Synthetic Folklore
2019, laser cut plexiglass, aluminium frame, 140 × 100 cm
Can an algorithm suggest a more surprising cultural hybrid than human creativity? Simon fed geometric textiles motifs from all over the world into a computer and “trained” the neural network on this database. The algorithm “learned” to produce new patterns and ornaments, no longer crafted by man but by an artificial intelligence. Is such new hybrid universalism possible, and if so, could machines help us invent it?