Client: Helmholtz Zentrum, Scientific Research Center

Overview

The installation explores perception, through a site-specific intervention that alters the physical, sensory and temporal experience of space and forces the viewer to slow down and think about their position inside the environment. The form of the installation resembles one of the most basic fractals, the ‘dragon curve’. We intentionally wanted to make it harder for the viewer to read – the installation must be observed from many sides thus calling into question the straight linearity which we have come to take for granted in everything from physics to fiction.The content of the installation are poems, not written by a human, but by a machine – inspired by Romantic poetry and scientific research of the Helmholtz Diabetes Center. Exploring the parameters of design and AI, the installation incorporates a deep learning algorithm developed by our team. We asked ourselves what if we could train the algorithm to write poetry based on the scientific research papers produced at HDC? What kind of knowledge would that produce?
We see this work as blurring accepted boundaries between art and science, exploring the shapes of inter-subjectivity, and examining issues of power and authority. The installation is based in Munich, Germany.

Goals

The goal of this artistic intervention was to create a light sculpture, which expresses the context of reseach being conducted at the HELMHOLTZ ZENTRUM, Munich, Germany. We installed the installation in the outdoor courtyard to the Diabetes Research Center with in the Helmholtz Zentrum, which is a place to contemplate and relax for the employees and scientists.

Process

The process was set into two parts: one was the construction and design of a LED scrolltext sculpture, which was especially designed to fit the courtyard location. For the second part (the content) we used the 1500 research papers and the work of 19th century romanitcism poetry to train an AI algorithm to display poems made by the AI on the sculpture. The whole process took around one year to complete.

Additional Information

Please note that there will be more documentation (videos & pictures) of the project coming soon as this project is brand new!