Who Cares: Exhibition Talks and Panel Discussion

About

Join us in Inspace for an artist talk given by Angela Woodhouse and Caroline Broadhead with guest talk by Nicole Fernandez.

Join us in Inspace for Who Cares opening event, exhibition talks and panel discussion. This event features an artist talk given by Angela Woodhouse and Caroline Broadhead with guest talk by Nicole Fernandez who will present her project ‘Images of Care’. This will be followed by a panel discussion chaired by Dr. Susan Lechelt, who’s research is concerned with understanding and augmenting people’s perceptions and uses of data-driven technologies.

Event details

Tues, 5 Dec 2023
18:00-20:00

Free | Booking required
Inspace

Artist Talk

Artist Caroline Broadhead and Dancemaker Angela Woodhouse will share the creative process in the making of Who Cares, their video installation at Inspace, that explores the aesthetics of thermal imaging within the wider theme of care and contagion. They will discuss the initiation of the project through interviews with ICU nurses at Whittington Hospital, London and how their voices and experiences prompted the development of material in the studio. The artists will share footage and images from the research phase to illustrate themes such as touch, heat trace, intimacy, care, and ethics. The aim of the project is to acknowledge recent events, specifically the difficult and often traumatic experiences for carers, to question how do we care for the carers, and this in the context of the need to make an aesthetic object. The materiality of thermal imaging also draws upon the expanded body as data, drawing attention to readings of the body through biology.

About Images of Care

The Images of Care research project is part of the Advanced Care Research Centre (ACRC), a multi-disciplinary research programme at the University of Edinburgh. The aim of the Images of Care project is to gain a deeper understanding of care in later life through examining visual representations of care. The research consisted of both a detailed analysis of images of care in the news media during COVID-19 alongside understanding how individuals themselves visually communicate their experiences of care. It is crucial to examine how care in later life is visually represented, as these visual representations shape societal norms and perceptions surrounding aging and care.

Speakers

Caroline Broadhead

Caroline Broadhead’s interdisciplinary practice explores objects that come into contact with and interact with the body. Her work is exhibited internationally and represented in many international collections, including V&A, Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Museum of Art and Design, New York and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Her 2017 retrospective exhibition was shown in the Netherlands and the UK. She is Professor Emerita at Central Saint Martins, London.

carolinebroadhead.com

Angela Woodhouse

Dance artist Angela Woodhouse’s work is essentially interdisciplinary and collaborative and has been shown widely over the last 30 years, most recently (Un)touched (2016-2020) and (de)figured (2017) in collaboration with artist Nathaniel Rackowe, exhibited in Belgrade, Oslo and Dubai respectively. Their latest work Expanded Landscapes was commissioned as part of Summer Lights Festival, Canary Wharf in 2022. In 2018 Angela was Artist in Residence at Siobhan Davies Studios as part of the MA/ MFA Creative Practice. She is currently senior lecturer in Dance at Middlesex University.

angelawoodhouse.co.uk

Dr Susan Lechelt

Susan Lechelt is a lecturer in Design Informatics at the University of Edinburgh, working across interaction design and human-computer interaction. One key focus of her research is exploring emerging links between creative practice and contemporary technologies. As part of the Creative Informatics programme, she worked with a range of creative practitioners (e.g., visual and performing artists) to support them in considering how to use technologies ranging from Internet of Things to Artificial Intelligence in their work and practice. Her research also navigates questions of care, primarily in the context of using care as a lens to support more sustainable relationships between people and the technologies we own

Dr Nichole Fernández

Dr Nichole Fernández is a visual sociologist specialising in media studies, currently working as a Research Fellow on the Images of Care project at the Advanced Care Research Centre (University of Edinburgh). Within the ACRC, Nichole is exploring the how care later in life is visually represented and constructed. With a background in creative and visual methodologies, her expertise extends across diverse subjects, including digital sociology, mental health, migration, geography, nationalism, and environment. Before joining the ACRC, Nichole held positions as a Lecturer in Sociology at UCSD and an assistant professor at Hiram. Her PhD was conducted at the University of Edinburgh in sociology researching representations of nation and place.

Related Programming

Design Informatics

Website: designinformatics.org

Instagram: designinformatics

Twitter: @DesignInf

Inspace

Website: inspace.ed.ac.uk

Instagram: inspacegallery

Twitter: @InspaceG

The BOX

Interactive SciArt Installation by Fiona Smith (UK)

If we feed the AI with incomplete or biased data – can we expect it to come up with reasonable predictions? 

‘The BOX’, is an interactive installation by Dr Fiona Smith, Creator in Residence at Fraunhofer MEVIS, presented by the Institute for Design Informatics, exploring the practical and ethical implications of integrating AI technology into healthcare.

The potential benefits of utilising AI technology in healthcare are vast but there are important practical, technological, ethical and legal implications that need to be addressed in order to safeguard patients. The BOX is an interactive installation that explores the ‘black box’ aspect of AI technology and asks “If we feed the AI with incomplete or biased data – can we expect it to suggest reasonable treatment plans?”.

Visitors to The BOX installation will be taken on an interactive journey through an alternative hospital clinic. Acting as patients, they will be scanned and then presented with their test results to The BOX. Through a dynamic light display, The BOX will then communicate the treatment plan it has decided for each patient. Once processed, the visitors will be given the opportunity to interrogate the knowledge base used by The BOX to make its decision.

Background

The STEAM Imaging V creator residency brought together the artist Fiona Smith, scientists at Fraunhofer MEVIS, and students from the International Fraunhofer Talent School Bremen and the Walle School Center to discuss the important ethical, legal and practical implications of implementing AI technology in healthcare. Building AI models that make accurate predictions for patients requires diverse training data sets that are representative of the test population. In some cases it might be possible to continuously update the model with new training data as it becomes available, but how do you regulate a model where performance is continuously changing? How do you detect when the accuracy of the predictions being made by a deployed model is changing or showing differential performance across different patient groups? These questions and more are explored with The BOX, which has been produced in collaboration with the Institute for Design Informatics, Edinburgh, and premieres at the Inspace Gallery as part of the 2024 Edinburgh Science Festival.

The BOX is the artistic outcome of the Creator in Residence Programme ’STEAM Imaging V Holding the ‘Digital’ in Medicine to Account’, hosted by Fraunhofer MEVIS, Bremen, Germany, in collaboration with the Institute for Design Informatics, Edinburgh, the International Fraunhofer Talent School Bremen, and the School Center Walle, Bremen, Germany, supported by Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria.

This event is part of this year’s Edinburgh Science Festival exploring the theme Shaping the Future, showcasing some of the cutting-edge science that can help us create a future that is sustainable, accessible and equal for all.

Exhibition details

6-19 Apr 2024
10am-5pm daily
Inspace gallery

Creator in Residence

Dr Fiona Smith is a doctor and an AI scientist whose passion for art has led her to exploring multimedia approaches for public engagement throughout her career.

Fiona is a graduate of the University of St Andrews and the University of Manchester Medical Schools. She completed her foundation training in South East Scotland and her Plastic Surgery Themed Core Surgical Training in North East England. In 2021 she joined the CDT for Biomedical AI at the University of Edinburgh, where in addition to investigating AI applications in surgery for her PhD, she is a tutor for Case Studies in AI Ethics.

Programme Partners

Fraunhofer MEVIS develops real-world software solutions for image-and-data-supported early detection, diagnosis, and therapies for severe diseases and is embedded in a worldwide network of clinical and academic partners. The Institute’s scientists are committed to raising awareness about how digital medicine and related STEM sciences influence healthcare, and develop experiential projects at the intersection of science, art, and technology to reach new and diverse audiences, stimulate critical dialog between, and foster a more diverse R&D landscape.

Associated Event

Transformative Spaces: Science-Art Residencies

This panel event brings together those involved in the “STEAM Imaging V” residency, to give give insights into the process

18:00-20:00, Fri 5 Apr, 2024

Free | Booking required

Design Informatics

Website: designinformatics.org

Instagram: designinformatics

Twitter: @DesignInf

Inspace

Website: inspace.ed.ac.uk

Instagram: inspacegallery

Twitter: @InspaceG

Designing Data Humans

This interactive exhibition features the work of students from the MSc and MA Design Informatics course at the University of Edinburgh. Students have created a series of playful prototypes which examine and question our relationships to data technologies and consider how we can use data as a tool for design. The works on display help us to understand what it means to be human in a digital world and explore ideas addressing sustainable practices at the intersection of data and design, culture and society.

Exhibition details

30-31 Mar 2024
10am-5pm daily
Inspace gallery

MA/MSc Programmes

Design Informatics MA and MSc programmes focus on providing foundational skills on the integration of design thinking and data science with an emphasis on exploring the role of data-driven technologies in society and the potential of such technologies to be a social good. Students are supported to develop an ethically aware, critically reflective technical practice at the interface between data and society by combining theory and research with an open-ended process of making and hacking.

Exhibition Gallery

IMG_6048
  • Inspace at the 2024 Science Festival  

    Presenting a programme of exhibitions and events featuring Design Informatics Master students and Creator in Residence exploring AI, technology, data and ethics.

  • Design with DataSphere

    OPEN 9-19 APRIL Design with Data is a design course taught at the University of Edinburgh as part of the Design Informatics Postgraduate programme and aims to investigate creative and novel ways to engage with data, its cultural contexts, conceptual framing and socio-cultural understanding. This year, in collaboration with Edinburgh Science Festival, our MA, MSc, MFA…

Design Informatics

Website: designinformatics.org

Instagram: designinformatics

Twitter: @DesignInf

Inspace

Website: inspace.ed.ac.uk

Instagram: inspacegallery

Twitter: @InspaceG

Everest Pipkin

Everest Pipkin is a game developer, writer, and artist from central Texas who lives and works on a sheep farm in southern New Mexico. Their work both in the studio and in the garden follows themes of ecology, tool making, and collective care during collapse. When not at the computer in the heat of the day, you can find them in the hills spending time with their neighbours— both human and non-human.

Related Inspace projects and programmes

  • The Sounds of Deep Fake

    Can you believe what you hear? When is a voice or sound authentic? This exhibition, curated by the Institute for Design Informatics, brings together exciting experimental artists including Martin Disley, Theodore Koterwas and Everest Pipkin, who are working with sound…

  • Artists at Inspace Gallery question authenticity and ownership of AI generated voice 

    A new exhibition at Inspace Gallery bringing together international artists working with sound and emerging technologies to explore deep fake audio. Premiering as part of the 2023 Edinburgh Festivals, the exhibition is a collaboration between Inspace Gallery, the Institute of…

Theodore Koterwas

Theodore Koterwas is an artist working with data, physical phenomena and the human body to make things resonate. He seeks to draw critical attention to aspects of daily experience that often go unnoticed but profoundly impact on how we understand each other, technology and the environment.

Related Inspace projects and programmes

  • The Sounds of Deep Fake

    Can you believe what you hear? When is a voice or sound authentic? This exhibition, curated by the Institute for Design Informatics, brings together exciting experimental artists including Martin Disley, Theodore Koterwas and Everest Pipkin, who are working with sound…

  • Artists at Inspace Gallery question authenticity and ownership of AI generated voice 

    A new exhibition at Inspace Gallery bringing together international artists working with sound and emerging technologies to explore deep fake audio. Premiering as part of the 2023 Edinburgh Festivals, the exhibition is a collaboration between Inspace Gallery, the Institute of…

  • Tactile Intelligence

    Exhibition featuring the work of Design Informatics Artist in Residence Theodore Koterwas. Come explore the porous boundaries between us and technology as you interact with an invisible AI learning to communicate with you physically. Through his residency Theodore has been approaching…

Who Cares

Touch reveals the boundaries between us but it also connects us, enabling us to transcend our physical limits.

Working with dance and thermal imagery to explore our sense of touch, their moving image work generated from heat data reveals new insights into the expanded body, asking questions about the role of care in society.

Exhibition Supported by the Institute for Design Informatics, Arts Council England and Middlesex University.

Exhibition details

Wednesday, 6th to Tuesday, 19th of Dec 2023
Inspace City Screen Exhibition
Street view from Potterow, Inspace Gallery from 5pm to 2am daily
1 Crichton Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9AB

Exhibition Talks and Panel Discussion

Tuesday, 5th Dec 2023
Inspace Gallery
1 Crichton Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9AB
18:00-20:00 (Doors Open 17:30)

Join us in Inspace for Who Cares opening event, exhibition talks and panel discussion. This event features an artist talk given by Angela Woodhouse and Caroline Broadhead with guest talk by Nicole Fernandez who will present her project ‘Images of Care’. This will be followed by a panel discussion chaired by Dr. Susan Lechelt, who’s research is concerned with understanding and augmenting people’s perceptions and uses of data-driven technologies.

Artist Talk

Artist Caroline Broadhead and Dancemaker Angela Woodhouse will share the creative process in the making of Who Cares, their video installation at Inspace, that explores the aesthetics of thermal imaging within the wider theme of care and contagion. They will discuss the initiation of the project through interviews with ICU nurses at Whittington Hospital, London and how their voices and experiences prompted the development of material in the studio. The artists will share footage and images from the research phase to illustrate themes such as touch, heat trace, intimacy, care, and ethics. The aim of the project is to acknowledge recent events, specifically the difficult and often traumatic experiences for carers, to question how do we care for the carers, and this in the context of the need to make an aesthetic object. The materiality of thermal imaging also draws upon the expanded body as data, drawing attention to readings of the body through biology.

Images of Care

The Images of Care research project is part of the Advanced Care Research Centre (ACRC), a multi-disciplinary research programme at the University of Edinburgh. The aim of the Images of Care project is to gain a deeper understanding of care in later life through examining visual representations of care. The research consisted of both a detailed analysis of images of care in the news media during COVID-19 alongside understanding how individuals themselves visually communicate their experiences of care. It is crucial to examine how care in later life is visually represented, as these visual representations shape societal norms and perceptions surrounding aging and care.

Artists

Caroline Broadhead

Caroline Broadhead’s interdisciplinary practice explores objects that come into contact with and interact with the body. Her work is exhibited internationally and represented in many international collections, including V&A, Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Museum of Art and Design, New York and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Her 2017 retrospective exhibition was shown in the Netherlands and the UK. She is Professor Emerita at Central Saint Martins, London.

carolinebroadhead.com

Angela Woodhouse

Dance artist Angela Woodhouse’s work is essentially interdisciplinary and collaborative and has been shown widely over the last 30 years, most recently (Un)touched (2016-2020) and (de)figured (2017) in collaboration with artist Nathaniel Rackowe, exhibited in Belgrade, Oslo and Dubai respectively. Their latest work Expanded Landscapes was commissioned as part of Summer Lights Festival, Canary Wharf in 2022.  In 2018 Angela was Artist in Residence at Siobhan Davies Studios as part of the MA/ MFA Creative Practice. She is currently senior lecturer in Dance at Middlesex University.

angelawoodhouse.co.uk

Angela and Caroline have collaborated on many works since 1997. These include site and installation projects that find synergies between materials, space, movement and audience. Venues include Sadler’s Wells, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Lightbox, Woking (in partnership with Tate Artist Rooms) and Royal Opera House. Historic buildings for which site works were commissioned include Wollaton Hall, Nottinghamshire, Witley Court, Worcestershire, and Upnor Castle, Rochester.

Guest Speakers

Dr Nichole Fernández is a visual sociologist specialising in media studies, currently working as a Research Fellow on the Images of Care project at the Advanced Care Research Centre (University of Edinburgh). Within the ACRC, Nichole is exploring the how care later in life is visually represented and constructed. With a background in creative and visual methodologies, her expertise extends across diverse subjects, including digital sociology, mental health, migration, geography, nationalism, and environment. Before joining the ACRC, Nichole held positions as a Lecturer in Sociology at UCSD and an assistant professor at Hiram. Her PhD was conducted at the University of Edinburgh in sociology researching representations of nation and place.

Dr Susan Lechelt is a lecturer in Design Informatics at the University of Edinburgh, working across interaction design and human-computer interaction. One key focus of her research is exploring emerging links between creative practice and contemporary technologies. As part of the Creative Informatics programme, she worked with a range of creative practitioners (e.g., visual and performing artists) to support them in considering how to use technologies ranging from Internet of Things to Artificial Intelligence in their work and practice. Her research also navigates questions of care, primarily in the context of using care as a lens to support more sustainable relationships between people and the technologies we own.

Exhibition Credits

Who Cares by Angela Woodhouse and Caroline Broadhead

Dancers Martina Conti and Alice Labant

Producer Alexa Seligman

Editor Dominique Rivoa

With thanks to ICU nurses of Whittington Hospital, London and to Mikkel Svak for technical assistance.

Supported by the Institute for Design Informatics, Arts Council England and Middlesex University.

Ximulacra

Ximulacra; a robot which scans analogue film photo negatives of mountain scenes and re-interprets them as dance!

The photos capture how mountain forms and their surroundings life shift from the Karakoram range in Pakistan to the Helan Mountains in China. As the analogue photos are abstracted into digital movement, this perception and embodiment driven piece seeks to explore the interaction between artificial and natural entities to generate novel digital-analogue hybrid scenes. Ximulacra experiments with how humans perceive visual data and how human-machine interaction can contribute to the poetic reading of photography.

www.shankarsaanthakumar.com/

Exhibition details

Saturday, 18th to Sunday, 19th of Nov 2023
Open to view at Inspace Gallery from 10am to 5pm daily
1 Crichton Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9AB

OPENING EVENT

Opening Reception and Artist Talk
Friday, 17th Nov 2023
at Inspace Gallery from 6pm to 8pm
(Doors Open 5:30pm)
1 Crichton Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9AB

Join Inspace and the Institute for Design Informatics, for Ximulacra opening reception and event featuring artist talk by lead artist Shankar Saanthakumar. Hear about the exhibited work on show and gain insights into the concept behind this digital-analogue piece which explores human-machine interaction using an image processing algorithm.

THE ARTIST

Shankar Saanthakumar

https://www.shankarsaanthakumar.com/

www.instagram.com/shankarsaanthakumar 

Shankar Saanthakumar is an artist working across sculpture, paint, and computation to explore themes of perception and embodiment. He is particularly interested in how these themes relate to the feeling of mind-body (dis)connection in humans, and how exploring them in non-human systems can reveal insights into the human condition. For Ximulacra he contributed photography from the Karakoram range in Pakistan, and led the design of the robotic systems. 

Shankar is also a regular performer at Wavetable, a monthly night of sonic experimentation in Edinburgh. There he fuses paintings and analogue photography with code to create digital-analogue hybrid-scene live coded visuals to compliment experimental electronic music.

COLLABORATORS

Zhu Runzi https://zhurunzi.studio/www.instagram.com/zhu_runzi

Zhu Runzi is a photographer working from Shanghai and Paris, with a specialisation in capturing architecture and interior concepts within their contextual surroundings. The photos showcased in this exhibition were captured in the Helan Mountain, a geographical landmark significant to his hometown in Ningxia Province. This trip marked his first foray into the heart of Helan Mountain, rekindling cherished memories from 20 years of living in NingXia whilst also providing fresh insights into his self-identity. Through the photos he reconnected with the environment where he was raised, and tapped into formative unconscious memories which still influence his life today.

He obtained his Master’s degree in Architecture from the University of Manchester and his Bachelor’s from the University of Liverpool. During this time he discovered a profound passion for documenting cityscapes and street life through photography. This passion became the cornerstone of his career as an architectural photographer, leading to collaborations with numerous international publications and studios such as Domus and Foster + Partners.

Low Tech Art Lab  – http://zhengda.tech/ 

Led by Zheng Da, the Low Tech Art Lab at Central China Normal University concentrates on the interdisciplinary relationships between art, science, and technology. In the lab, hardware engineers, creative coders, and sound artists work together to take a “low tech” approach to making games, light installations, and robotic systems. These seek to create playful human-machine interactions which question conventional relationships with technology. The members of the studio which collaborated on Ximulacra are Owen Chan, Jingyuan Lin, and Shuya Zhang. They led the development of the vision algorithm for Ximulacra and contributed to the robot design process.

Floahttps://www.floa0.bandcamp.com

Floa aka Sonam Gray is a Scottish sound artist based in Edinburgh. He has been immersed in creating electronic music throughout his life through a variety of formats and software and creates now mainly on modular synths as
Floa. He attended both the University of the Arts and the School of Audio Engineering. His work past, has included studio recording, post production, Foley, location sound, and installation sound whilst in his residencies
of London, New York and Los Angeles. He is also a founding member of the local collective ‘Wavetable’.

CREDITS

Led by Shankar Saanthakumar, in collaboration with Zhu Runzi and the Low Tech Art Lab who, respectively, helped to develop the photography and image processing algorithm elements of the project.

Supported by:
This project is supported by the British Council Connections Through Culture Programme, the Tinderbox Collective, the Institute for Design Informatics and Inspace Gallery

Information XYZ

Logo of XYZ

A design exhibition held at the Information+ conference

Information xyz celebrates the most recent contributions of our global community of practitioners, artists, and researchers. As part of the Information+ biannual conference, we share in the sometimes subtle, often challenging, but always intentional process of shaping data into form. For this year’s exhibition program, we present a collection that speaks to the interconnectedness of technology, environment, and humanity.

Details

Inspace, 1 Crichton Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9AB

12:30-18:30, Thurs 23rd Nov
14:00-17:00 Fri 24th Nov

About the Exhibition

This exhibition explored four main critical themes across the fourteen pieces.

Focusing on the unseen—“Borders, Bullets and Books” exposes the harsh realities of conflict on education in the Kashmir valley. “Mapping Diversity” uses the digital landscape to dissect the complexities of gender and diversity in Europe. The more abstract visualities of “Post_Networks” value the spaces between connections, pushing us to consider the hidden traces left by networks in the digital age. “Macromicroscope” brings the unseen into focus, drawing attention to the consequences of human actions on biodiversity and climate, and the “Island of Loneliness” brings to the forefront the silent epidemic of loneliness magnified by social media.

Challenging social norms—“Though a patriarchy would privilege the changelessness—of the sun—over the inconstancy of the moon and you” questions societal norms about menstrual cycles, while “From my terrace” reflects on the modern struggle for work-life balance.

Our environmental existence—Carla Fernández Arce’s data-driven installation on imported fruits urges a reflection on our food choices, while “Back to Square One” confronts the issue of fashion waste, and Chloe Prock’s exploration of worn textile trade provides a stark look at the realities of fast fashion sustainability. By reflecting on the environmental impacts of pollution, “Ripple Effect” translates the contamination of water into an audio-visual experience.

Questioning media-Lastly, two critical works question traditional media of data visualization. While “Shine through Mars” renders the Martian atmosphere comprehensible through light, “Data-distortion exercises” will lead you through a hands-on, critical approach to data visualization.

Together, these data-driven works urge you to ponder the delicate relationship between our digital existence and the physical world, questioning established norms, and highlighting the often overlooked or unseen aspects of contemporary life.

The Sounds of Deep Fake

Can you believe what you hear? When is a voice or sound authentic?

This exhibition, curated by the Institute for Design Informatics, brings together exciting experimental artists including Martin Disley, Theodore Koterwas and Everest Pipkin, who are working with sound and emerging technologies to explore deep fake audio. Their work asks what it means to synthesise and replicate reality, to bring together human and machine voices, and to literally put words into others’ mouths through their unique creative and critical perspectives.

Exhibition supported by Creative Informatics.

Exhibition details

5-28 August 2023,
10am-5pm daily
Inspace gallery

Featured Artists

Theodore Koterwas is an artist working with data, physical phenomena and the human body to make things resonate. He seeks to draw critical attention to aspects of daily experience that often go unnoticed but profoundly impact on how we understand each other, technology and the environment.

Everest Pipkin is a game developer, writer, and artist from central Texas who lives and works on a sheep farm in southern New Mexico. Their work both in the studio and in the garden follows themes of ecology, tool making, and collective care during collapse. When not at the computer in the heat of the day, you can find them in the hills spending time with their neighbours— both human and non-human.

Unit Test is a vehicle for artistic inquiry into computational systems. Co-founded by Martin Disley and Murad Khan, the collaborative studio assembles researchers, engineers and artists to explore aesthetic approaches to investigative computation, producing research publications, software and media art. 

Associated Exhibition

Whose voice is it? 

Featuring work by Holly Herndon, Never Before Heard Sounds and Rachel MacLean 

This associated exhibit features AI creations made by different users of Holly+ and the technology used in the production of AI voice clones for Rachel Maclean’s DUCK. Both works creatively explore voice ownership through voice cloning technology. Innovations in this field are moving at a fast pace and so if clones of our voice are no longer ours, how do we as a society deal with the issues this creates and establish governance structures that encourage responsible and ethical use of these technologies. 

Image Credit: AI creations made by different users of Holly+. Photographer Beth Chalmers 

Holly+

Holly+ is Holly Herndon’s digital twin, the first of its kind. This custom voice instrument and website by Never Before Heard Sounds allows for anyone to upload polyphonic audio and receive a download of that music sung back in Herndon’s distinctive voice. The website distributes ownership of her digital likeness through the creation of the Holly+ DAO (decentralised autonomous organisation).  

Access Holly+ online: https://holly.plus 

Image Credit: App by Martin Disley, featuring DUCK film by Rachel Maclean, voice cloning technology. Photographer by Inspace 

DUCK

DUCK is Rachel Maclean’s latest film, featuring a deepfake British spy thriller starring Sean Connery and Marilyn Monroe. Using deepfake visuals and audio, Maclean – who plays all the characters – swaps her voice and face with the very recognisable cast of actors. Drawing on pop-cultural imagery and content DUCK questions social contexts, political systems, consumer behaviour, or phenomena of the digital world.  

Read more about DUCK: https://duck-film.com  

DUCK (2023) was produced by Forest of Black with support from Newcastle University, Kunstpalais, Inspace, and Edinburgh University’s Department of Design Informatics.

Event Programme

Opening Reception and Artist Talks

Fri, 4 Aug 2023, 6-8pm

The opening reception featuring talks by three exhibiting artists.

Exploring the potential for Creative AI

Thu, 10 Aug 2023, 10:30am – 2pm

A workshop to discuss and explore how creatives in Scotland are working with AI, and what support they need to develop further.

Making and Deepfaking the News

Tue, 15 Aug 2023, 2-4pm

An interactive workshop about journalism in the age of artificial intelligence.

Design Informatics

Website: designinformatics.org

Instagram: designinformatics

Twitter: @DesignInf

Inspace

Website: inspace.ed.ac.uk

Instagram: inspacegallery

Twitter: @InspaceG

Gallery

IMG_5307

Artists at Inspace Gallery question authenticity and ownership of AI generated voice 

Image Credit: ‘Not I’ by Unit Text. Photographer Chris Scott 

The Sounds of Deep Fake

The Sounds of Deep Fake exhibition, curated by the Institute for Design Informatics, brings together work from artists Theodore Koterwas, Everest Pipkin, and creative research studio, Unit Test.  The associated exhibit features work by Holly Herndon in collaboration with Never Before Heard Sounds and Rachel Maclean.   

Right now, so many of these technologies are capturing the public’s imagination. There are a lot of news headlines and scare stories, so I think it’s important to cut through this hype to address AI in a way that people can engage with, and ask questions about, instead of just being given answers from experts, corporations or governments. It is also important for us as artists to engage critically and to engage people with this subject in an accessible way.

Participating Artist, Theodore Kotwerwas 

The exhibition runs throughout August as part of Edinburgh Art Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe. 

The Sounds of Deep Fake is a new exhibition at Inspace Gallery bringing together international artists working with sound and emerging technologies to explore deep fake audio. Premiering as part of the 2023 Edinburgh Festivals, the exhibition is a collaboration between Inspace Gallery, the Institute of Design Informatics and Creative Informatics 

Each artist asks what it means to synthesise and replicate reality, to bring together human and machine voices, and to literally put words into others’ mouths through their unique creative and critical perspectives. 

The Sounds of Deep Fake includes three artworks and an associated exhibit featuring work with sound and emerging technologies to explore deep fake audio. The works ask what it means, personally and politically, to synthesise, clone and manipulate voices to replicate reality.  

“We are thrilled to be supporting this exhibition as part of our Creative AI demonstrator project, which is exploring the opportunities, challenges and implications of AI. These works bring AI, through Deep Fake, to life in beautiful, tangible and emotionally engaging ways that ask meaningful questions about what it means to create, collaborate and live with AI. Throughout Creative Informatics we have worked with creative people and companies to help them use data in new ways, supporting research and development but also understanding of complexity, ethical approaches, and the potential of new technology. We are excited for the potential of AI, and to see how artists and creatives can shed new light on our understanding and critical engagement with these complex technologies. It is a joy to see audiences respond to the works in The Sounds of Deep Fake and we hope they will find it as exciting, thought provoking and challenging as know this space to be.” 

Nicola Osborne, Creative Informatics Programme Manager 

★★★★☆ The List Magazine 

“This deep-dive in generative language is fun and thought provoking”