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Documentation/Proposal

Project Name

Proposal

Abstract

The alienation of human being is still aggravating. One of the effective solutions can be narrowing the boundary between nature and culture. Here comes some essential questions: How to expand empathy to other species, even natural substances? How to understand and appreciate them and their value? Inspired by the intelligence of human language, I think other natural substances have their own logic systems and “languages” whereas human beings cannot understand. Their languages can reflect information and their history as well. I investigate language, natureculture, interspecies communication, specific natural phenomenon, posing questions about modern culture's relationship to nature. My interdisciplinary art practice is an attempt to communicate with non-human entities by generating a speculative language that belongs to them. This exploration tends to weak anthropocentrism and to rebuild the connection between nature and human.

Keyword

Hybrid Art, AI/ Algorithm, Extended Language Ecology, Satellite Meteorology

Project Details

Presentation

“I reflected that Argos and I lived our lives in separate universes; I reflected that our perceptions were identical but that Argos combined them differently than I, constructed from them different objects; I reflected that perhaps for him there were no objects, but rather a constant, dizzying play of swift impressions.”

—— The Immortal by Jorges Luis Borges

To get rid of alienation, to return to naturalness, to appreciate, understand, and even communicate with nature, this project tends to create the language of clouds to set up an artistic bridge between culture and natural substance. Language and words as media can express meaning and reflect the time-complex in human society, which indicates the trajectory of human history and civilization. In the natural world, each type of matter and the living creature may have its language and logical system that humans cannot understand. Finding the language that belongs to these natural substances is a direct art practice of natureculture. This project uses "words" and "language" as the medium to expand empathy to natural matter to seek decentralization and to achieve a balance between humans and nature.

Clouds, as the main research object, are a vital part of nature. The metamorphosis, mobility, and components of the clouds are related to the sea, wind, land, and everything. The language of the clouds, in other words, the logical system of the clouds can be a good channel for human beings to appreciate and understand nature. The movement of the cloud is relatively logical, with periodicity. Therefore, the trajectories of the clouds can be seen as the history of these natural substances. The language of clouds is constantly evolving and changing, which is similar to the language and words in human society.

The generating process, the process of establishing text connections, is almost similar to a translation process. It represents the crucial information for pursuing a shared understanding, not a translation that exists for readers. To realize the essential intention of language, this project lets machines act as translators to overcome the barrier of language that is limited to human meaning. Through algorithms, it explores the possibility of transcendence in translation by machines.

The ideal outcome is words generated by analyzing the cloud images in different areas in the world within a certain period. To display the trajectories (the history of clouds), the words will be showed in 3D. The depth of each word is the result of analyzing one-period cloud images in one area. Users can move and rotate the words by mouse.

Online Flipbook

Chapter 1:

10 types of clouds with 3D rotatable words

Image: corresponding cloud (still)

Style : ?

Chapter 2:

Cloud poems based on different weather (Sunny/Cloudy (hot / cool )/Rainy (heavy / drizzle) )

5 type

Image: corresponding video (moving)

Risk : Video from the satellite is unclear. How to process

Style : ?

Chapter 3:

Simil-language based on different weather (Sunny/Cloudy (hot / cool )/Rainy (heavy / drizzle) )

6h/12h per word (48h or 72h)

Image: corresponding video (moving) same with ch2 but with lower capacity

Risk : Video from the satellite is unclear. How to process

Style : ?

Feasible methods

Collect the video clips of clouds from satellites — Input the RGB matrix of each image — Design an algorithm to extract a set of points — Connect points to word-like lines — Arrange layers of each 3D word

(Try deep learning to extract the position of clouds, probably don’t need, but maybe)

2D: Flow field based on Optical flow vectors

Risk: How to choose limited feature points & How to constrain as Hieroglyphs

3D: 2D Flow field as the depth changing. For each layer, connect points to strokes.

Risk: Strokes‘ thickness changing. How to connect based on cloud area.

Simil-language: Analyse generated 2D word from each 3D layer (or binary image perhaps more texts but not so consistent from the meaning of machine as translator after ch1&2) 6h for one word

Risk: Still not shows any meaning (rearrange letters?)