‘This is Where We Are’ – Collectively Living, Working and being, with and through Predictive Algorithms

‘This Is Where We Are’ (TIWWA) was an immersive and interactive algorithmic sculpture fuelled by the data we collectively generate. This collaborative work was created for the opening of the new Tate Modern Switch house in London in June 2016 by the i-DAT Research and Design Collective, Tate Collective London and Intercity. This technological fusion of interactive light and sound asked audiences to consider the data they generate and the algorithmic systems that increasingly mediate their reality and influence their behaviour. The creation of the sculptural artefacts and the digital systems driving them, were forged through interplay between data, algorithms and people. The activity of the human crowd was mirrored just below the opaque surface in the behaviour of TIWWA’s swarms. The flocking entities became conduits for collective social emotions, expressing anger, joy and fear in their playful interactions with visitors. With one swarm mirroring another, it gradually became apparent that the algorithmic entities swimming just below the surface were doing more than reflecting our mood. They were affecting it, slowly becoming entangled with the way we feel, increasingly tangible and solid, a presence in the room. Something hiding in the illuminated shadows, imagining our near future for us.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Birgitte Aga

Mike Phillips

Conference

Publication date: July 2017

Publication date (Print): July 2017

Pages: 198-201

Affiliations

[0001]i-DAT, Plymouth University

Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, UK

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/EVA2017.44

SO-VID: 09c7137a-361b-4dc1-b9df-b18df06db75d

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts (EVA 2017)

Conference acronym: EVA

Conference number:

Conference location: London, UK

Conference date: 11 – 13 July 2017

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts

History

Product

1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/EVA2017.44

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

6. REFERENCES

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S. Ugur 2013 Wearing Embodied Emotions A Practice Based Design Research on Wearable Technology Milan Springer

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[1] R. Ascott 2000 Art Technology and Consciousness. Bristol Intellect Books

[2] J. Bleecker 2009 Design fiction: A short essay on design, science, fact and fiction Near Future Laboratory. http://drbfw5wfilxon.cloudfront.net/writing/DesignFictionWebEdition.pdf 25 April 2016

[3] E. Connolly 2017 Design is a conversation Inside Intercom https://blog.intercom.com/designing-conversational-interfaces 27 February 2017

[4] A. DunneF. Raby 2013 Speculative Everything. Cambridge, MA MIT Press

[5] D. C. Engelbart 1962 Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework Summary Report AFOSR-3223. California Stanford Research Institute

[6] R. D. Hof 2013 Deep Learning MIT Technology Review. London Routledge http://www.technologyreview.com 14 August 2016

[7] i-DAT Research and Design Collective, Tate Collective and InterCity 2016 This is Where We Are. Exhibited at: The opening of the new Tate Modern Switch house London Tate Modern 1319 June 2016 http://quorum.i-dat.org/tiwwa/ 27 February 2017

[8] J. C. R. Licklider 1960 Man-Computer Symbiosis IRE Transactions on Human Factors in Electronics HFE-1, 4 11

[9] L. Margalit 2016 The Psychology of Chatbots Behind Online Behavior blog in Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/behind-online-behavior/201607/the-psvchology-chatbots 27 February 2017

[10] K. M. van Mensvoort 2013 Pyramid of technology: how technology becomes nature in seven steps Eindhoven University Lectures. 3 Eindhoven Technische Universiteit Eindhoven

[11] O. Wainwright 2016 First look: inside the Switch House - Tate Modern’s power pyramid The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/rnay/23/first-look-inside-tate-moderns-power-pyramid 27 March 2017

[12] S. Ugur 2013 Wearing Embodied Emotions A Practice Based Design Research on Wearable Technology Milan Springer

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