ABOUT
CONCEPT & METHODS
ARCU&OHM's primary focus lies in the research and development of frameworks for
curating digital collections using computational methods. The underlying assumption
is that semantic relationships of artefacts, for example in collections of artworks,
can be contextualized and embedded into a 'curatorial possibility space', where
complex patterns and dynamics emerge from granular data. In the resulting conceptual
networks and multidimensional vector spaces, various curatorial strategies
and processes for exploration and selection can be modelled algorithmically by using
methods of network science or graph theory as well as machine
learning techniques for knowledge discovery and data mining.
Combining visual features (e.g. extracted from images via computer vision)
with semantic interpretations (e.g. based on metadata, such as taxonomies and
descriptive annotations), we can constitute, analyze, understand, and navigate the
Curatorial Possibility Spaces of Digital Collections
After the art curatorial practice shifted from objects to processes, and later
towards "dynamic network systems" [1],
nowadays, many art curators see themselves as catalyzing nodes within networked
structures of curatorial interaction, performing "networked-co-curation" [2]. Their professional activities are ways
of "thinking in terms of interconnections: linking objects, images, processes,
people, locations, histories, and discourses"
[3]. While some, such as Maria Lind, locate these interactions in the
physical realm, we can easily extend them to a "new space of performativity" [4], where we could navigate through the
so-called latent spaces of digital collections.
At the heart of every archive, museum, library, or database lies a collection of
gathered objects – spaces of "indefinitely accumulating time" [5]. When we consider collections as
"spaces of difference and representation"
[6], in this Foucaultian sense, where difference means the interpretation of
relationships between objects and words (sometimes implicit and hidden), we can
embed digital collections in such spaces of contextual meaning. In computer science
and network science, such spaces of objects and relations, of representation,
meaning and hidden interpretations exist in the formal definition of knowledge
graphs or networks more general. In machine learning, such spaces are
expressed in more-or-less continuous vector embedding, or latent
spaces, as for example implied within the so-called hidden layers
of artificial neural networks.
Computational Methods
Feature vectors, properties encoded into numeric arrays, and
embeddings, i.e. lower-dimensional mappings of higher-dimensional vector
spaces, are very useful for navigation, analysis, and curation of digital
collections. For example, grouping objects according to the features they contain,
harnessing Wittgenstein's family resemblance
[7], allows us to draw maps that put digital collections in novel contexts
that might lead to entirely new forms of perspectives and classifications. We can
also travel through the embedding space by jumping from item to item based on their
similarities and related distances. The possibility of transforming vectors and
"mixing" them by performing arithmetic operations like subtracting and adding
specific features, enables new types of search queries beyond keyword matching.
Network science, a field that brings together various disciplines
working with networks, is largely concerned with the analysis of complexity in
relational data where hidden patterns emerge from the interaction of known parts [8]. Relevant 'real' network systems
include social relationships between human individuals, interactions of neurons in
the brain, or semantic networks of similar words as used in everyday language.
Collections further entail more abstract network structures, such as constituted via
items and concepts connected via any (symbolic) form of shared properties. A growing
ecology of network analysis methods and graph algorithms are
suitable for curatorial exploration of these structures.
For traversing, networks are particularly suitable as they already entail a
'roadmap' that is easy to navigate, allowing associative 'net-walks' through the
data.
ARCU&OHM implement many established analysis methods and algorithms for curatorial applications and develop new algorithmic and hybrid approaches inspired by concepts from philosophy, art and science.
Graph Algorithms for Curatorial »Net-Walks«
ARCU&OHM implement many established analysis methods and algorithms for curatorial applications and develop new algorithmic and hybrid approaches inspired by concepts from philosophy, art and science.
Trying to map the afterlife of Western antiquity with almost one thousand images on
dozens of panels – the »Mnemosyne Atlas« [9] was Aby Warburg's unfinished attempt to
catch and retrace the cultural dynamics of iconographic pathos. Each panel presents
a different visual argument of emerging and reappearing symbolic imagery and its
meanings through groups of reproduced artworks arranged and rearranged over time.
Warburg's strategy inspired the development of a graph algorithm that extracts
clusters of coherent features and semantic connections from objects in collection
networks.
Detaching artworks from their physical environment to place them in an aesthetic
discourse with each other through photographic reproductions – »Le Musée
Imaginaire« [10][11] is André
Maulraux's version of an imaginary museum in book form. Its strategy is
simple: confront two monumental artworks, regardless of time and space, on opposite
pages – similar to double image slide projections (s. Herman Grimm) once used in art
history [12]. In an exhibition setting,
juxtapositions often form a symbiosis or create friction between two works. ARCU&OHM
translates Malraux's approach into a graph algorithm that finds interesting pairs of
objects within a collection, based on a combination of similar and contrary
characteristics.
In his essay »Theory of the Dérive«
[13] Guy Debord outlines the radical strategy of drifting deliberately
without intention through urban landscapes and escaping the "spectacle" of modern
cities by following the attractions of the encounters along the way. The
Dérive, "drifting," and the "Psychogeography" [14] eventually became central concepts of
the avant-garde movement and organization Situationist International. In
collection networks, algorithmic queries are also attracted by dense topographic
structures with many connections, ending up with predictable results. In a "directed
intuition" [15] that avoids obvious
attractors, ARCU&OHM's graph algorithm discovers the possibility space to find
unexpected and often overlooked artifacts.
References
[1] J. e. Krysa, Curating Immateriality: The Work of the Curator in the Age of
Network Systems, Reino Unido: Autonomedia, 2006.
[2] B. Graham and S. Cook, Rethinking Curating: Art After New Media, MIT Press, 2010.
[3] M. Lind, Learning from Art and Artists: Selected Maria Lind Writing, Sternberg Press, 2010.
[4] A. Dekker and G. Tedone, Networked Co-Curation: An Exploration of the Socio-Technical Specificities of Online Curation, Arts, vol. 8, no. 3, p. 86, 2019. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/8/3/86/pdf
[5] M. Foucault, Of Other Spaces. Tran. Jay Miskowiec, Diacritics, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 22-27, 1986 [1967]. https://web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/foucault1.pdf
[6] B. Lord, Foucault's Museum: Difference, Representation, and Genealogy, Museum and Society, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 1-14, 2006. https://www108.lamp.le.ac.uk/ojs1/index.php/mas/article/download/74/89
[7] L. Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, Basil Blackwell, 1968 [1953].
[2] B. Graham and S. Cook, Rethinking Curating: Art After New Media, MIT Press, 2010.
[3] M. Lind, Learning from Art and Artists: Selected Maria Lind Writing, Sternberg Press, 2010.
[4] A. Dekker and G. Tedone, Networked Co-Curation: An Exploration of the Socio-Technical Specificities of Online Curation, Arts, vol. 8, no. 3, p. 86, 2019. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/8/3/86/pdf
[5] M. Foucault, Of Other Spaces. Tran. Jay Miskowiec, Diacritics, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 22-27, 1986 [1967]. https://web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/foucault1.pdf
[6] B. Lord, Foucault's Museum: Difference, Representation, and Genealogy, Museum and Society, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 1-14, 2006. https://www108.lamp.le.ac.uk/ojs1/index.php/mas/article/download/74/89
[7] L. Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, Basil Blackwell, 1968 [1953].
[8] A.-L. Barabási, Network Science, Cambridge University Press, 2016. http://networksciencebook.com
[9] L. Hartnoll, Aby Warburg: Bilderatlas Mnemosyne – The Original, Hatje Cantz, 2020.
[10] A. Malraux, La Musée Immaginaire, Gallimard, 1965 [1947].
[11] A. Malraux, Le Musée Imaginaire de la Sculpture Mondiale. Vol 1-2, Gallimard, 1952-1954.
[12] R. S Nelson, The Slide Lecture, or the Work of Art 'History' in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Critical Inquiry, vol. 26, no. 3, The University of Chicago Press, pp. 414–34, 2000. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1344289.
[13] G. Debord, Theory of the Dérive, Internationale Situationniste, vol. 2, no. 20.05, 2015 [1958]. http://tbook.constantvzw.org/wp-content/derivedebord.pdf
[14] G. Debord, Psychogeographic Guide of Paris, Permild and Rosengreen, 1957.
[15] F. Zwicky and M. A. Zwicky, Catalogue of Selected Compact Galaxies and of Post-Eruptive Galaxie, Zwicky, 1971. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1090.4584&rep=rep1&type=pdf
[9] L. Hartnoll, Aby Warburg: Bilderatlas Mnemosyne – The Original, Hatje Cantz, 2020.
[10] A. Malraux, La Musée Immaginaire, Gallimard, 1965 [1947].
[11] A. Malraux, Le Musée Imaginaire de la Sculpture Mondiale. Vol 1-2, Gallimard, 1952-1954.
[12] R. S Nelson, The Slide Lecture, or the Work of Art 'History' in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Critical Inquiry, vol. 26, no. 3, The University of Chicago Press, pp. 414–34, 2000. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1344289.
[13] G. Debord, Theory of the Dérive, Internationale Situationniste, vol. 2, no. 20.05, 2015 [1958]. http://tbook.constantvzw.org/wp-content/derivedebord.pdf
[14] G. Debord, Psychogeographic Guide of Paris, Permild and Rosengreen, 1957.
[15] F. Zwicky and M. A. Zwicky, Catalogue of Selected Compact Galaxies and of Post-Eruptive Galaxie, Zwicky, 1971. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1090.4584&rep=rep1&type=pdf
SHOWCASE
ARCU&OHM carry out a variety of activities, including consultancy for cultural institutions and companies, development of curatorial software tools and prototypes, machine-aided exhibition-making and PhD research.Exhibition Making
One of the main goals of museums and many other cultural institutions is to
communicate the curatorial and scientific research to an audience. The development
and practical implementation of experimental new methods for machine-assisted
exhibition programming are therefore one of the most important activities of
ARCU&OHM. Together with exhibition venues and institutions, curatorial concepts and
final exhibitions are produced, based on computational methods such as machine
learning and network science.
ARCU&OHM @ KUNST(re_public), HALLE 14 Center for Contemporary Art Leipzig
In this first-of-its-kind, algorithmically-curated art exhibition, the viewer can see works selected from the inventory of purchase awards from the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony.
First, a semantic network was created using the metadata from over 370 works
(purchase awards from 2011-2019). The network was then searched for patterns using
methods from graph theory. The result was a selection of works related to each other
through socio-political topics. The next step of the experiment is to discuss
whether this purely data-based curation produced a meaningful exhibition.
view exhibition publication
view exhibition publication
Participating artists:
André Schulze, Dominik Meyer, Falk Haberkorn, Grit Hachmeister, Kathrin Pohlmann, Lena Rosa Händle, Lysann Buschbeck, Mark Hamilton, Martin Reich, Nadja Buttendorf, Nori Blume, Susanne Keichel, Ya-Wen Fu
Photo credits: HALLE 14 | Walter Le Kon (image no. 2-6)
view exhibition publication
Tools & Applications
The development of software interfaces for collaborative human-machine curation,
combined with research in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), provides
ARCU&OHM with a broad repertoire of curatorial software prototyping, custom
solutions for museums, archives and exhibition venues, applications for collections
and exhibition making, interactive artworks and curatorial experiments.
Interactive web application for the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony
In cooperation with the Art Fund of the Dresden State Art Collections, ARCU&OHM created a curatorial classification as well as an algorithmic selection of over 370 artworks from the collection of the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony. In this interactive network visualization, visitors can discover annual grant acquisitions from 2011 to 2019 and explore the generated semantic connections.
Collection Software Prototypes
Ongoing research and experimentation of future curatorial software tools and human-machine interfaces. The findings are used to create early prototypes and custom-made applications for archives and museums.
Le #museeimaginaire
Computer vision selected Instagram feedsLivestreams of popular artworks collectively reproduced by social media users. A contemporary virtual version of Le Musée Imaginaire – the imaginary museum.
enter the artwork
Research & Publications
Initially started as an art project at Bauhaus University Weimar in 2016, ARCU&OHM became a
Cultural Analysis research and development project further pursued within
the CUDAN ERA Chair research group at
Tallinn University, and within the
scope of the doctoral studies program Information Society Technologies. The
research will result in scientific publications and creative products of artistic
research.
»The Artist's Machine« generated by ARCU
The Artist's Machine is a computational research project with the outcome of a publication, generated by ARCU. From researching topic-relevant literature, detecting semantic structures in hundreds of papers and books, to finally generating a publication with illustrations and paraphrased text citations, every step in the process has been performed automatically – initiated by a simple research phrase that was given as input.
The main focus of this project is to develop a method for computational text
curation and automated research, an experimental artistic use case for established
Machine Learning services, search engines and databases.
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purchase book
download PDF
purchase book
ARCU on Twitter
Researching in the thematic field of artificial intelligence in contemporary and future art, ARCU slowly expands its own network of artists and researchers to autonomously gather relevant information and share recent articles, artworks, research projects and events on Twitter.
go to Twitter profile
Funding & Clients
