art_and_the_techno-politics_of_ai

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Date: 27.-31.10.

Room: 6K.04

Abstract

  • Starting from the collaborative work of the artist Vladan Joler and the researcher Kate Crawford, we investigate the techno-politics of AI long various points in the chain of production, use and disposal. We use the framework of “extractivism” to investigate the conditions and consequences of mining, labour, data, and e-waste. We use both academic research and artistic practice to collaboratively investigate and reflect on the aesthetics of engaging with such planetary processes.

Requirements:

  • 80% Prescence
  • Participation and independent research
  • Visual representation of research, must include on item not found on the internet

Overview over the week

Thinking about the Cloud

Mapping AI: the case of Amazon Echo

  • Amazon advertising campaign, “All-New Amazon Echo”, September 27, 2017
  • Kate Crawford & Vladan Joler: Anatomy of an AI System (2018) (PDF)
  • Reading: Anatomy of an AI System The Amazon Echo as an anatomical map of human labor, data and planetary resources. https://anatomyof.ai

Selecting one area for further investigation

  • First step in further research: Read relavant chapter in Crawford, Kate. 2021. Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence. Yale University Press.

Deeper into mapping with Vladan Joler

  • Vladan Joler. Facebook Algorithmic Factory, 2016
  • Vladan Joler. New Extractivism. https://extractivism.online/ (Video & Map)
  • Vladan Joler, Gordan Savičić, Felix Stalder: Infrastructure of a Migratory Bird., 2022-25
  • Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler Cacluation Empires. (2023)
  • Daphne Dragona: Mapping Exploitation / Empowering Knowledge. Critical mapmaking an the work of Vladan Joler. p.7-14 in: Joler, Vladan et al. Black Box Cartography: A Critical Cartography of the Internet and Beyond. Limited edition of 250. Brescia: Krisis Publishing, 2023. [ Local Copy
  • Regine Debatty. Eexploitation Forensics. Interview with Vladan Joler. We Make Money, Not Art. 2017

Zoom Conversation with Vladan Joler

Research time

Other Approaches to Mapping Techno-politics

  • Holmes, Brian and Bureau d'Etudes., eds. An Atlas of Agendas: Mapping the Power, Mapping the Commons. Second edition. Onomatopee, 88.1. Eindhoven: Lecturis, 02.

Mapping Infrastructures: Cables

Mapping Infrastructures: Datacenters Switzerland

Visit: Lauren Lee McCarthy: AUTO Münsterhof. Münsterhof Zurich

Dammbeck, Lutz, dir. 2004. Das Netz. Documentary. 121 min

Time for Research

Outside of module

Stranger than Fiction. Symposium @ Cabaret Voltaire

18.15 Joseph Vogl: Kapitalismus und Fantasy (Moderation: Christine Lötscher und Sylvia Sasse)
20.15 Total Refusal: Sons and True Sons (Live-Gaming-Lecture-Performance)

Time for Research

Presentation

Film: Dylan Reibing. The End of the Internet. Documentary, 87 Min, 2025

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