Abstract
This paper situates artificial intelligence as a vehicle that can allow human agents to engage with complex issues such as global warming. Drawing on Timothy Morton’s conceptualisation of global warming as a ‘hyperobject’ which, by its very nature, resist knowability on a human scale, I consider the extent to which AI, when it is itself approached as hyperobject-like, can become a useful medium for engaging critically with the issue of global warming. The argument, then, is not that AI can make global warming human-knowable, but that through AI, human agents can access the quasi-unknowability of global warming. I begin by surveying Morton’s theory of the hyperobject and its valence in critical discourse on contemporary/digital art, and then explore the positioning of AI as hyperobject-like. This discussion is bookended by analysis of a representative artwork, Tega Brain et al’s Asunder (2019), which, as I argue, addresses global warming issues by incorporating AI as a hyperobject-like technology.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | xCoAx 2022 |
Subtitle of host publication | Proceedings of the 10th Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X |
Editors | Miguel Carvalhais, Mario Verdicchio, Luísa Ribas, André Rangel |
Place of Publication | Porto |
Publisher | i2ADS |
Pages | 104-116 |
Number of pages | 13 |
ISBN (Print) | 9789899049338 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 6 Jul 2022 |
Event | 10th Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X - Coimbra, Portugal Duration: 6 Jul 2022 → 8 Jul 2022 Conference number: 10th https://xcoax.org/ |
Publication series
Name | xCoAx proceedings of the Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X |
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Publisher | i2ADS |
ISSN (Print) | 2183-9069 |
Conference
Conference | 10th Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X |
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Abbreviated title | xCoAx 2022 |
Country/Territory | Portugal |
City | Coimbra |
Period | 6/07/22 → 8/07/22 |
Internet address |
Keywords
- Artificial intelligence
- Global warming
- Hyperobjects
- Digital art
- Anthropocene