Artist Interview: Tong Wu

Tong Wu is a researching creative technologist and multimedia artist based in New York City. Her practice explores the subtle yet dynamic connections we make with ubiquitous AI systems embedded around us and the societal or cultural shifts that come along.

The artist incorporates interactive installation, AI models, web, creative design, and workshops, and has exhibited her award-winning work internationally. She is currently a User Experience Engineer with Google, focusing on socio-technological research and prototyping.

We asked Tong about her art, creative process, and inspirations.

Can you tell us about your background as a digital artist? How did you get started in this field?

I have a prior background in photojournalism, in which I produced feature documentaries that focused on human-interest stories, aiming to shed light on and address a wide range of social issues. Since then I started to develop interests in the concepts of “system” and the dynamic power relationships humans -have developed with each other and with other social entities when situated in different systems. Also, I came to realize that storytelling could be achieved via many different media. Therefore, approximately six years ago, I started new media art study and began my foray into digital art.

What inspires your art? Are there any particular themes or subjects that you enjoy exploring through your artwork?

My artistic practice is consistently grounded in thorough research of both philosophical theories and emerging technologies, with Internet culture, novels, and behavior studies serving as continuous sources of inspiration.

*Bureau of Cloud Management is a collaborative art project of Tong Wu and Yuguang Zhang which explores the capability and societal influence of generative AI*

For example, in an earlier project of mine, I unpacked the concept of “alienation” through turning a 3D-scanned model of me into a series of everyday objects – with the tone of absurdity and in the form of Augmented Reality app, 3d printing sculptures, and 3d animation video. I have strong interests in exploring various kinds of possible media, digital or non-digital, but the theme would always tie back to the “relationships” we as humans are forming with other humans, with other social entities, and with the surrounding societal systems.

Can you tell us about The Bureau of Cloud Management, what makes the project special to you?

“Bureau of Cloud Management” is an ongoing collaborative art project by Yuguang Zhang and me. As a duo, we started to explore the capability and societal influence of generative AI at the end of 2021 in reflection of the deepening involvement of AI as a social entity in cultural production. The project got its name as we word-played on the term "cloud": the widely discussed “cloud” as a crucial technical infrastructure versus its original meaning – actual clouds. I am amused everytime when I need to say “actual clouds” or “the physical clouds” to distinguish it from the technical terminology, a proof of technology invading and redefining modern vocabulary. Through the artwork, we aim to imagine alternative scenarios of human-AI relationships other than the binary, human-centric Dominated or Dominating / Tool or Enemy point of view. "Bureau of Cloud Management" wants to counterpoint such a dominant narrative that places AI developments as grand breakthroughs or singular moments and beckons a non-linear, symbiotic path.

We resonate deeply with the idea of gathering, raised by author Ursula Le Guin, who contests the dualistic conflict-driven views of technology. She posits the first technological tool as the 'basket' to gather, not the spear. Hence, the narrative of technology is reframed from the individualistic, singular 'he' to a plural collective 'we'. The rapid breakthrough of generative AI technology has been and will continue to fundamentally influence the ways we think, express, live and collaborate. Hence, it’s necessary to start a discussion on the foundational mental models about the very paradigms of agency and consciousness that have defined us for millennia.

In our collaborative endeavor, Yuguang was responsible for establishing and configuring all the back-end machine learning pipelines, while I focused on designing and developing the visuals and set layout for the project. We’ve been producing several iterations of the BCM project since the end of 2021. Initially, BCM consisted of a collection of pre-Stable Diffusion images that resembled animals formed by clouds, which we generated out of curiosity by inputting descriptions such as "a cloud that looks like a cat's head" and then processing the images layer by layer. Following that, we progressed to developing a dedicated website, enhancing user interaction, and establishing a more uniform visual identity of the work. It is through the ongoing collaborative efforts on these iterations that we have been able to gradually forge a shared understanding of the narrative this project aims to tell.

Read more about the duo exhibition titled “We may be in this together,” where Bureau of Cloud Management was showcased in November 2023 at :iiddr gallery in New York City

Can you tell us about an upcoming project?

We are still planning to further enrich the world building of the project “Bureau of Cloud Management,” as its current phase focuses on the observing and archiving functionalities of the bureau. Based on the feedback and experience we gained from this exhibition, we think there are many directions this project could be developed further: Scale-wise, we would love to imagine a larger “office” space with multiple seats available for multi-person audience participation; Experience-wise, we are considering engaging audience into an interactive performance to have a more focused and dedicated cloud observing experience.

Can you tell us about the art workshops you offer? What impact do you think teaching has on your practice?

Since 2022, generative AI has become quite a buzzword. Amidst the excitement for the novel experience of letting AI model “create” media (text, images, audio clips, videos) there is a rising palpable fear that these advanced tools might someday replace the unique and nuanced work produced by human artists, potentially devaluing originality and diminishing the demand for traditional creative skills.

Reflecting on our own experience exploring this new domain, Yuguang and I developed a workshop that we offered to the artist, designer, and content creator communities, introducing both practical knowledge of generative AI tools, covering the essential "what-is" and "how-to," as well as fostering ways of thinking for these communities to critically engage in conversations about shaping the future of this technology.

It’s the first time I tried to share content with the public in the form of teaching. The workshop was not merely a session about improving the comprehension of generative AI technology; it also provided an experiment field that allowed me, and the participants, to intuitively contemplate the boundaries into which generative content can intervene, and prompted me to think more deeply: Does "generated" content contaminate what we perceive as "authentic"? Can the choices of accepting or rejecting generative content in different creative processes help me more clearly outline the contours of the creative autonomy I wish to defend? All the thinking and debates around these topics to a great extent have enriched my understanding and the collective insight into the interplay between AI-generated art and human creativity.

How do you handle the criticism against AI art? Do you think your work was influenced by these debates in any way?

I would say it’s actually quite absurd for an art form like AI art to develop into such a scale before encountering a critical voice. If we consider AI art as a new form of movement in the contemporary evolution of art, then this transformation is one not led by artists, but by scientists and engineers. Consequently, art criticism that grows in tandem and adapts with artistic practice too finds itself to a certain extent in a state of confusion. Pre-2021, the creators and appreciators of AI art were indeed part of a very small niche. Post-2021, despite the sector's explosive growth and increased visibility, for the general public—even beyond the dedicated art community—comprehensively grasping and critically assessing AI art still demands overcoming a substantial knowledge barrier.

Therefore, I view my own artistic practice as creating a medium for a much equal dialogue to discuss and unpack those more universal human experiences hinted at behind those complicated algorithms and confusing jargon: What kind of transformation in power dynamics are we facing? And what new forms of social relations can we envision?