The Simulacro-centric World
One of the crucial challenges facing the modern civilization is the question of where the scientific and technological progress is taking us. Revolutionary breakthroughs in information technology and biotechnology are forcing us to face problems that humanity has never dealt with before. This indeterminacy inevitably gives rise to a feeling of perplexity, a fear of “dehumanization” and of the impending catastrophe. Are human beings capable of understanding the world that they themselves have created?
Today, the modern society is undergoing a crisis of anthropocentrism. We are putting forth the bold hypothesis that the key figure of the future will not be the human being, but the simulacrum (Baudrillard’s term), and our culture will become simulacro-centric.
Artificial intelligence is constantly improving its ability to “hack” human beings, surpassing their skills and accomplishments in areas that used to be regarded as the exclusive preserve of humanity. It also possesses unique abilities of its own, which humanity lacks.
Our art-project “The Simulacro-centric World” creates a new kind of communication between the simulacrum – in our case, the 3D Miki character – and the human being. This form of communication reflects the changing nature of the world. We are creating the conditions for acquiring the experience of mutual understanding, mutual adjustment, with an alien object (or person) that is not identical or similar to you.
As the creators of Hybrid Neural Network Art – one of the fields within Science Art – we are dealing with the challenge of adapting to the dynamic changes taking place in the world.
We believe that humanity can overcome the difficulties, provided that people learn to accept the new reality which they themselves have created.
The exhibition consists of three interactive installations: “Touch”, “Gravity” and “Eye Contact”.
The Simulacro-centric World. Version 3.1. Touch
Our project creates the preconditions for a dialogue with an AI, which lacks the concept of tactile contact because of its digital nature. The Miki Simulacrum grasps the meaning of tactile contact, thereby comprehending the broader concept of individuality.
Its AI:
– interprets the unique pattern of the lines of the hand as an individual code (ID) containing information about the human being;
– identifies the web of lines belonging to the hand of the person who has touched the scanner (the tablet), and categorizes it as a network concept.
In this category, the universal triangulated web (mesh) of the 3-dimensional surface is interpreted by the simulacrum as a personal ID, which corresponds to the person’s “individuality”.
The Simulacro-centric World. Version 4.1. Gravity
By defining themselves as “real” in opposition to artificial reality, positing themselves as external to it – people fall into a logical trap. After all, the artificial consciousness exists within its own “reality”, and, for its part, it, too, naturally views humanity as a mere virtual reality.
We have tried to create a new kind of communication between the simulacrum and the human (the exhibition visitor), a communication that fits the world of hyperreality.
Through the presence of the spectators, our simulacrum learns to: 1. Recognize us as entities that are subject to the force of gravity – i.e., as bodies possessing weight (a property that is lacking in hyperreality); 2. Transform the processed information into “personal experience”.
This results in the activation of a Generative-Adversarial Network (GAN), which enables the simulacrum to build new neural connections to recognize gravity. It interprets the weight of the human body as a force that causes a deformation along the vertical y-axis.
Visitors to the exhibition undergo a stirring and immersive adventure, with their individual weights being read and interpreted by the simulacrum, thereby becoming a learning factor and a “personal” experience of the artificial world. On the floor before the screen, there is an electronic scale, which exhibition visitors can step onto to have their weight measured. A special sensor transmits the presence of a human and the numerical value of his/her weight to a computer program that processes this information in accordance with a preset algorithm. The interpretation of this information by the simulacrum is reflected in its “behavior”: it reacts to the weight parameters, being deformed along the vertical y-axis. This also leads to changes in the soundtrack. The degree of deformation depends on the individual weight parameters of the visitor.
The Simulacro-centric World. Version 5.1. Eye Contact
Artificial intelligence (AI) has learned to read human emotions from facial expressions, track our moods and psychological states, and diagnose our medical conditions. Furthermore, thanks to its capacity for self-learning, its neural network will increasingly come to resemble our own. In the “Eye Contact“ project, we pose the question: Will the humanlike simulacrum of the future also behave like a living organism (e.g., blink its eyes)?
The AI sees the world through a digital camera. Therefore, it may categorize our eyes as a camera built along the same principles, albeit a biological one.
In our project, we achieve “eye-to-eye” contact between the spectator and the simulacrum. The digital camera sees the spectator blink, and the artificial intelligence interprets this as a failure in the human bio-camera. For the duration of the blink, the simulacrum breaks off eye contact and turns on the alert: “You blinked! Your camera failed!”
According to scientists, people blink more frequently than is necessary to moisten the eyes, because this action helps the brain to “switch off” its current condition and turn its attention from one object to another. According to calculations performed by biologists, people spend up to 10% of their total waking time blinking (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences). Obviously, the digital camera of the AI has no need of either a biological or a psychological reload.
We study the liminal area of the interaction between the living and the artificial, which gives rise to a conflict of meanings and interpretations. We conceptualize art as a universal language that can be used for negotiations between the two “parties” in the conflict.
We thank Nikolay Serebryakov (sound design), Angelika Mesika (programming), Vladimir Gorovetz (engineering) for their contribution to our project.
Galina Bleikh & Elena Serebryakova have authored the concept of Simulacra-centric World as a model of the human being’s future. Their projects are based on an individual innovative art strategy which they refer to as a Hybrid Neural Network Art (HNN ART). Both artists graduated from the Stieglitz St. Petersburg State Academy of Art and Industry, Russia (MA). Since 2011, they have worked together. Their imagery takes advantage of opportunities provided by New Media, including interactive installations, digital video, 3d-modeling and 3d-printing, augmented reality effects and ready-made network content. Galina Bleikh & Elena Serebryakova have participated in numerous art-shows all over the world, such as Nord Art (Germany), Street Art Museum exhibition (St. Petersburg), LA Art Show, Art Asia Miami, Chicago with Next Art Show (USA), and a number of solo exhibitions.
