Aijia Wang (王艾嘉)
About
AijiaWang is an interdisciplinary artist from China pursuing an MA in Information Experience Design at the Royal College of Art. She splits her time between China and UK and has a background in communication and experience design, which influences her creative process. Her work often incorporates interactive installations, sound design, graphic design, projection art, and writing.
AijiaWang's art-making philosophy centers on a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach that uses different media and sensory channels to design experiences that foster empathy towards various human experiences. She is interested in exploring the relationship between humans and non-human species, and often incorporates technology, such as artificial intelligence, into her artistic practice.
Her stop-motion experimental film Centaur Symphony, which she art directed in 2020, won the NetEase Music "The Power of Music", Best Creative Award. The short film was sealed in a time capsule chip and launched into space aboard the Shen Gu Xing I rocket(2022). Her feminist VR experience and sound art piece, Artificial Dream, premiered at IRCAM in Centre Pompidou, Paris, France in 2023. She was one of the ten finalists for the inaugural Immerse UK Awards(2023).
Selected Exhibitions
2023
– Polyphonic, Crypt Gallery (UK)
– IRCAM Forum Presentation(FR)
, , – Loading…-Online(CN)
2022
– 存在(UK)
– Playtime (UK)
Statement
In Conversation with UAAD: Aijia Wang, Bridging Technology, Nature, and Culture
“Technology is now becoming our best tool to challenge fixed ways of knowledge-making and to learn about human beings, sociality, and culture. ‘we are not stand-alone and unique entities, but rather informationally embodied organisms (inforgs), mutually connected and embedded in an informational environment, the infosphere, which we share with both natural and artificial agents similar to us in many respects.”
- Luciano Floridi, “Turing’s Three Philosophical Lessons and the Philosophy of Information”, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 370 (2012), pp. 3536-42.
This project explores how artificial intelligence (AI) perceives the relationship between humans and nature. Through an interactive installation, the audience is also invited to explore this subject by leaving behind dualistic nature-culture mindsets and embracing more empathetic approaches toward the world.
Currently, AI is not recognized as human or natural, but in a sense, it can be considered a spectator. How does it see the world? And how does it perceive humans in relation to the natural world? To explore these questions, I asked a face recognition AI algorithm - StyleGan-2 - to perceive humans and plants as equal species and generate outputs exploring our entanglements with the natural world.
Inforg1.0
Description
Inforg1.0 is an artificial intelligence organism installation. It provides a visual physical representation of how data is collected, processed, uploaded, and used by AI algorithms. The eye of AI captures images of the audience in real time on the left column, presenting the process of data collection. A computer, hidden in the heart of the installation, continuously performs AI data calculations, with its internal data connected by cables to the top of the installation, simulating the process of computing and uploading. The top screen at the top constantly displays the entangled world generated by AI, allowing the viewer to understand how these systems explain our entangled relationship with the natural world. The installation also uses sound-designed pathways to mimic the AI asking questions, encouraging viewers to think beyond the act of viewing and constantly challenging them to engage with the work.
Personal Tutor:
Nestor Pestana
Installation:
Creator: Aijia Wang
Machine Learning: Aijia Wang
Coding Technician: Le Liu
TD Technician: Jeff Zhang
Wood Technician: Paul
Moving Image: Bethany Yang
Sound Design:
Producer: Xiaowei Zhang(Lightweiss)
Composer: Xiaowei Zhang(Lightweiss)
Programming: Xiaowei Zhang(Lightweiss)
Voice Actor: Yuan Zhu
Voice Actress: Meida Fu
Vocal And Rhythm Arrangement: Xiaowei Zhang(Lightweiss)
Academic Support:
Hanqing Guo(HongKong Baptist University, Master Of Science AI and Digital Media)
Medium: Installation;SoundDesign
Size: Varies
Encounter
Description
The film "Encounter" immerses the audience in the first-person perspective of Inforg, an artificially intelligent organism, delving into their unique encounters with the world. Through a distinctive camera language, the film simulates the intricate process of reading, recognizing, judging, generating, and ultimately presenting the AI's evolving understanding of the world. From moments of clarity to periods of confusion, and back to clarity again, the film explores the question: as the algorithms mature, do the AIs develop an autonomous consciousness? Furthermore, it prompts us to ponder the various ways in which humans coexist in the world of AI.
Director: Aijia Wang
Creator: Bethany Yang
Director of Photography: Bethany Yang
Talent: Zhiru Xie
Editor: Aijia Wang
Colorist: Aijia Wang
Sound Design: Aijia Wang
Voice Actor: Zihao Li
Medium: Film
Size: 2m8s
Chaos
Description
In April, I displayed a prototype of my artwork, Inforg, at CryptGallery. It was there that I met Lesly, a dancer, and we decided to embark on an intriguing artistic experiment together. While conversing with my friend Harriet, who possesses a background in anthropology, I came to realize that the interconnection among all things in the universe resembles more of a 'Chaos' than an ‘Entanglement.' So what if I go beyond the original entanglement system to express a new concept of Chaos?
At the same time, I began to reflect on the fact that a human-scale dataset is instead an anthropocentric viewpoint in a project about non-human interests and interpretations. Why focus on the human face rather than the human whole? Humans are obsessed with faces, machines are not. Since there is no reason for AI to explain humans as individuals, there are more possibilities for explaining the "human" species itself than the fact that we explain ourselves in this way. Lesly's artistic practice gave me a good breakthrough, as her use of the medium of dance was a new definition of the species. So I ended up using the real-time interactive capabilities of Kinect technology to combine the Inforg organismic installation, dance, and music. When the dancer starts to dance, her whole body becomes particles that meet other species and together they complete a performance about chaos.
Medium: performance
Size: Varies
Acknowledgement
人们总爱说，下辈子要成为一棵树，一朵云，一只鸟，但是，我在RCA的时间告诉我，在当下的这一刻我就可以成为任何我想成为的，体验无数种人生的可能性。在过去的两年里，我看到了存在于我生命中的无数个平行时空。谢谢在这两年间帮助过我的人，世界万物如你们爱我一样的爱着我，谢谢你们包容我，支持我，让我成为我。
People often speak of wanting to be a tree, a cloud, or a bird in their next life, but my time at the RCA has shown me that I can be anything I desire at this very moment. These past two years have opened my eyes to the countless parallel times and spaces that exist within my life right now. I am immensely grateful to all those who have supported me throughout this journey. The world's love for me is as profound as your love. Thank you for embracing me, standing by my side, and allowing me to be my true self. You all are the gentle breeze of my galaxy.
Research
Description
I have created a publication about my two-year project and related research for further research, and in the meantime, I have opened a personal ins account for "Inforg", an artificially intelligent organism that will be updated from time to time with what it sees of our world, I simulated it to help it run its account, and audiences are welcome to send me images and data submissions.
Medium: book
Size: 120mm,210mm