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Work Title
Alternative Futures: "Protect me from what I want"
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Work Title（EN)
Alternative Futures: "Protect me from what I want"
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Please describe the concept of your artwork in 1000 words.
Project Description
This project interrogates our relationship
with technology by using computer
predictions as an extension to control our
own futures. We tend to make decisions
based on a vision of our own future. What
happens when these visions differ or never
come to fruition? The artist uses the model
GPT-2 and trained it using transcripts of
narratives about Asian American identities
to generate alternative realities and
possible futures. While this is an attempt
by the artist to control her own future using
technology, this is also a speculative,
existential, and critical piece about the
pervasive power and limitations of
technology. -
Please describe the concept of your artwork in 1000 words. （EN）
Project Description
This project interrogates our relationship
with technology by using computer
predictions as an extension to control our
own futures. We tend to make decisions
based on a vision of our own future. What
happens when these visions differ or never
come to fruition? The artist uses the model
GPT-2 and trained it using transcripts of
narratives about Asian American identities
to generate alternative realities and
possible futures. While this is an attempt
by the artist to control her own future using
technology, this is also a speculative,
existential, and critical piece about the
pervasive power and limitations of
technology. -
Work Specification
The result of this exploration led to the
emergence of an immersive installation of three
large paper scrolls with printed generated text
depicting alternative realities undulating from
the ceiling in a gallery. One of the scrolls
directly feeds into an acrylic black box where
the viewer can peer inside to experience the
audio/visual narrative of three generative
realities. The experience is meant to evoke a
feeling of gazing inside someone’s stream of
consciousness. The aesthetic choices of
immersive VR storytelling combined with the
video transitions transport the viewer into
another dimension through glimpses of an
infinity mirror room filled with lights that
metaphorically represents the endless
possibilities of the multiverse. The design of
the experience is ethereal, as well as eerie
which mirrors the feeling of uncertainty
between powers of control between the artist,
technology, and society. The alternative futures
is also printed out in a wall installation
exhibiting the different possibilities.
This project can also be displayed as a physical collection with the futures printed on cards on a wall. -
Work Specification（EN）
The result of this exploration led to the
emergence of an immersive installation of three
large paper scrolls with printed generated text
depicting alternative realities undulating from
the ceiling in a gallery. One of the scrolls
directly feeds into an acrylic black box where
the viewer can peer inside to experience the
audio/visual narrative of three generative
realities. The experience is meant to evoke a
feeling of gazing inside someone’s stream of
consciousness. The aesthetic choices of
immersive VR storytelling combined with the
video transitions transport the viewer into
another dimension through glimpses of an
infinity mirror room filled with lights that
metaphorically represents the endless
possibilities of the multiverse. The design of
the experience is ethereal, as well as eerie
which mirrors the feeling of uncertainty
between powers of control between the artist,
technology, and society. The alternative futures
is also printed out in a wall installation
exhibiting the different possibilities.
This project can also be displayed as a physical collection with the futures printed on cards on a wall. -
Media CoverageURL
https://parsons.edu/dt/alternative-realities-protect-me-from-what-i-want-draft/
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Video URL
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Your OfficialURL (Website, Instagram, Facebook)
https://www.shirleysleung.com/design-technology/alternativerealities
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Your Profile
Shirley is a creative technologist, multimedia artist, and interdisciplinary designer currently living and working in New York City.
In her work, she's interested in exploring social constructs through experimental design and alternative forms of storytelling. Currently, she’s exploring social issues relating to being an Asian American woman growing up in an increasingly digital society. She speculates about alternative futures through machine learning and AI in order for us to reconsider the relationship we have with machines.
Shirley received her B.A. from Brown University and an M.F.A in Design and Technology from The Parsons School of Design. She has exhibited works at Brown University, Parsons School of Design, LES Ecology Center as well as Vare Gallery in Helsinki.
Full CV is available upon request. -
Team Members
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Entrant’s location (Where do you live?)
New York
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Alternative Futures: "Protect me from what I want"
Others
Alternative Realities: “Protect me from what I want” is a physical installation and an immersive experience. It is an ongoing conversation between the artist and participants that explores generative narratives of race, identity, and privilege in the Asian American community. This project interrogates our relationship with technology by using computer predictions as an extension to control our own futures. We tend to make decisions based on a vision of our own future. What happens when these visions differ or never come to fruition? The artist uses the model GPT-2 and trained it using transcripts of narratives about Asian American identities to generate alternative realities and possible futures. While this is an attempt by the artist to control her own future using technology, this is also a speculative, existential, and critical piece about the pervasive power and limitations of technology.
