MoresnetXMars
A mundane element such as zinc has nothing new to tell one might think, but there are stories built around that element, which elevate it into unknown spaces.
Zinc is an essential trace element for all humans, animals, plants, even micro organism. Besides this it has powers to enrich metals and preserve. With that in mind I stumbled upon an even more interesting story. The story of Neutral-Moresnet, a 3,44 square kilometer area between Belgium, Prussia and the Netherlands, and basically one large zink mine. The biggest in Europe in the 1800. After napoleons fall, and after many attempts the countrys decided to make it a neutral area.
A company, la vile montage took advantage of this. It provided for the whole area, and soon it controlled the whole social and economic system. Today we are highly dependent on zinc. Basically so dependent that we achieved nearly an endangered status of the element. These modes of extraction are changing the location they take part. So then a location, an endeavour becomes a claim. A territory. I was questioning where would this end.
While I looked up again I wondered if there is zinc in space.
And there was, even in most recent space history. The Opportunity found Zinc on mars. I had to think back an wonder, what would happen if this fell into the hand of a company. Ah wait, of course while thinking nowadays of space you can’t escape self claimed philanthropists and futurists Elon Musk. That already set his mind to populate space.
Personally I’m sure that we will be able to life in outer space. My question is will we repeat everything that we done? Will we exploit and go on.
Forever ?
This VR video essay deals with the mechanisms of capitalist territorial practices in four chapters. From the past history of Moresnet, to the current state of Zinc mining around the world, it culminates in a speculative future scenario for an extractive use of extraterrestrial space
Year: 2022
Format: VR video, 6 min link in bio
#extractivism#cicular#resources#tech#space#speculativedesign
„I’ve Thought About It Again “ is a project that deals with the question of the ethical use of generative AI and how we are using our current data to make subconscious decisions for future generations. Together with my grandfather, I was exploring the topic while speaking with him about e.g. how data is harvested for training AI algorithms. I used our exemplary dataset in my project to showcase how our perception of reality might change.
With the project, I encountered multitudes of people who had heard of AI safety for the first time and others who could help me figure out even broader aspects of it. It was on display at this year's @dutchdesignweek as part of the Graduationshow of @designacademyeindhoven in-between many great other freshly graduated designers.
Thanks to all the visitors for their time, it was a bliss.
#aisafety#aiact#generativeai
What do we do with our personal data in this age of AI? How do we deal with the digital remains of our self and loved ones? Our recordings of the past. The evidence of the human in the posthuman.
Our agency is in demand now. While the regulations of this market are still vaguely put together or even not there. What can we do for an ethical data collection without breaking copyrights and personal spaces ?
How can we feed a growing, less biased dataset for our future algorithmic selfs? Is this paradox there to be solved?
In this MA research outcome, I juxtapose AI imagery with original found footage of my grandpa. Expanding our understanding of the promising future technology in an anachronistic setup.
While looking at the images, my grandfather slowly understood the concept of generative AI, yet he questioned the idea of reality. This puts out an interesting task to our future selves and how we will perceive our personal data that turns slowly into common data.
The setup contains a projector showing the altered past, a tablet showcasing the film „I’ve thought about it again“ and a frame on the wall consisting of an altered video call with my grandfather.
The MA project developed out of the Information Design program of the @designacademyeindhoven
1. image @femke_reijermanstudio
#aiact#aisafety#digitalafterlife
Friendly AI is a term used by tech corporations to describe and sell the software they create for the greater good of humanity. Still, advances in the development of AI should be seen with ambivalence, as they are often associated with the misuse of these technologies, for example in the creation of fakes.
Looking at conversational bots fed by AI technology, I analysed communication processes between human and human, human and AI, and AI and AI. My aim is to enhance our understanding of the iterative nature of generative creation in the realm of both humanism and post-humanism. Faced with the rapid pace of AI development, I turned inwards and reduced my field of observation to a way smaller scale, in the hope of making the abstract topic more tangible.
For my project I used the personal memories of my grandfather, which I recorded over the course of several years before I ever contemplated this project. The recordings supply illustrative data, which allows me to point out both similarities and differences between reality and fiction, memory, and synthetic data. Through a conversation between my grandfather, AI and me, ‘I’ve Thought About It Again’ raises questions that concern the implications and risks of using AI technologies.
This project was completed as my MA Information Design @designacademyeindhoven
Thanks for the help of everyone involved.
Film stills from "I've thought about it again"
#ai#aiact#designethics#aisafety
MA Thesis on generative AI perception @designacademyeindhoven Advances in the development of AI are viewed by the majority of society with ambivalence, as they are often associated with fears of technology misuse, for example in connection with the creation of fakes. What I‘m going to show is how both these feelings of fear and the fakes themselves are partly led by misconceptions and misreadings of the structural nature of these technologies, and how the image of this topic has changed over the last decade. By depicting the impact of fakeness in the form of imagery and text production on social media echo chambers, my thesis points out scenarios to which artificial online communication leads and might lead in the future.
By looking at conversational bots fed by AI technology, I am dismantling the communication processes between human and human, human and Ai, and Ai and Ai. By analyzing the iterative nature of AI creation in the realm of both humanism and post-humanism, my aim is to enhance our understanding of bot and AI literacy.
In order to do that, my project explores the question of how autonomous bots could be using iterations of existing media technologies in order to create an independent form of communication, where humans are not involved at all. A bot-to-bot posthuman internet is already starting to build up, as more and more dead accounts, empty domains, and terabytes of human data are lying around. The internet is a wasteland to be discovered by programs, analysing millions of text-based forums while learning more from our worst behaviour and turning our data into operational images.
MA Thesis on generative AI perception @designacademyeindhoven
Advances in the development of AI are viewed by the majority of society with ambivalence, as they are often associated with fears of technology misuse, for example in connection with the creation of fakes. What I‘m going to show is how both these feelings of fear and the fakes themselves are partly led by misconceptions and misreadings of the structural nature of these technologies, and how the image of this topic has changed over the last decade. By depicting the impact of fakeness in the form of imagery and text production on social media echo chambers, my thesis points out scenarios to which artificial online communication leads and might lead in the future.
By looking at conversational bots fed by AI technology, I am dismantling the communication processes between human and human, human and Ai, and Ai and Ai. By analyzing the iterative nature of AI creation in the realm of both humanism and post-humanism, my aim is to enhance our understanding of bot and AI literacy.
In order to do that, my project explores the question of how autonomous bots could be using iterations of existing media technologies in order to create an independent form of communication, where humans are not involved at all. A bot-to-bot posthuman internet is already starting to build up, as more and more dead accounts, empty domains, and terabytes of human data are lying around. The internet is a wasteland to be discovered by programs, analysing millions of text-based forums while learning more from our worst behaviour and turning our data into operational images. #research#ai#design#editorial#ai#generative#euaiact
Advances in the development of AI are viewed by the majority of society with ambivalence, as they are often associated with fears of technology misuse, for example in connection with the creation of fakes. What I‘m going to show is how both these feelings of fear and the fakes themselves are partly led by misconceptions and misreadings of the structural nature of these technologies, and how the image of this topic has changed over the last decade. By depicting the impact of fakeness in the form of imagery and text production on social media echo chambers, my thesis points out scenarios to which artificial online communication leads and might lead in the future.
By looking at conversational bots fed by AI technology, I am dismantling the communication processes between human and human, human and Ai, and Ai and Ai. By analyzing the iterative nature of AI creation in the realm of both humanism and post-humanism, my aim is to enhance our understanding of bot and AI literacy.
In order to do that, my project explores the question of how autonomous bots could be using iterations of existing media technologies in order to create an independent form of communication, where humans are not involved at all. A bot-to-bot posthuman internet is already starting to build up, as more and more dead accounts, empty domains, and terabytes of human data are lying around. The internet is a wasteland to be discovered by programs, analysing millions of text-based forums while learning more from our worst behaviour and turning our data into operational images. #ai#research#information#technologie
The video installation “Free of charge” sheds light on the obscure part of flags of convenience in the shipping process, allowing the consumer to recognize the reality of individuals serving our mundane commodities. Within a two-sided screening, the viewer is introduced to the problem, while viewing the case study of a ship moored in the port of Ghent in 2022. With open-source data from the International Transport Workers’ Federation, the project unveils several other cases. By analyzing and comparing these to the positions on vesselfinder.com, I was able to track down several positions of these incidents and their status quo.
Two sides that don’t see each other; a window that we passively accept, but rarely view through both sides.
It was realized as a student project. All mentioned information are a product of their time and might differ to current statuses.
Video installation, Feb 2022
2 Screens
6:20 min
Voice by: @luziedeubel
We live in an ever-growing economy, heavily based on the shipping industry, where „free shipping“ seems to let us forget about the actual process. The same goes for the labor rights of workers, which seem to be too far away for us to even think about. But while we’re having a cup of coffee in the morning, seafarers that shipped the raw materials for that cup might be stuck near a port, abandoned by their employers in another part of the world. One might think it’s a rare phenomenon, but most ships worldwide profit from a system that makes these inhumane conditions possible. This is the system of Flags of convenience or short FOC.
The video installation “Free of charge” sheds light on the obscure part of flags of convenience in the shipping process, allowing the consumer to recognize the reality of individuals serving our mundane commodities. Within a two-sided screening, the viewer is introduced to the problem, while viewing the case study of a ship moored in the port of Ghent in 2022. With open-source data from the International Transport Workers' Federation, the project unveils several other cases. By analyzing and comparing these to the positions on vesselfinder.com, I was able to track down several positions of these incidents and their status quo.
Two sides that don’t see each other; a window that we passively accept, but rarely view through both sides.
It was realized as a student project. All mentioned information are a product of their time and might differ to current statuses.
Video installation, Feb 2022
2 Screens
6:20 min
Voice by: @luziedeubel
The video installation “Free of charge” sheds light on the obscure part of flags of convenience in the shipping process, allowing the consumer to recognize the reality of individuals serving our mundane commodities. Within a two-sided screening, the viewer is introduced to the problem, while viewing the case study of a ship moored in the port of Ghent in 2022. With open-source data from the International Transport Workers’ Federation, the project unveils several other cases. By analyzing and comparing these to the positions on vesselfinder.com, I was able to track down several positions of these incidents and their status quo.
Two sides that don’t see each other; a window that we passively accept, but rarely view through both sides.
It was realized as a student project. All mentioned information are a product of their time and might differ to current statuses.
Video installation, Feb 2022
2 Screens
6:20 min
Voice by: @luziedeubel
