tagCloud

architecture arduino art audio audiovisual city classes coding computational creative coding design digital digital media documentary domestication interaction interactive iot localization max media mqtt node p5 performance physical processing programme psychogeography publication robotics sensing sensors sonic arts sonification sound synthesis system tangible teaching technology ubiquity visualization wearable workshop

Let’s Work Together

stavros.didakis@nyu.edu

Co-Authored Traversals

Generative AI as a Symbiotic Medium

Commissioned artwork, TANK Shanghai (CN)

Interactive media installation, real-time generative AI, touchscreen interface, 2xLED screens
2023

Prompting and prompt engineering are terms associated with the way a specific request is given to a text-to-image synthesis model. The system’s algorithms analyze the given prompt using natural language processing, extracting specific keywords and features that are then mapped to indexes within the datasets the system has been trained on. During this process, the machine establishes necessary associations and draws conclusions that align with the user’s prompt. Human input is essential for the system. Incomplete prompts, limited datasets, or systems with weak adversarial control significantly diminish the likelihood of generating coherent outcomes.

Co-Authored Traversals highlights this symbiotic relationship between humans and computational systems and presents an apparatus of media that poetically references this convoluted multi-dimensional ecology.

Utilizing a data-scraping algorithm, millions of prompts used for text-to-image generation were extracted from online databases and categorized into a custom dataset of a thousand words. The dataset has been mapped on a series of three-dimensional rotating spheres, and with the use of a touchscreen interface, the audience is able to trigger specific keywords.

The intersected words transition into a fluid state and are subsequently transformed into colored pixels, highlighting, in a visual metaphor, the computational processes for image synthesis systems. The vertical screen continuously visualizes the content as frames that blend and evolve. Without user input, the visual composition will transform into a static black-and-white image that resembles a calligraphy painting.

The work attempts to depict the mutualistic symbiosis between biological and computational agents. The actions of every system and process are equally essential to maintaining a functional ecosystem. Computational machines are important to us, as much as we (humans) are to them.

Acknowledgments

The work has been exhibited in Synthetic Cities.
Creation & Production： Stavros Didakis
Media Design Assistance： Yanrui Shao、Guoxi Yang、Vicky Chen
Production Coordinator： Huijun Guan
LED Equipment： Leyard | Linso LED
Co-Funded： West Bund Group