The Seeker is a machine entity – a proto-AI – that travels the world virtually and describes what it sees. The project explores ideas of the emergent machine gaze and the hidden virtual power structures behind it.
The Seeker travels the internet looking through compromised surveillance camera eyes and uses image recognition technology to interpret these visions. Named for Ptah-Seker, the artist/technologist god of the Ancient Egyptians, who created the world by speaking the words to describe it, this project looks at how the act of describing the world might establish a whole new worldview for machines and humans alike.
The Seeker is an exploratory, data-generating system, which the artist uses to create further physical outcomes (artworks). The giant ‘drawing’ “Words That Remake The World” contains all the words and concepts that The Seeker has used to describe what it saw in the tens of thousands of locations it has ‘visited’. The video shows a live machine performance installation where CKRBTs – physical avatars of The Seeker browse and describe the world in real-time.
Project Credits:
- The development of this project was generously supported by Arts Council England.
- This project is presented in the framework of the European ARTificial Intelligence Lab and co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.
Biography:
Nye Thompson: Artist turned software designer turned artist again. She has exhibited internationally, including Tate Modern, The Barbican, The V&A and ZKM. Her first solo show Backdoored.io – described by C4 News as “too shocking to broadcast” – became global clickbait and triggered an international government complaint. Media coverage includes BBC, C4, CNN, the Guardian, Wired, Neural & Studio International.
http://www.nyethompson.co.uk
