Love or hate, which lasts longer? Is Edward Snowden responsible? Will capitalism have an finish? For Ai Weiwei, it’s not the reply to those questions that’s attention-grabbing, however reasonably the best way we seek for it.
In a brand new exhibition at Piccadilly Circus, London, Ai explores this drive for data. Over the course of 81 days – the size of time he spent in a Chinese language jail – the artist asks questions, a brand new one every day, to each synthetic intelligence (AI) and to most people.
For Ai, it marks his first experimentation with synthetic intelligence as an artwork kind. ‘In our present epoch, characterised by its complexity and multifaceted nature, the confluence of our knowns and unknowns presents the necessity for us to reframe our inquiries in a rejuvenated method,’ he says. ‘It is a interval considerable with questions; by no means earlier than has humanity grappled with a state of tumult and bewilderment to this extent.’
Ai vs AI, an 81-day quest for enlightenment
(Picture credit score: Ai vs AI – Ai Weiwei Portrait 2024, Credit score Daniel Adhami © CIRCA (11).jpg)
Ai attracts inspiration from the Tiānwèn (天問) – 172 inquiries to the gods, written by poet Qu Yuan 2,300 years in the past on the partitions of a temple – for the Circa 20:24 challenge. His chosen questions, starting from the humorous to the philosophical, are all set to seem at 20:24 native time on the Piccadilly Lights, questioning our incessant want for data in a celebration of sensory overload. Whereas some questions may be painful – Why am I right here? Why did this occur to me? – they’re, primarily, human, a transparent distinction between people and the machine that seeks to reply them.
‘Within the current period, if artwork exists, its essence lies in endeavouring to forge the potential liberation of people from the shackles of data or the bondage of knowledge,’ Ai provides. ‘This isn’t about freedom of speech. That is about freedom of questions. Everyone has the precise to ask questions. Questions are vital as a result of they relate to our private tales. If people will ever be liberated, it is going to be as a result of we ask the precise questions, not present the precise solutions.’
Circa presents Ai vs AI, the primary of 4 main new commissions, starting with an 81-day quest for enlightenment (11 January – 31 March 2024) in Piccadilly Circus, London
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Supply: Wallpaper
