Michael Wallinger

ITERATIVE BODY SYNTHESIS is still on display in London until 28 September 2025: Virtual Beauty at Somerset House In an age where digital self curation is second nature, Virtual Beauty invites audiences to reflect on identity, empowerment and the shifting boundaries of beauty in the post-internet era. Featuring artists: @madame.de.sainte.orlan , @amaliaulman , @hyungkoolee.kr , @minneatairu , @qualeasha , @sinforvictory , @lilmiquela , @filipcustic , @bencullenwilliams , @isamayaffrench , @aleksandernaerbo , @ines.alpha , @bunnykinney , @angelfir.e , @harriet.blend , @hairygaze , @andrewthomashuang , @james.t.merry , @frederikheyman , @arvidabystrom , @_michaelwallinger , @mariabueygonzalez , M.C. Abbott and Carl Olsson. Curated by @gonzaloherrero , @matti_fries & @bunnykinney . Originally initiated by @hek_basel . With support from Claire Catterall, Senior Curator at Somerset House. 23 July - 28 September 2025 Terrace Rooms | Pay what you can

Today, we held a small hacking workshop at Kunsthochschule Kassel. This is my result: an attempt to test Instagram's cv systems... #fishy #hacking #mediaart #notafish #digitalarts

Super exited that ITERATIVE BODY SYNTHESIS is part of «Virtual Beauty» at @hek_basel . «Virtual Beauty» sheds light on how new technologies and our increasingly digital lives are challenging traditional notions of identity and reshaping our understanding of beauty. Artists: Ines Alpha, Angelfire, Arvida Byström , GERIKO & Juno Calypso, Filip Ćustić, Harriet Davey, Anan Fries, Maria Guta, Frederik Heyman, Andrew Thomas Huang & James Merry, Hyphen-Labs, Keiken, Bunny Kinney, Lil Miquela, Aleksander Nærbø, ORLAN, Daniel Sannwald & Beauty_GAN, Simon Senn, Michael Wallinger, Ben Cullen Williams. @ines.alpha @angelfir.e @arvidabystrom @gerikofilm @junocalypso @filipcustic @harriet.blend @hairygaze @maria_gucci @frederikheyman @andrewthomashuang @james.t.merry @hyphenlabs @_keiken_ @bunnykinney @lilmiquela @aleksandernaerbo @madame.de.sainte.orlan @danielsannwald @simonsenn_ @_michaelwallinger @bencullenwilliams Curated by @gonzaloherrero @bunnykinney @matti_fries @_______marlene______

Recently got lost in archiving and unearthed a generous dose of self-promotion. Catch-up (4/4): Towards the end of 2023, a long-held wish of mine was surpassed: I always wanted to visit the Chaos Communication Congress organised by the Chaos Computer Club in person. Last year, we were unexpectedly invited to exhibit ITERATIVE BODY SYNTHESIS there. Due to overlaps, we had to stream from Linz and showed a virtual version of the installation. There are strict photo policies at the Congress and I forgot all about documenting before the crowds arrived. But honestly, I just want to show you again that my little virtual butt was on German public broadcasting. ITERATIVE BODY SYNTHESIS, 2022 Production Team: @kevin_ferdinandus , @claus_strafe , @uploaded_spirit , @nrczg #c37c3 #ccc #digtalart #mediaart #arttech #dataart #artisticresearch #fineart #art #contemporaryart #ai #STARTSEU #digitaleu #horizon2020 #mediafutures #new_media_art

Recently got lost in archiving and unearthed a generous dose of self-promotion. Catch-up (3/4): Between September 2023 and February 2024 we had the pleasure to show ITERATIVE BODY SYNTHESIS as part of the extraordinary exhibition ‘Extension of Self’ at Francisco Carolinum Linz (@fc_linz ). Particularly special was to exhibit together with such fantastic artists: @claudia_larcher , @crosslucid , @emanuelgollob , @holly_herndon + @matdryhurst , Reson Alte feat. @lynn.l.leeson , @mimionuoha , Morehshin Allahyari, @silk_cie & @silkfluegge , @sougwen , @stephanie.dinkins Thanks again to Eva Fischer (@eva0707 ) for the curation and Maria Rudakova (@mariarudakova_work ) for the exhibition design. 📸 #1, #4, #5 kunst-dokumentationen.com (@kunstdokumentationcom ) 📸 #2 Francisco Carolinum (@fc_linz ) 📸 #3 MariaMaria Rudakova (@mariarudakova_work ) 📸 #6,#7 "Dwellers Between The Waters", still from Recess Of Evocation, 2023, CROSSLUCID (@crosslucid ) #extensionsofself #artificialintelligence #unescocityofmediaarts #linzunescocityofmediaarts #mediaart #groupexhibition #fclinz #franciscocarolinumlinz #digtalart #mediaart #arttech #dataart #artisticresearch #fineart #art #contemporaryart #ai #STARTSEU #digitaleu #horizon2020 #mediafutures #new_media_art

Recently got lost in archiving and unearthed a generous dose of self-promotion. Catch-up (2/4): In 2023, Content Vienna Award recipients were invited by @aussenwirtschaft_austria.at and @wirtschaftsagentur_wien to attend SXSW in Austin Texas and present their projects. 📸 #2 @alunovicoliver 📸 #3 @reanne1308 #SXSW #contentvienna

Recently got lost in archiving and unearthed a generous dose of self-promotion. Catch-up (1/4): In 2022, ‘Synthetic Identity Speculations’ received the Content Vienna Award. Seemingly lost in the depths of data chaos, I came across this memory of the data centre party and the extremely flattering jury statement. Many thanks again for the support of the @wirtschaftsagentur_wien and all the artists involved in the project: @uploaded_spirit @kevin_ferdinandus @claus_strafe @nrczg #datacentre #digtalart #mediaart #arttech #dataart #artisticresearch #fineart #art #contemporaryart #ai #STARTSEU #digitaleu #horizon2020 #mediafutures #new_media_art #contentvienna

photo: @alexkasses

ITERATIVE BODY SYNTHESIS [2022] in collaboration with: Alina Huber (API Integration Development) @uploaded_spirit Enrico Zago (Texture Painting) @nrczg Kevin Ferdinandus (Video Documentation) @kevin_ferdinandus Claudia Strate (Storytelling [Video Documentation]) @claus_strafe virtual identities: @sisi.spec @icu.ibssis supported by: @mediafutures.eu @startseu @europeancommission @wirtschaftsagentur_wien ITERATIVE BODY SYNTHESIS & Synthetic Identity Speculations are part of the MediaFutures project. This project has received funding from the European Union’s framework Horizon 2020 for research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 951962 Credits: SMPL-X: Pavlakos et al., 2019 #new_media_art #digitalart #arttech #dataart #artisticresearch #fineart #art #contemporaryart #artist #instagram #meta #smplx #artificialintelligence #ai #machinelearning #technology #datascience #digitaltransformation #deeplearning #analytics #computervision #datavisualization #STARTSEU #horizon2020 #digitaleu #h2020 #NextGenerationEU #mediafutures #syntheticidentityspeculations

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„ITERATIVE BODY SYNTHESIS“ is a self-operating software implementation that helps to gain insights into how Instagram’s algorithms are processing body representations and their dissemination in an experimental online investigation. Exploring potentials of synthetic data and virtual identities, a self-evaluating sampling algorithm coordinates the output of several artificial neural networks to generate sequences of 3D body transformations in an autoregressive manner. This long term iterative reevaluation process calibrates new sample sequences towards the most consistent patterns between body characteristics and online in-/visibility. Casting a continuous virtual hyper-embodiment that monitors and documents algorithmic agency in Instagram’s affective economies and notions of integrity. virtual identities: @sisi.spec @icu.ibssis Credits: Artistic Director/Software development: Michael Wallinger @_michaelwallinger Software development: @blaukind Texture painting: Enrico Zago @nrczg Video documentation: Kevin Daryl Ferdinandus @kevin_ferdinandus Narration (documentation): Claudia Strate @claus_strafe SMPL-X: Pavlakos et al., 2019 supported by: @mediafutures.eu ITERATIVE BODY SYNTHESIS & Synthetic Identity Speculations are part of the MediaFutures project. This project has received funding from the European Union’s framework Horizon 2020 for research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 951962 #new_media_art #digitalart #arttech #dataart #artisticresearch #fineart #art #contemporaryart #artist #instagram #instaart #smplx #artificialintelligence #ai #machinelearning #technology #datascience #digitaltransformation #deeplearning #analytics #computervision #datavisualization #STARTSEU #horizon2020 #digitaleu #h2020 #NextGenerationEU #mediafutures #SyntheticIdentitySpeculations

Uncanny coincidence: I just stumbled across these images and realized that this ended exactly 2 years ago and it still feels much closer. During the first lockdown I had the chance to show fprs.19 at NonStopScheiner, a public access pavilion in Graz. I am still very grateful for the opportunity to exhibit in those strange times when temporality seemed to expand while memories collapsed. Thanks to @kioer_steiermark and @museumjoanneum #digitalart #dataart #algorithmicart #contemporaryart #facerecogniton #patternrecognition #arttech #new_media_art #museumjoanneum #kunstimöffentlichenraum