Abstract
Keywords:
Pet Food, Contemporary Art, Machine Learning, Data Visualization, Resilient Storytelling, Taurine Deficiency
“Hidden Incidents of Pet Food” is a digital artwork that combines contemporary art, machine learning, and data storytelling. It aims to reveal a relatively unknown yet significant social issue, specifically the deficiency of taurine in cat food. Leveraging Artificial Intelligence, the authors generate digital portraits of 6,000 cats who died from this deficiency. Incorporating additional data from the documented history, the authors reveal the hidden incidents through visualization and data storytelling, showing the trending relationship between the boom of pet capital markets and the deaths of cats due to pet food problems. The AI-generated cat portraits and incident data go beyond the facts and could become a historical memorial for blind cats and those tragic fatalities linked to pet foods. Our computational approach reveals the questionable relationship between people and pets as controlled by capitalism.
- Zi-Wei Wu, Division of Emerging Interdisciplinary Areas, Academy of Interdisciplinary Studies, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong SAR, China and Computational Media and Arts, Information Hub, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), Guangzhou, China
- Xiao-fu Jin, Division of Emerging Interdisciplinary Areas, Academy of Interdisciplinary Studies, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong SAR, China and Computational Media and Arts, Information Hub, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), Guangzhou, China
- Dan-lu Fei, Division of Emerging Interdisciplinary Areas, Academy of Interdisciplinary Studies,Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong SAR, China and Computational Media and Arts, Information Hub, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), Guangzhou, China
- Yi-fang Wang, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, United States of America
- Guang-da Zhu
- Kang-Zhang, Computational Media and Arts, Information Hub, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), Guangzhou, China