Random International: Human Algorithm / Imagine All Of Us (Polyptych)
and Human Algorithm, performance film, Jeddah
United Kingdom, 2024
Courtesy of the Artist
The artist would like to thank ATHR Gallery, Jeddah and Riyadh, for their support in developing and producing this body of work.
In their series titled Human Algorithm, art group Random International reverses the role of human and machine and turns people into code. The starting point of this multi-layered work was marked by a performance in Jeddah in 2024 where a group of local participants moved together as a flock in algorithmic movement patterns. In preparation for the performance, Random International used artificial intelligence to research how their flocking code might translate into human form, prompting Human Algorithm into a synthetic visual existence.
Imagine All Of Us (Polyptych) is part of Random International’s Human Algorithm series and takes the form of a series of prints of what seems like a photorealistic image. However, closer observation of the prints reveals any incipient human-likeness blurring into distortion. The more one looks, the less one sees. For this work the artists selected four stills from their deep learning image-to-text models simulation of a crowd to showcase how AI imagines human beings performing an algorithm. Imagine All Of Us (Polyptych) plays with the human instinct to recognise something human in other forms of life.
Random International is an art group exploring the impact of technological advancement on the human condition. Best known for their large-scale interactive installations, the group works across an array of media including sculpture, video, and print. Established in 2005 and led by founders Hannes Koch and Florian Ortkrass, the group’s work invites co-creation between artwork and audience, human and machine. Random International’s works have been exhibited internationally including presentations at Nxt Museum, Amsterdam, NL (2023); Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE (2018); and MOMA, New York, US (2013).
