Debating AI Discussing Society
In cooperation with Asia Society, the project transforms architectural space into a walk-in sculpture and a public platform for cultural debate on artificial intelligence.
Debating AI Discussing Society is an international, interdisciplinary art project that approaches the societal impact of artificial intelligence as a cultural and social challenge. The project fosters discursive exchange about differing cultural approaches to AI, particularly between China, the United States and Europe.
At its center is a walk-in sculpture, designed with the support of AI, which manifests itself through the transformation of real architectural spaces and building elements. The transformation makes otherwise invisible social shifts instigated by AI tangible and perceptible.
The project is conceived as a recurring forum with changing locations, workshops, discussion formats and transdisciplinary participation. It is grounded in the expanded concept of social sculpture: society is understood as a malleable space shaped through active engagement.
AI as cultural structure
Artificial intelligence is not only a technology. It reflects cultural ideas, values and social norms. Europe, China and the USA exemplify three very different ways of dealing with AI, shaped by their historical, philosophical, economic and political traditions.
The project uses these differences as a starting point for interdisciplinary reflection: How do cultural values influence our ideas about AI? How can a global discourse on this technology be shaped without a single ideology dominating?
Art becomes the platform through which these questions are not only discussed, but experienced as space.
AI transforms spaces into a walk-in sculpture
Artificial intelligence changes social structures, working environments, power relations and individual self-images. When machines imitate creative, analytical or empathic abilities, the question arises: what remains uniquely human?
The sculpture translates this structural transformation into an analogue experience. It challenges existing hierarchies, creates new spatial orders and forces a redefinition of the relationship between humans and machines.
