The Embodied Mind
Design, AI, and the Evolution of Human Experience
An exhibition concept prepared for and proposed to the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum in 2024 that led to the funding and founding of Tangible Mind.
Below is what is shareable publicly. The full proposal is password-protected. Request Access
Marshmallow Laser Feast, Beauty of Blood Flow, The Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Medicine Mevis
Type
Institution
Role
Collaborator
Year
Exhibition proposal
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Concept, Curation + Critical Writing
Abdullah Elias, Exhibition Design (formerly of the Tate Modern and the V&A)
2024
Inspire Wonder
Hearing the data
Encoded Revolt is an artwork by Imogen Piper that uses publicly available Syrian drone data in the form of reports of airstrikes to generate a solo cello piece.
It is both a sensory experience of data and a statement on modern warfare. Image courtesy of IWM. Performed by cellist Milan Tarascas. To see how we proposed working with the artist and the concept, view the exhibition proposal.
The stuff of thought
The Illusion of Language
Through tactile and interactive installations related to sensory experiences of data, we encourage participants of all levels to experience how the mind and body make meaning and what these new contexts mean for critical thinking and the evolution of human thought.
Embodied and artificial intelligence
A collection of solicited essays that reflect on and interrogate AI and its relationship to humanism, consciousness, and personhood. Focusing on corporeal, situated, distributed, and artificial intelligence.
OOMK(One of My Kind) Co-Curate PROCESS Independent Press
Why this exists
Is this the end of humanism?
As we look towards technological advances impacting human society, especially with self-propagating systems, it’s important to consider the role of technology on civil society. This work was produced early in the mass adoption of the technology, when questions lingered about what the impact would be on civil society. Our perspective was to demystify the technology, contextualize it in the broader view of social progress, and provide applied ways that the voting public could access the technology not as consumers but as thought partners.
Given the opportunity to propose the concept to the board of the museum, I audited a course at Oxford University on Western Philosophical Thought and applied that context as an underpinning for the proposal’s point of view on AI and Human Intelligence. We also used it to propose a perspective the museum might adopt on the impact of emerging technology on society.
“Visualizing Word Vectors” by Allison Parrish. A word vector, also called a word embedding, is a mathematical representation of a word's meaning.
Allison Parrish, Axidraw experiment plotting radial word vectors. This plot is Alice in Wonderland.
Human intelligence & the limits of computational linguistics
Embodied Knowledge
The concept is informed by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson's theory of embodied realism with influence from Andy Clark and David Chalmers’ 1998 paper on the Extended Mind.
Thought is shaped by sensory, physical, social, and emotional experience of the world, and it can't be separated from that experience.
We treat design as a form of knowledge that informs thought. Language sits at the center of this era of AI, so we see engaging with embodiment as critical to informed use of the technology.
Embodied Architecture
The building as a body
Inhabiting Design
Clockwise from the upper left:
Optical lace gives robots heightened sensory ability - David Nutt (2019)
Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum Facade
Žiri Slovenian Architectural Lace from Manca Ahlin
To view the full concept, see the Exhibition Proposal or Request Access
Satellite Installations
In Situ
Intacto
Borrowing from the archaeological phrase used when an artifact is found intact on site, or “in situ intacto” (as “whole in its original place,” translated from Latin).
The proposal extended beyond the walls of the museum into the city through institutional satellite partners for installations engaging with “found sound,” place, and spatial linguistics.
Naho Matsuda EVERY THING EVERY TIME
Image: Youth Design Center, CAPstone program Robotics and Programming summer 2023 cohort at Mangrove FC Flatbush Brooklyn.
Partnerships & Education
Collective Intelligence
Our goal was to acquaint new generations with the technological potential and cultural implications of AI through engagements, including talks, demonstrations, and hands-on tutorials. —Exploring concepts like natural language processing (NLP), computer vision, and robotics, providing participants with a means of reflecting on and dissecting the themes central to the exhibition.
Through engaging discourse and experiential learning, we aspired to foster an understanding of our evolving relationships with AI, what it means for human experience, and its impact on society.
Zach Lieberman Future Sketches
Sensory Experiments
Exploring the mind, the body, concepts of corporeal realities, and the limits of computational linguistics through multi-sensory engagement with space-making, exploration, discovery, and play.
Reflections
This work is an opportunity to investigate and interrogate language, data, spatial and social intelligences. It allows for a broadening of field of design by inviting participants into the thought space of making and opening the aperture of the societal view of Intelligence writ large and Artificial Intelligence specifically.
By extending beyond the museum walls we proposed new audiences and new ways of thinking about technology and design. Moreover, through these collaborations and public installations, we aim to build new audiences by bridging the gap between arts and higher learning institutions and community spaces, and fostering a sense of inclusivity and accessibility to emerging technology and design.
In my own practice
The exhibition proposal introduced me to guest curatorship and led to new ways of thinking about social impact and civic sector work. It led to the funding of a 15-month civic experiment and my role on the board of the Shaker Museum. It has since informed the strategy for forthcoming work on AI, technology, and society.
This work is copyright protected.