Connectivity, earth and technology
The work I make surrounds the theme of connectivity. The systems and networks found in ancient organisms and to the evolution of connection that technology now offers us. I examine how chemicals behave and transmit information. Studying the relationships of areas below ground, within our minds and via the internet in the ether. I have been researching the sprawling network of mycelium (mycorrhizal fungi), brain neurones (active and resting state networks) and the world wide web (developments in AI). The network organism in the soil is exceptionally slow whereas brain neurones fire 200 times/hertz a second. The computer processors are measured in giga-hertz which is billions of seconds.
In my artistic practise the ideas I find surrounding networks, systems and connectivity are held by the metaphor of a tortoise, renowned for it’s age and earthly slowness. I have found them to hold an abundance of ancient wisdom, found in mythology, fable and story. I make carapace turtle shells out of clay which might resemble earth, an island, mountain or world. As a dichotomy of speed, the shell playfully extends to an allegoric smartphone …since it becomes increasingly attached to my body. Held frequently in my hand, at times it is like a shield or more actively, as a tamagotchi.
‘Machines are no longer simply tools or instruments but rather a gigantic organism in which we live…a gigantic cybernetic system of forming.’ (Yuk Hui, Recursivity and Contingency 2019)
The oldest organism ever recorded is a slime mold, untrenched in the depths (over 1800 fathoms) from the ocean floor during the Challenger Expedition (1872-1876). It is named by Aldous Huxley as Bathybius Haeckelii. During this time primordial slime was seen as the inanimate matter of life itself. One slime, most commonly known as the Blob ‘Physarum Polycephalum’ behaves with relation to the intelligence of AI. This is because it doesn’t have a central nervous system or brain and yet it has the intelligence to map out the fastest routes when placed in a labryinth. I attempt to understand AI by studying the behaviour of slime mold. With the acceleration of AI, it is no longer a tool that humans use, it is like a life-form whereby humans depend on it to survive.
‘Social Media has more power over peoples cognitive intake than any other dictator in history‘ Stuart Russell: Living with AI, BBC Reith Lectures, 2021.
Awards
Nominiert für den Hiscox Kunstpreis, Hamburg, Germany 2021
Shortlisted Art of Giving, Saatchi Gallery, London, England 2010
Art in Liverpool purchase prize, Liverpool, England 2010
The Wingfield Arts Award, Suffolk, England 2005
Education
MA Bildhauerei, Hochschule für Bildende Künste Hamburg, Germany
September 2018- 2021
BA Fine Art with Dance, Liverpool Hope University, England
October 2007-May 2010
Foundation Diploma, University of the Arts London, Chelsea, England
October 2005-June 2006
The work I make surrounds the theme of connectivity. The systems and networks found in ancient organisms and to the evolution of connection that technology now offers us. I examine how chemicals behave and transmit information. Studying the relationships of areas below ground, within our minds and via the internet in the ether. I have been researching the sprawling network of mycelium (mycorrhizal fungi), brain neurones (active and resting state networks) and the world wide web (developments in AI). The network organism in the soil is exceptionally slow whereas brain neurones fire 200 times/hertz a second. The computer processors are measured in giga-hertz which is billions of seconds.
In my artistic practise the ideas I find surrounding networks, systems and connectivity are held by the metaphor of a tortoise, renowned for it’s age and earthly slowness. I have found them to hold an abundance of ancient wisdom, found in mythology, fable and story. I make carapace turtle shells out of clay which might resemble earth, an island, mountain or world. As a dichotomy of speed, the shell playfully extends to an allegoric smartphone …since it becomes increasingly attached to my body. Held frequently in my hand, at times it is like a shield or more actively, as a tamagotchi.
‘Machines are no longer simply tools or instruments but rather a gigantic organism in which we live…a gigantic cybernetic system of forming.’ (Yuk Hui, Recursivity and Contingency 2019)
The oldest organism ever recorded is a slime mold, untrenched in the depths (over 1800 fathoms) from the ocean floor during the Challenger Expedition (1872-1876). It is named by Aldous Huxley as Bathybius Haeckelii. During this time primordial slime was seen as the inanimate matter of life itself. One slime, most commonly known as the Blob ‘Physarum Polycephalum’ behaves with relation to the intelligence of AI. This is because it doesn’t have a central nervous system or brain and yet it has the intelligence to map out the fastest routes when placed in a labryinth. I attempt to understand AI by studying the behaviour of slime mold. With the acceleration of AI, it is no longer a tool that humans use, it is like a life-form whereby humans depend on it to survive.
‘Social Media has more power over peoples cognitive intake than any other dictator in history‘ Stuart Russell: Living with AI, BBC Reith Lectures, 2021.
Awards
Nominiert für den Hiscox Kunstpreis, Hamburg, Germany 2021
Shortlisted Art of Giving, Saatchi Gallery, London, England 2010
Art in Liverpool purchase prize, Liverpool, England 2010
The Wingfield Arts Award, Suffolk, England 2005
Education
MA Bildhauerei, Hochschule für Bildende Künste Hamburg, Germany
September 2018- 2021
BA Fine Art with Dance, Liverpool Hope University, England
October 2007-May 2010
Foundation Diploma, University of the Arts London, Chelsea, England
October 2005-June 2006