Exhibition: We may be in this together

Exhibition on view:
November 2 - November 12, 2023
11:00am – 5:00pm
Wednesday through Sunday

Curated by:
Chiarina Chen

Artists:
Chloe Gao, Tong Wu & Yuguang Zhang

Location:
:iiddr gallery
162 Allen St
New York, NY

Image: We may be in this together by Chloe Gao, Tong Wu & Yuguang Zhang is at :iiddr gallery, New York City — *We may be in this together by Chloe Gao, Tong Wu & Yuguang Zhang is at :iiddr gallery, New York City*

The line between machine and human, data and imagination, as well as temporal distinction is getting blurry this month in New York City.

We may be in this together is a duo exhibition curated by Chiarina Chen, featuring artists Chloe Gao and Tong Wu & Yuguang Zhang at :iidrr Gallery. The exhibition features a variety of digital art such as generative AI, VR, and multimedia installations as well as sculpted objects and prints.

“We don’t need another exhibition marveling at the advancement of AI, how it will learn from you and equip you or replace and outrace you. The swings between techno-optimism and pessimism have, in fact, echoed a long history of the arrowlike, linear, progressive role of technology. There’s the man and his tool. Then there’s always a hero and a villain.”

— Chiarina Chen, curator

*We may be in this together by Chloe Gao, Tong Wu & Yuguang Zhang is at :iiddr gallery, New York City*

The exhibition opened its doors to digital art enthusiasts the night of November 2nd with a big party, and is welcoming curious visitors in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Visitors of the show can experience working at the brilliant “Bureau of Cloud Management” and meet the incredible NANA from MARFA through November 12th.

As visitors are welcomed into the space, they find themselves in the Bureau of Cloud Management. This is a a fictional bureau created by artists Tong Wu and Yuguang Zhang that collects, stores, and manages the clouds observed by humans in collaboration with generative AI.

“By humorously staging props and documents from the Bureau, they subtly mock the modern corporative culture of efficiency, in which AI is often used as an external tool that helps maximize profits and functionality. Here, the generative model is trained with the sole ‘mission’ of better learning and restoring clouds, gravitating towards a massive ‘unpurposed’ gathering of collective wondering and imagination.”

— Chiarina Chen, curator

By taking on the role of being a staff member in the bureau, visitors can log in their “observed clouds,” give the time and circumstances of the observation, and let the AI generate an image of the cloud. The project uses an open-sourced Stable Diffusion text-to-image model, which has been trained exclusively for the project.

In addition to the visitors writing descriptions of the clouds they observe in text forms for then to get translated by the AI into cloud images, the exhibition also features a work that introduces the opposite relation, in which an image of a cloud is fed to the AI for it to come up with an observation text.

Image to Text, Generative AI – *We may be in this together by Chloe Gao, Tong Wu & Yuguang Zhang is at :iiddr gallery, New York City*

The interactivity of the piece and letting the visitors experience being part of the exhibition is very exciting. A similar idea was introduced in Alexander Reben’s solo show at bitforms gallery, Delusions of a Time-Traveling Cactus — the users could talk into a microphone and describe their dream for the AI to generate four artwork based on the prompt. As new viewers engaged, the language model visually and conceptually connected these images.

While the art world is divided among those against AI art and those who create innovative artwork using this technology, interactive works like these skillfully make this tool accessible to the visitors while tapping into the idea of a collective creative mind.

“Cloud Observation Archive”

Digital Arts Blog’s log for the Bureau of Cloud Management.

Chloe Gao created NANA from MARFA as the “perfect” influencer — she is the Vogue cover-girl, the face of Chanel fragrances, and gets featured in billboards in Times Square — all while traveling across the world. The artist created the 3D character in search of a flawless social figure who works toward climate change awareness while looking stunning.

NANA is not bounded by physical limitations or gravitational rules unlike humans — she can swim among the glaciers to raise awareness about global warming. The metaverse influencer wears a glowing white dress inspired by the ice rivers, and is currently traveling in New York City.

In addition to work that documents NANA’s evolution, the exhibition features a short film called Anne's Audition, about a YouTuber who struggles to get more viewers. The young woman then involves NANA in her videos in search of more attention, seeking perfection.

Chloe Gao was inspired to create NANA during her trip to Marfa, Texas, so she called the 3D character “NANA from MARFA.” After so many people on social media asking NANA about her world, the artist sat down to design Nana’s virtual universe.

In MARFA, time isn’t experienced linearly — beings can travel into the depths of their emotions at various timeframes of their lives. The traditional sense of a singular “self” no longer exists, and the being can be in conversation with themself from different times, and harness their own varied perspectives. Visitors in the gallery can wander around this universe with the VR experience called Journey into Self.

Journey into Self – We may be in this together by Chloe Gao, Tong Wu & Yuguang Zhang is at :iiddr gallery, New York City — Journey into Self – *We may be in this together by Chloe Gao, Tong Wu & Yuguang Zhang is at :iiddr gallery, New York City*

“Rather than seeing technology as a tool of domination or a linear progression, artists in the show explore how we could work along with AI to evoke stories, memories, and experiences. As our entanglements with technologies become more intimate than ever, we invite you to look around, instead of look ahead.”

— Chiarina Chen, curator

The exhibition is curated by Chiarina Chen, a New York based independent curator and writer who has a background in psychology and art history. Her curatorial projects merge art and emotional technology, exploring diaspora conditions and posthuman kinship.

We may be in this together is at the :iidrr gallery in the Lower East Side of New York City. It’s an artist-run gallery that’s focused on new media art and trendy cultures. Founded by Shuwan Chen and Annie Chen Ziyao in 2020, :iidrr has a mission to support artists who are critically engaged in new technologies and cultures. They program exhibitions, experiences, performances, and artist talks for the artists and collectors alike.

Also featured in Best Galleries to See Digital Art in NYC 2023

Visit We may be in this together by Chloe Gao and Tong Wu & Yuguang Zhang at :iiddr gallery in New York City through November 12th and let us know your thoughts!