Memo Akten: Distributed Consciousness
Free AI art exhibition
Where: ACMI
When: Open daily
See glowing art generated by AI in this unsettling yet beautiful exhibition. Marvel at the colourful octopus-like critters on the massive screens.
Embrace the interconnectivity of everything with Memo Akten's multi-screen work exploring the merging of human and non-human consciousness - via the coded AI musings of octopus-like digital beings.
Originally beginning as an NFT collection on the ecologically friendly blockchain Tezos, Memo Akten's eight-channel video installation, Distributed Consciousness, features 256 unique images of octopus-like Tentacular Critters created with custom Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning coded by the artist.
ACMI presents
Memo Akten: Distributed Consciousness
Memo Akten | Turkey | 2021 | Unclassified (All Ages)
Embrace the interconnectivity of everything with Memo Akten's multi-screen work exploring the merging of human and non-human consciousness - via the coded AI musings of octopus-like digital beings.
Originally beginning as an NFT collection on the ecologically friendly blockchain Tezos, Memo Akten's eight-channel video installation, Distributed Consciousness, features 256 unique images of octopus-like Tentacular Critters created with custom Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning coded by the artist.
It was later revealed that each image had AI-generated text cryptographically encoded in it - a Verse. Invisible to the human eye, but readable by code, the collection forms a poem, a book, a manifesto. The manifesto is a human-machine co-creation meditation spanning consciousness, free will, life, death, art, technology, ritual, ecology, economy and sustainability. Each Verse was released as an audio-visual reading.
Cephalopods are incredibly intelligent; only 10% of their neurons are in a central brain, while the rest is distributed across their body, with two thirds in their arms. In a sense, they have a decentralised nervous system. Distributed Consciousness draws parallels between the distributed computation performed by smart-contract based blockchains, and the anthropological timeline, with differently evolved mythologies and deities, promoting alternative cultural values to the exploitative, extractivist, purely profit-driven neoliberal world we find ourselves in today.
Staged as a place of worship, our Tentacular deities invite us to face our final Copernican Trauma, to face the reality that humans may not be the sole keepers of what we think of as "intelligence", "creativity" or even "consciousness". The project also uses the extraordinary alien intelligence of cephalopods, to reflect on the new synthetic alien intelligences we are building in machines in the form of AI.
In these times of ecological collapse and urgency, we are invited to let go of the dangerous dichotomy of "Man vs Nature", and instead embrace the interconnectedness of all human, non-human, living and non-living things across manifold scales of time and space, and actively work towards multi-species flourishing.
Distributed Consciousness is generously supported by Naomi Milgrom AC and the Naomi Milgrom Foundation. Through this important partnership, we will commission and present major works across an international moving image art series, building on ACMI and Naomi Milgrom AC's experience of supporting, commissioning and presenting leading artists working with the moving image globally.
When
Open daily - 10am - 5pm
Tickets
This exhibition is FREE and unticketed.
Where
Gallery 1, Ground Floor
(inside The Story of the Moving Image exhibition)
ACMI, Fed Square
PLAN YOUR VISIT
Please note
This exhibition will close on Wed 13 Sep for maintenance, and reopen from Thu 14 Sep.
Content Warning
This exhibition includes lights with strobing effect that may affect photosensitive viewers.
About Memo Akten
Memo Akten is a multi-disciplinary artist, musician, researcher and computer scientist from Istanbul, Turkey, currently based in Los Angeles. He explores the tensions between ecology, technology, science and spirituality; studying intelligence in nature, intelligence in machines, perception, consciousness, neuroscience, physics and (philosophies of) spirituality, ritual and religion. He uses code as his craft to create images, sounds, films, large-scale responsive installations and performances. He received his PhD from Goldsmiths University of London, specialising in creative applications of Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning with Meaningful Human Control, and in this field he is considered one of the world's leading pioneers. He is currently Assistant Professor of Computational Art and Design at University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Akten is a frequent keynote speaker on topics involving art, science, technology and culture.
❊ When & Where ❊
Happens: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Times: 10am – 5pm
❊ Venue ❊
Australian Centre for the Moving Image | ACMI View Venue
Federation Square, Cnr Swanston St and Flinders St Melbourne Victoria 3000 Map
℅ Naarm
✆ Venue: (03) 8663 2200 | Event:
✆ Venue: (03) 8663 2200 | Event:
❊ Web Links ❊
→ Memo Akten: Distributed Consciousness→ www.onlysydney.com.au
Disclaimer: Check with the venue (web links) before making plans, travelling or buying tickets.
Accessibility: Contact the venue for accessibility information.
Trending HOT
Daily until Sunday 14th July 2024 @ The Briars Community Forest* - Mount Martha Step Into The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and embark on a nighttime trail filled ..
Make the most of your weekend in Melbourne with these fabulous events. No city does it better than Melbourne, so get out and discover the very best shows, festivals, ..
Update Page Upgrade Page
