Panspermia
Germany/ The Netherlands 2019
2:57 min

The experimental film conceived by the duo Pinar&Viola and realized by the artist Sofia Crespo uses the manifold possibilities to create new visual worlds by means of “machine learning”. The title refers to the scientific hypothesis that simple life forms travel on asteroids across the universe, for instance, bringing the origins of life to earth. In a similar way the film uses nature documentaries as training data for ML algorithms, which, after analysis and the autonomous derivation of patterns and rules, are combined into something new. This kind of highly complex learning without human control raises many questions beyond an expanded artistic vocabulary, since these automated decisions have far-reaching and unforeseeable consequences in other application areas, such as surveillance or user evaluation.

Music video: Aski
Made with support of The Richard Thomas Foundation

Sofia Crespo lives and works in Berlin/
Pinar Demirdag & Viola Renate live in Amsterdam
www.sofiacrespo.com
www.pinar-viola.com

The on-going screening series Phantom Horizons
presents digital as well as analogue works that question the paradigm of linear perspective, seeking a new kind of “status perspective” [Bedeutungsperspektive]. The latter was a development of ancient and medieval painting, in which the size of figures is determined by their hierarchical significance. Extending this approach using the methodology of deconstruction and the possibilities of contemporary film creation, the presented works open up multifaceted, unseen horizons.

Curated by Robert Seidel | www.robertseidel.com