concept
Caterpillar. Chrysalis. Butterfly. Each word immediately understood as part of a three-part process of metamorphosis, this story we know. It is also the story of many, from the aquatic, for instance the jellyfish who experiences not one, but no less than six vibrantly diverse stages during their life-cycles. Yet, commonly these are transformative states that we have no associative image of, they are stories untold.
These works form a speculative mapping through creating mutating chimera that attempt to map the limits of our knowledge by infusing a familiar story with an essential “jellyfishness” as its most commonly associated. The caterpillar, a gelatinous beginning. The ghostly traces of the metamorphic vessel, the chrysalis. The emergent finale, the vividly iconic butterfly as an airy, ethereal figure.
None of these chimera come close to the jellyfish. We know nothing more of these soft, shifting others. They are but tales who quietly ask us to carefully enquire deeper, below the waves. To spend time in those deep depths. To gaze and listen long enough to learn the stories of those who live lives as alien to us as we are to them.
samples
This bespoke series of artworks consists of 513 unique, chimera specimens in both still and animated form that crossbreed the alien jellyfish-esque with the familiar life-cycle of the butterfly.
Ethereal
Rangoon Green
50%
Bathypelagic
Rare
Engulfed
Elephant
85%
Epipelagic
Very Rare
Expanded
Ebony
75%
Bathypelagic
Abundant
Ethereal
Night Rider
25%
Hadalpelagic
Rare
Engulfed
Finn
95%
Mesopelagic
Very Rare
Expanded
Gulf Blue
50%
Mesopelagic
Abundant
Ethereal
Black Bean
75%
Abyssalpelagic
Rare
Engulfed
St Tropaz
75%
Mesopelagic
Very Rare
Expanded
Matisse
50%
Epipelagic
Abundant
technical
These works were created using generative adverserial networks, or GANs, wherein the the higher layers of one neural networks model were blended with the lower layers of a second neural network, effectively crossbreeding the latent spaces of two distinct species and habitats.
These crossbred models were then explored with custom code to extract the genetic-like traits that express certain qualities such as form, color, coherence, habitat and more. The interaction of these traits were then manipulated to generate the specimens that make up 'chimerical stories' so that each individual still/video is a crystallisation of a unique blend of traits and layers within the blended, aquatic latent space.
info
Sofia Crespo is an artist with a focus on artificial life, her practice is driven by a huge interest in biologically-inspired technologies, such as neural networks and has been practicing since 2017. Her main focus is the way organic life uses artificial mechanisms to simulate itself and evolve, entailing an ever deeper use of generative and AI tools.
She has won several awards, including from the German Informatics Society and Next Nature Network, her work has been exhibited at the Aiiiii Art Center Shanghai, MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts, Nvidia GTC 2020 & 2021, among many others.
Feileacan McCormick is a Lisbon-based generative artist, researcher & former architect. His practice focuses on ecology, nature & generative arts, with a focus on giving non-human new forms of presence & life in the digital space.
Entangled Others is the shared studio practice of artists Feileacan McCormick and Sofia Crespo. Their work focuses upon ecology, nature, and generative arts, with an emphasis on giving the more-than-human new forms a presence and life in digital space. This involves exploring questions of relationship, biodiversity, and awareness through biology-inspired technologies. In turn, they highlight how through conscious efforts, new technology can be used to bring attention and awareness to the unseen that we are tightly interwoven with.
Special thanks to: Feileacan McCormick, Stefano Rosso & Marti De Castro Cros (ISTHMO).
2022 Sofia Crespo / Entangled Others