Machine Whispers

Collaboration with Iris Xiaoyu Qu

In the age of artificial intelligence, mundane interactions are mediated by an abstract layer of hidden intelligence. Some call this growing trend of embeddedness “ambient intelligence” – an intelligence that often manifests as data collectors providing global insights. Yet we also have a kind of local ambient intelligence in ancient folklore, manifesting as human and non-human spirits, gnomes, and Tudigong.

Machine whispers is a site-specific installation that attempts to recreate the moment of encounter with a local intelligence. An AI learns about its location through deep research, reinterpreting articles, blogs, and building records into poetic stories. Old tape machines remix these stories live, merging them into a continuous murmur for passersby. Reimagined by abstract algorithms and remixed by tactile analog tech, we hope to create a local ambient intelligence that bears new witness to the rapidly changing times.

Shown as part of the 24th Annual Inter/Access Current Exhibition in Toronto, Attention//Distraction exhibition presented by UAAD, and FLORA's Inside the Studio during NYCxDESIGN.