The project has been conceived by Non-Existent Things, a Finland-based art-science studio using creative AI and synthetic media to address challenges of our time in critical and creative ways. The director, Matti Pohjonen, currently works as a Senior Researcher at the Helsinki Institute of Social Science and Humanities, at the University of Helsinki. Prior to moving to Finland, he worked as a Lecturer in Global Digital Media at SOAS, University of London, where he researched, among other things, critical approaches to data and AI. Matti will provide scientific and creative vision for the project.
Lauri Wuolio is a sound artist and a musician. After obtaining a master’s degree in fine arts he worked as a street musician for three years, focusing on the novel 21st century musical instrument called handpan, or cupola. He is also the founder of Vuorikaiku sound gallery, Future Rust record label, and Handpan Day, an annual holiday for celebrating the handpan culture. Wuolio’s work often deals with themes such as memory and language, the emotional and spiritual side of being, and ecological themes such as environmental crisis. He works as an independent artist, composer and music teacher. He lives in Helsinki with his two daughters in a home full of musical instruments and various translations of Dao De Jing.In the project he will work as the art director and sound designer, overseeing the artistic vision for the exhibition and its audio-visual implementation.
The project will work together with a computational artist who will provide assistance with the technical implementations of the project, especially around setting up the AI systems needed for the exhibition space.
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In addition to the core team, the project also brings on board scientific and artistic collaborators, who are incremental to its successful implementation and its public visibility:
On the science side, the project will collaborate with the Microbial Lives: Practices of New Human-Microbial Cultures project at the University of Helsinki, a research project exploring microbe-human relations, including using new methods such as fermentation workshops and other artistic interventions aimed at better understanding our “non-human neighbors whose number vastly exceeds the number of humans on the planet.”