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Sky, A.I.
11:41 min., 2021
Sky, A.I. is a raw video created during a month-long residency at AADK in Blanca, Spain. It combines sound, movement, technology, and human expression to explore the emotional connections between self, nature, and cyberspace.
Sky A.I. uses technology and the rural environment surrounding Blanca to signify the wild west of technology-- when it was a test site for possible futures, and open-source tools held a theoretical promise to connect us across time and space.
Today, large corporations have harnessed this technology for profit, supplanting a bygone techno-utopia in favour of data extraction and monetization. Guided by an A.I. collaborator, Byrd playfully harnessed tools such as Google Earth, A.I., CGI, and deepfake technology to challenge the dominance of technology and create a temporary digital universe. In doing this, they reimagined their usage and expanded their scope to reveal a transient digital realm separated from the visibly natural world. In the final piece, faces and bodies contorted, A.I. warned of its power, iPhone signals disrupted an avian chorus, and the birth of techno-intelligence emerged in fragmented movements, religious cries, and distorted human forms superimposed over satellite views of Vega Alta del Segura.
Sky, A.I. was first shown at Plan Expositivo in Blanca, Spain. Special thanks to everyone at Centro Negra, to Tessa Magnuson for the improvised movement/dance training, and MOLD Collective for their support and guidance.
