2018
solo show
John Sommers Gallery University of New Mexico
solo show
John Sommers Gallery University of New Mexico
Content Nausea is a solo show created in the fall of 2018. The works in the show consist of video projections, video installations, audio, and usb drives hanging from chains containing predictive text poems. All the work in the show is generated through algorithmic processes of machine learning, predictive text generation, and chance operations.
Markov on Style
Excerpt from Markov on Style
Markov on Style is a video that incorporates elements of sourced digital content, chance operations, and automation. While the stylistic qualities of the video are created using stock production footage, the text of the video is implementing an algorithm known as a Markov Chain1. A Markov chain is an algorithmic tool that analyzes what words or data are most likely to follow others based on a source material. The algorithm then automatically generates a new text based on linguistic probabilities. Here, the source material used is an essay written by Susan Sontag titled “On Style.”2
In this work, I am interested in the role of automation and content produced by and sourced from algorithms; questioning how it is affecting the dynamics of production and consumption of media and visual culture. Today, rapid advances in algorithmic processes and machine learning are increasing a range of tasks of production. As predictive models become more deeply integrated into the systems we use on a day-to-day basis, individuals must consider how the content of those predictions affects the people whom use those systems.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markov_chain
2. http://www.coldbacon.com/writing/sontag-onstyle.html