code

VALIS

Digital Research Unit in Art and Design at the Esad Saint-Étienne/Ensba Lyon

For this first presentation in the framework of Ars Electronica, we chose to explore concepts of “science-fiction,” considered as a domain that provides forms but also imaginary elements to be renewed. The exhibition presented here is therefore a first approach which summons various references to fields such as archeology, music, robotics or video games, passing through several experiments with media (code, 3D, sound, performance, deep learning …). VALIS “Vast Living Intelligent System” is a reference to the late work of Philip K. Dick.

Digital Investigations #1 & #2

Valerio Vincenzo (IT)

The book, weighing about 30 kg, and composed of over 4,000 pages of binary code, is the negative of my photograph, namely its origin information: This sequence of 0 and 1 allows me to visualize the enormous amount of information produced each time I take a photograph. I cannot understand the information in this book, but for a computer the information in the book is the photo.

IC-Decoder

Wesley Lee Yang (BR)

For this year’s exhibitions graphic design, we not only wanted to develop attractive aesthetics but also to provide an appealing visual code that can be decoded in order to transmit information. It is with this in mind that the IC-Decoder was created: a ludic exploration of decoding potential information from visual patterns.

Nothing wild in particular

Jeremie Nuel (FR)

Consciousness, memory, reality and identity are regular themes in Philip K. Dick’s books. These concepts have fed into AI research since the seventies. This work uses Andrej Karpathy’s neural network, known as “recurrent,” to train a computer program, using as source a text or a corpus. Once trained, the code writes, character by character, a new text. The corpus that feeds the neuronal network shortens Philip K. Dick’s work (52 books). As a mirrored entity, strange and undisciplined, the computer program tries to write, at every iteration, step by step, an often-absurd story, and sometimes, a poetic one.