data

3840 x 2160 pixel jpg / 2023

contact

twitter.com/larsnagler

project description

"EMP LAB" by Lars Nagler is a glimpse into a large science complex that represents the big brain of AI. At least, that's how Nagler imagines it. Many small working groups are working multidisciplinary to try to answer the question of the exhibition: What are the promises of AI? The AI draws from a great wealth of knowledge and imagines itself. There are youth work groups that playfully work on synthetic-organic interfaces. There are holodeck levels on which final haptic tests are carried out. There are sleep labs where mind expansion and awareness reign supreme. For Nagler, working with AI is an alchemical process. Diverse and nuanced ingredients result in the expected or even more surprising results and artworks. It is supremely satisfying to take up a narration of your own. EMP LAB accompanies and documents all departments of a laboratory, in which the AI itself elicits the vacant question. Fundamental patterns and structures are laid out, meaning is sought, historical marvels are declared as standards and new neurotransmitters are developed. Imagination and deep knowledge have always led to soulfulness and empathic efficacy. Nagler was influenced by, among others, Andrei Tarkovsky's SOLARIS, Thomas Mann's ZAUBERBERG, Chris Marker's LA JETÉE, and Ken Russell's ALTERED STATES. EMP LAB is part of the exhibition ALGORITHMIC EMPATHY. THE PROMISES OF AI, presented by EXPANDED.ART and VerticalCrypto Art at EXPANDED.ART in Berlin, 18-23 April, 2023. 16 artists explore the vast potential of future relationships between AI and creative expression to hypothesize on the not-so-distant future. In a world where technological advancements happen in the blink of an eye, AI is being pointed to in the cultural zeitgeist as an example of a potentially bleak and ominous future. It is worth considering, however, the ways computers and machine learning can push forward creativity, human connection and philosophical dialogues.