Codes, goulash, AR and the question: Why travel to Karlsruhe when Mumbai is so close?

Yasha Jain is from Mumbai. She studies machine learning and materials science. When she saw the exhibition poster of »Open Codes. Digital Culture Techniques« at the Goethe-Institut Max Mueller Bhavan in Mumbai, it is clear to her: I have to see this exhibition!

A month later, she travels to Karlsruhe for the Goulash Programmers Night and realizes: Finally, an open space that challenges visitors and gives technology a decisive role in the field of art! In this interview she explains what distinguishes the exhibition in India from other museum exhibitions and with what success she now gives workshops in the field of Augmented Reality (AR). 

Can you explain how you first discovered the exhibition in Mumbai?     

I read about the exhibition in the newspaper and found it on Facebook too. It was exciting to have an art and tech exhibition in Mumbai. I was instantly drawn to the design of the exhibition poster which was all code syntaxes! The description also talked about having a hacker space which piqued my interest, I was expecting an open space for people to work out of and it was! 

How did you experience the exhibition space? Did you work there? 

I was expecting a museum like experience, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a much more open space. I found that visitors, apart from just visiting a museum and going back, they were hanging back for hours to take in the whole experience. The concept of code as art was received by people in a lot of different of ways. I met a lot of different people, apart from the usual museum-goers, there were street artists, people from a tech background and a lot of people who were intrigued by the concept of using tech for art. They also had a tables and chairs to work from, and that gave the extra boost for people to spend more time in there. I ended up hosting a workshop on Augmented Reality there.

Can you explain your background? You are a student in »Machine Learning«? 

My education is in Material science and Machine learning. My main focus now is in the space of art and tech. I’ve been creating virtual reality experiences and using machine learning for generative art installations. I had always been interested in the art world and it has opened up a space for creating experimental tech, which is the space I would like to work for in the future.

What is now your role for the exhibition in Mumbai? You do workshops on AR? 

I did host a workshop on Augmented Reality there, which was attended by a group of people from diverse backgrounds from IT to design. I wanted to demystify the world of augmented reality for people and give them the tools to start creating their own AR experiences.

Now you are discovering the »original« exhibition at ZKM, what is different to the version at Mumbai?

The original exhibition at ZKM seems to be a lot more focused on the larger concept of the »code« that is around us and how it is shaping the world we live in. The one in Mumbai I felt was more about the showcase of technology in art. Both of them however seemed to challenge the visitors about the place tech holds in art.