Artificial intelligence is a major issue of our time, which we as individuals not uncommonly react to with skepticism and prejudices. The exhibition »(A)I Tell You, You Tell Me. Three Encounters for Humans/Machines« slots into the current discourse on AI and offers the opportunity to enter into dialog and exchanges with algorithmic systems. By engaging interactively, we can explore intuitively our relationship to technology, question existing prejudices, and reflect on our own self as well as the purported technological »other«. To this end, we have commissioned three large-scale artworks that occupy the first floor of Atriums 1+2.

»AEIOU« (2024)

- robotlab
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- The first Atrium is devoted to the work »AEIOU« (2024) by the Karlsruhe-based artist group robotlab. Two industrial robots write machine-generated texts on a long conveyor belt, which allows us to participate in the self-reflexive dialog between two technological entities. The robotlab group (Matthias Gommel, Martina Haitz, and Jan Zappe) has been associated with ZKM for more then ten years. Through their work they explore the multifaceted aspects of human–machine relationships. »AEIOU« (2024) engages with our strange realities that are currently being created by synergies between robots and artificial intelligence.

»Electrify Me, Baby« (2024)

- Anne Duk Hee Jordan
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- The second encounter between humans and machines is the multisensory installation »Electrify Me, Baby« (2024) by artist Anne Duk Hee Jordan, who lives in Berlin and is professor of digital media art at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (HfG). In her works, Jordan utilizes nature and biological phenomena as metaphors to engage in a dialog with art, science, technology, society, and identity that is often ironic. She creates hybrid worlds that elude binary thinking and counter anthropocentrism with a more-than-human perspective. »Electrify Me, Baby« (2024) creates a unified cosmos that oscillates between natural and technical phenomena and describes the way of the world, of life from the beginning to the end. Humorously, the installation invites us to reflect on our own existence in a world where all human and nonhuman beings are inextricably linked. Against the efficiency of today’s technologies, the artist sets her concept of »artificial stupidity«, which allows scope for mistakes and unproductivity as a means to readjust our relationship to our planet.

»Flatware, Hardware, Software, Wetware« (2024)

- ZKM Hertzlab
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- Alongside the works by robotlab and Anne Duk Hee Jordan, we are presenting the AI-based intervention »Flatware, Hardware, Software, Wetware« (2024) by the Hertz Lab (Yasha Jain, Bernd Lintermann, Tina Lorenz, and Dan Wilcox), ZKM’s own department of artistic research. This interactive work draws on the work done on smart signs for artworks from the ZKM’s intelligent.museum project. The artworks, here called »flatware«, come from the ZKM Collection and are rarely shown to the public. Through the usage of AI, we are constantly challenged to find new individual interpretations of classic »flatware«. In the process, the supposedly true description of the picture actually turns out to be tongue-in-cheek disinformation that invites us to make our own interpretation. The installation thus questions our subliminal trust in the written text and undermines the cultural institution's presumed sovereignty of interpretation over what we see.

Complex Interactions between Humans and Machines

»(A)I Tell You, You Tell Me« is a place where people, ideas and technologies meet, a place of learning, experimentation, and research, where the focus is very much on reflecting and participating together. The project makes use of the exhibited artworks to illuminate the complex interactions between humans and machines and questions what we can learn from these encounters and what conclusions we can draw from them for ourselves and for our society.

How Much AI Is in Us?

In order to learn more about us as individuals and as a society, we invite you to participate in the diverse program that accompanies the exhibition. In addition to analog and digital workshops, discussions with experts, and a reading circle, film screenings, performative interventions, and guided tours are planned to encourage dialog.

Together, we want to explore alternatives to the humanization of technology and try out new ways of reflecting on technical instruments. The abandonment of the dualism of human vs. machine is understood as a stimulus to develop new thought processes that enable new perspectives and allow everyone individual access to the discourses.

Credits

Alistair Hudson (Concept)
Clara Runge (Curator)
Philipp Ziegler (Curator)

Exhibition team:

Anne Däuper (Technical Project Management)
Daniel Heiss (Technical Development)
Matthias Gommel (Scenography)
Laura Schmidt (Curatorial Assistance)
Gina Marie Schwenzfeier, Janis Ströver (Project Assistance)
Lisa Bartling, Janine Burger, Alexandra Hermann (Mediation)
Regina Linder (Registrar)
Sarah Donata Schneider (Collection Officer)

Marlen Ernst, Anouk Widmann (Marketing)
Anne Thomé, Emma Teuscher (Editing & PR)

With special thanks to
the artists, Lydia Ahrens (alexander levy), Daria Mille, Tina Lorenz