shelves full of plaster casts.
The Glyptothek of the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, is a collection of plaster casts dating back to the late 17th century. Its main task was to serve as study material for Academy students, containing copies of a canon of world renown sculptures, ranging from plaster casts of Egyptian originals to copies of Greek and Roman, medieval, renaissance and historism statues. This collection of copies of works of art can be seen as an early analog blueprint of digital collections: the Glyptothek made the essence of European sculpture available to local audiences, who could enjoy international pieces of art without leaving their home town, very much like today‘s internet population can access digital images of the world‘s artistic heritage at the click of their handheld device.
Speaking of digital images, the above image of Dusty in the Glyptothek actually is a digital copy of an analog photograph, which in itself is an analog copy of a plaster cast which is a copy of a statue which is a copy of a real (or imagined) person …
