Ornamisms (Root(s), Connection <> Extraction, Treatment)

Abstract

In the latest iteration of our ongoing Artificial Intelligems Ornamisms project, Greg Scheirlinckx and Anneleen Swillen are bringing newly co-created videos into dialogue with a selection of objects, including an antique ivory necklace, a children's textbook, and dental items. While these objects may seem worlds apart at first glance, they share deeper sociopolitical, material, ethical, and cultural concerns. They invite us to reflect on the meaning of (re)turning to “the roots”, and consider processes of collection, extraction, and exploitation, along with ways of treatment, in an age of AI. What possible interconnections, and confrontations, arise from these objectquestions? What realities are uncovered, or constructed, through these phygital constellations? When we listen carefully, what do the shouts whisper, and what dirt gathers in the cornered silence? And, who are we to speak, or bite our tongue?