Chinese Ink
In this installation, e-ink screens are set to display a moving image, generated by an AI system in real-time. The system is trained on images of inkblots and set to render visually alike content at the rate of hundreds of samples per minute. The training data was comprised of a thousand scans of inkblots on cold-pressed paper sheets. The algorithm is computed via the GPU server in an open frame wall-mounted configuration; its hardware is liquid-cooled with the solution containing an actual ink mix, that circulates throughout the machine. The installation calls on the traditional Chinese ink wash painting technique, however not so much about its style or iconography, but rather it focuses on the material qualities of the ink, its aesthetic capacities and ontology.
Under what guises will this tradition continue to exist through phases of industrial advancements in visual media? Can one still trace subtle details of ink drops soaked into paper on images, computationally derived from original samples? Does it hold up to be called an inkblot when each image is unique only in its algorithmic authenticity and is produced via the means of e-ink displays? Unlike conventional screens are engineered to mimic the look of ink on paper by arranging nanosized pigment particles with electromagnetic waves across the display’s surface. The work is a visual meditation on tracing links between traditions, industrial processes, tools, emerging aesthetics & formerly dominant visual languages.