
A group of artists recently shared projects about how various forms of technology are incorporated to create Black stories, during the third annual “Torrents: New Links to Black Futures,” a festival produced by Cultural DC at Songbyrd Music House at Union Market Nov. 14-Nov. 17.Presented by Harlem, New York-based Black Public Media (BPM) on Nov. 16, “BPMplus Art & Tech Showcase” festival attendees saw Black filmmakers and artists working in emerging media such as artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), projection and other types of technology. During a panel discussion moderated by BPM’s Director of Emerging Media Lisa Osborne, a veteran immersive and experimental media producer, the artists shared their project case studies.
Andrea Walls and Georgiana Wright are among a group of BPMplus Fellows, who received funding and mentorship to develop their projects. Launched in 2018, BPMplus provides grants, training, and networking for producers and technologists using emerging technologies as their mediums.
BPMplus makers typically use augmented reality, motion capture, artificial intelligence, and similar technologies to create their projects. The department offers fellowships, artists-in-residence programs, immersive tech workshops, creative technology showcases and the PitchBLACK Immersive Forum, the nation’s largest pitch competition for independent, immersive works about the Black experience.A Home for ManyBased in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, artist Andrea Walls presented her work, “Variance: Ritual for a Home,” as part of the free exhibit during the Torrents festival.This past September, for the “Philly Fringe Festival,” Walls created an interactive, walkthrough environment at the “Colored Girls Museum.” In the exhibit, she used AR to project light and images on the exterior of a house and its yard. The objective, using a technique called video match projection, was to take outside interior expressions of family and Black joy outside.
Visitors to her art piece interacted with one another, walking and chatting surrounded by colorfully lit patterns. People could engage in the experience by connecting to a QR code on their phones.“People who could not get on with their phone were assisted with iPads we provided, making it more of a community experience,” said Walls, founder of the Museum of Black Joy, a virtual museum . “We did not want anyone to feel isolated.”Walls said her project was her first step into the virtual world. She wanted to bring technology while upholding the joy of storytelling. When asked how long it took to create her project, Walls had an introspective response. “When we say two months, it takes a lifetime to imagine the future of Black joy,” said Walls. “We’re coming from a history of Black angst and Black trauma. We’re trying to tell the story of how we continue to emerge from the hardest things that ever happened.”
The AI ChallengeGeorgiana Wright is a student at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University, an HBCU in Normal, Alabama. Through her project, “Synthetic Ferality,” she has created the character Ioa, a feral AI who believes she is God and is fed up with human beings. This is the first of three artificial intelligence chatbots that Wright, an AI developer, plans to build. She wants to show other opportunities for AI beyond its current use. As a student, Wright has built a healthy technology portfolio. She started with machine learning in biotechnology, where she studied using machine learning in different environments, like military science. Wright also had a research internship at Apple, exploring how machine learning can assist people with low vision.Wright is pursuing AI agents created to have full personalities. The college student said she has encountered how OpenAI tries to censor many of its products due to the scariness of that technology. “But at the same time, we’re using AI to replace artists. Human beings want to create a perfect tool,” Wright said. “Why would that tool respect us when we have committed so many atrocities?”
By working with BPM, Wright sees herself as more than an engineer; she sees herself as an artist who uses engineering as her medium. In one of her BPMplus projects, Wright is working to create a customizable AI storytelling approach where characters are whatever the artist desires, with consideration for a complete cultural character makeup.In her project “Synthetic Ferality,” Wright is using the term “feral” to describe the full use of AI in creative art, from a friendly collaborative manner to what can be a frightening aspect.“AI is stuck in a weird place with automation and productivity,” said Wright, a computer science major at Alabama A&M. “I’m investigating how we can use AI in different explorative ways.”
Source: Washington Informer