When everything is designed to be functional, is it possible for it, especially the artificial intelligence, to become another form of existence besides humans? If it becomes nothing, is its output just a sigh? The AI model in “A Sigh” was trained based on the diary contents collected in China in this decade. It can generate a diary of any date, but because it is connected to a numerically controlled computer device that can only output heat, the final diary generated becomes heat. When the thermal paper is exposed to heat, blurred shapes of texts are shown on the paper. “The joys and sorrows of human beings are not connected.” From the beginning, the project did not expect people to understand each other. Even when people speak the same language, individuals cannot fully understand each other because of their different experiences. The project also did not intend to force anyone to understand anyone, including AI and humans. A large amount of data is given to the artificial intelligence, and the artificial intelligence strives to create a diary. Finally, it is only a sigh, a breath, or a nothingness.
Li Qijing Zoe Li Qijing is an interdisciplinary artist specializing in new media art, kinetic installations and interactive installations. Zoe received her BFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a concentration in new media art and obtained an MFA from the digital art program of Pratt Institute. She currently lives and works in New York and Shenzhen. Zoe investigates the abstract roles of human beings in a technological world, exploring the position of “self” within a system, which may include cultural and historical heritage, a virtual space, or the physical world. Her goal is to shift perspectives away from normality and raise questions to the public. She exhibited her project at venues such as Pratt Manhattan Gallery, Latitude Gallery in New York, the 9th Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X, Fake/Reality Daedalus Project Multimedia Art Festival in Europe, Shanghai Himalayas Museum, Shanghai Ming Contemporary Art Museum, Shenzhen Art Museum, etc.