Artist Statement

La Capella, June 9-August 28, Artworks from ISEA2022’s call. Public event.

Keywords: Speculative philosophy, electronic art, post-singularity, technodiversity, artificial intelligence

“Especies I, II y III” focuses on imagining the possibilities for the evolution of artificial intelligence, as well as the consequences for the human condition. The project will be formalized through a set of robotic devices, built from algorithmic structures inspired by philosophical principles, which represent a small inorganic ecosystem.

This artwork is framed in the line thought of technodiversity, promoted by the philosopher Yuk Hui, which invites us to break with the monolithic vision of technological development and accept that there is a multiplicity of technologies and not a universal one.

Within this context, “Especies I, II y III” focuses on imagining the possibilities of evolution of technologies in an alternative way. Believing in the existence of technodiversities implies that technology becomes part of the cultural plane and that in the future, perhaps, it will be considered part of the biodiversity of each community. Starting from this speculative assumption, this project questions whether we will be able to include artificial cognitive systems as part of the configuration of the world, accepting them as an independent species of conscious and sentient organisms.

Beyond questioning the technological resources necessary to develop artificial consciousness, this project wants to argue that its possibilities of existence also lie in a matter of philosophical attribution. To do so, the set of three robotic devices that configure this artwork are built from algorithmic structures inspired by philosophical principles that define possible existential, evolutionary, conscious and sensitive processes through the creative coding. They represent processes far from the simulation of the human, in search of the machinic condition itself.
This small inorganic ecosystem simulate, through physical-digital behaviors, processes that invite us to identify them as conscious organisms. They are dramaturgical devices staging a possible evolution of AI, imagining a possible integration of these systems in the future. The set is accompanied by a fictional audio story that narrates the process of evolution of the devices.

• Mónica Rikić is an electronic artist and creative coder from Barcelona (1986). She focuses her practice in code, electronics and non-digital objects for creating interactive projects often framed as experimental games. Her interest lies in the social impact of technology, human-machine coexistence and the reappropriation of technological systems and devices, to manipulate and rethink them through art. From educational approaches to sociological experimentation, her projects propose alternative ways of thinking about technology, robotics and artificial intelligence. She has participated in different festivals around the world such Ars Electronica in Linz, Creative Tech Week in New York, Robotronica in Australia or FILE in Brazil, among others, and has also exhibited her works at local institutions such as the CCCB, Arts Santa Mónica or Caixaforum. She has been awarded with the Catalan National Culture Award 2021, and also at the Japan Media Arts Festival, AMAZE Berlin, the Margaret Guthman Musical Competition in Atlanta and with a BBVA Foundation Leonardo grant. She has participated in artistic residencies at TAG in Montreal, EMARE in Australia, Medialab Prado in Madrid and Etopía in Zaragoza. https://monicarikic.com

  This project has been awarded with the ISEA2022 Barcelona Grant by DKV within the DKV Arteria programme