Several works in the exhibition concern forms of collective intelligence—in both nature and culture—that inform or define the design and mechanisms of AI. Ian Cheng’s BOB (Bag of Beliefs) (2018–2019) translates this idea into a virtual life-form in the shape of a snake that responds to both its internal programming and to input from its audience. Agnieska Kurant’s works in this exhibition incorporate crowdsourced information and labor that together point to the new economy of “ghost work” fueling many AI platforms and devices.
Simon Denny’s sculpture and relief works critique the humanitarian and ecological costs of today’s data economy, particularly the destructive environmental practices used to create sleek AI-based objects like Amazon’s Echo. The Zairja Collective’s intricate collages also concern mining—both of physical resources and of data. Overlaying images of firing neurons with open-pit designs sourced
