Xinru Huang
About
Xinru Huang is an interdisciplinary and multiple media designer based in London and Beijing. As an observer and explorer of the world, Xinru is keen on multi-dimensional thinking and forward-looking vision, proposes the possibility of the future from an innovative perspective, and actively responds to the challenges brought about by social change. Her works involve product design, experience design, speculative design, biotechnology innovative materials, intelligent computing and AI training, etc.
Education
MA Information Experience Design, Royal College of Art (UK)
BA Product design, Central Academy of Fine Arts (CN)
Statement
I describe myself as a "reverse explorer". In my past practice, my theme has always been to explore how to look at the future of technological change and development in a diversified way.
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In daily cognition, "errors and redundancy" need to be revised and discarded.
In the process of digital production (eg. AI confrontational neural network training), a lot of random digital natural objects and digital redundant objects that are constantly spreading are generated outside the control. And these products are defined as "useless" and "need to be modified and discarded" in daily cognition. The development of the modern AI industry relies on fighting Error/Bug/Glitch to develop a more perfect AI.
"Is constantly battling bugs/errors/glitches the only way forward for AI?"
In 3177, the ERROR Archaeological Museum aims to explore the future after the disappearance of error, how people reconstruct and redefine those digital remains of error that have been preserved through restoration from the perspective of the future. How a future society reconstructs and redefines “value” and “identity”. The museum exhibits information about ERROR obtained by restoring and reorganizing binary data that can be preserved in the past. All archaeological elements are AI generated. Error Museum is a project exploring the value and identity of 'Error' in a speculative scenario when error has disappeared, to reflect on its value in creative practice and AI development. The project involves a future where humans are "passively domesticated" by artificial intelligence Society, discussing the cutting-edge ideas of the future of human society related to artificial intelligence. From another perspective, I hope that the public can simultaneously think about whether the life path of "perfect" development is the only destiny.
Error Museum
The museum displays the files about ERROR obtained by repairing and reorganizing the binaries and codes that can be preserved in the past. And through this to deduce those "useless things" that were deleted and discarded in the evolution and development.
Algorithms are actually extremely fragile, and what can be left in the end are more physical things. Digital art is nothing more than a string of codes, and these codes are fragile. However, the ancient method of chiseling stones to record events can be preserved for hundreds of millions of years.
All archaeological elements are AI generated, I collected a lot of meaningless and random images that I got in AI training, and converted them into binary form, and tried to imitate the features of archaeological objects. Then use the help of AR extension for museum experience. All languages and characters are derived from standardized AI inscriptions.
We will find that through the evolution of history values, the same thing can be viewed differently. It is very interesting that after the precipitation of history, some things that were originally worthless are now worth hundreds of times. Imperfect value, "useless value" is worth exploring and redefining.
Processing
Why speculative design?
In an extreme context, there is more space for discussion. The points presented are also more debatable. I hope that the public will have more reflections after participating, whether it is about AI or about themselves.