GENESIS is an ongoing research project exploring the evolution of
the drawn line and the robotic form.

The project begins with a collection of speculative machine constructions inspired by living organisms.  

The GENESIS Process, Form, & Dataset
are built to further the development of post-human collaboration and the creation of symbiotic machines.

“We build our language with lines.
Drawing generates a conception of time,

finding a past and founding a future.”

Are we at the onset of a new, collaborative imagination — of radical new intersubjectivities? 

Are we at the onset of a new, collaborative imagination — of radical new intersubjectivities? 

Are we at the onset of a new, collaborative imagination — of radical new intersubjectivities? 

sougwen-2024_genesis1_muffatwerk_4
sougwen-2024_genesis1_muffatwerk_1
sougwen-2023_LifeLInes_InstallationBlue_4
sougwen-2023_LifeLInes_InstallationBlue_2
sougwen-2023_LifeLInes_InstallationBlue_1
sougwen-2023_LifeLInes_InstallationBlue_5

STATEMENT

The collection is the first chapter of a growing library of forms. GENESIS Forms are sculpted through a bespoke VR process and collected as movement data, contributing to a groundbreaking new spatial dataset.

In GENESIS, the evolution of a drawing can be experienced in new spatial and temporal orientations.

Are we at the onset of a new, collaborative imagination — of radical new intersubjectivities? 

Are we at the onset of a new, collaborative imagination — of radical new intersubjectivities? 

Are we at the onset of a new, collaborative imagination — of radical new intersubjectivities? 

GENESIS PROCESS: LIFELINES

From the spatially recorded lines digital  geometries are generated for physical fabrication, returning the marks-made-by-hand in virtual space back to the tactile materiality of physical space. 

This unique GENESIS Process, called LIFE/LINES, brings together the latest advances in dimensional markmaking, virtual reality fabrication, and motion capture avatars. 

The work is sculpted using spatial technologies, in which the drawn lines are suspended and scale is a permeable medium. The motion of the artist body in motion is recorded and rigged to a 3d avatar to show the process unfolding as a performance, a cinematic unfolding of traces that blurs the lines between architecture, sculpture, drawing and dance. 

sougwen-2023_LifeLines_ProcessFilm_2
sougwen-2023_LifeLines_ProcessFilm_8
sougwen-2023_LifeLines_ProcessFilm_6
sougwen-2023_LifeLines_ProcessFilm_7
sougwen-2023_LifeLines_ProcessFilm_4
sougwen-2023_LifeLines_ProcessFilm_5-copy

GENESIS FORMS: DATASET

The GENESIS Dataset will be the foundation for an upcoming AI system, empowering the next generation human and machine collabation D.O.U.G._6.


GENESIS RESEARCH: Ongoing

Not only have we seen the machine readability of the image shape the perception of the relationship between the mark and the image, the infrared, lidar, and positional sensors that comprise virtual reality development, which also comprise the ‘machine sensing’ in the development of AI systems, are the foundation of a new intertwining of embodied cognitive processes.

The sculptural resolution of 3d gestural expressions of the first GENESIS Forms were fabricated with a variety of approaches, from large-format 3d printing to custom chrome plating.

sougwen-2023_LifeLines_BTSFilmBlue_9
sougwen-2023_LifeLines_BTSFilmBlue_42
sougwen-2023_LifeLines_BTSFilmBlue_7
sougwen-2023_fabrication_blue_1
sougwen-2023_fabrication_blue_3-rotate
sougwen-2023_fabrication_blue_2
sougwen-2023_LifeLines_BTSFilmBlue_13
sougwen-2023_LifeLines_BTSFilmBlue_10
sougwen-2023_LifeLines_BTSFilmBlue_6

What are new forms of expression and cognition? How can that be utilized in new approaches to embodied ai and machine intelligence?

Are we at the onset of a new, collaborative imagination — of radical new intersubjectivities? 

Are we at the onset of a new, collaborative imagination — of radical new intersubjectivities? 

Are we at the onset of a new, collaborative imagination — of radical new intersubjectivities? 

sougwen-2024_GENESIS_Installation_07

GENESIS INSTALLATION: LIFE/LINES Showcase

Immersing viewers in a seamless virtual performance, a virtual avatar of Sougwen Chung guides the creation of each sculpture, leading to a captivating representation of an abstract serpent within the debut installation.

The intricate 3D gestural expressions in GENESIS Forms come to life through diverse fabrication techniques, from large-format 3D printing to custom chrome plating. 

The result is a process that speculates on the collapsing of boundaries of architecture, drawing and dance. The serpentine form, suspended within the room, mirrors the liquid mercury texture, with its contours reflecting the intricate process on the surrounding walls.

Beyond shaping perceptions of the mark-image relationship, the incorporation of infrared, lidar, and positional sensors in virtual reality software establishes a foundation for a novel integration of embodied cognitive processes.

How can we meaningly converge of artistic vision and technological development?

Are we at the onset of a new, collaborative imagination — of radical new intersubjectivities? 

Are we at the onset of a new, collaborative imagination — of radical new intersubjectivities? 

Are we at the onset of a new, collaborative imagination — of radical new intersubjectivities? 

sougwen-2024_GENESIS_Installation_03
sougwen-2024_GENESIS_Installation_06
sougwen-2024_GENESIS_Installation_04

GENESIS is built upon drawing in spatial and temporal dimensions, rooted in the belief that novel sensory processes can create new speculative forms. The project prompts exploration into the potential of spatial sensing and human-machine interoperability in emerging artistic intersubjectivities. It convergences artistic vision and technological progress, unveiling new forms of expression and cognition.



What becomes of the human hand;
the robotic form?

Are we at the onset of a new, collaborative imagination — of radical new intersubjectivities? 

Are we at the onset of a new, collaborative imagination — of radical new intersubjectivities? 

Are we at the onset of a new, collaborative imagination — of radical new intersubjectivities? 

sougwen-2023_LifeLines_ProcessFilm_9

READING LIST

Duan, Jiafei, et al. “A Survey of Embodied AI: From Simulators to Research Tasks.” arXiv.Org, 5 Jan. 2022, arxiv.org/abs/2103.04918v8.

 

~

Dos Santos, Victoria. “(Techno)Paganism: An Exploration of Animistic Relations with the Digital.” MDPI, Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 3 Nov. 2023, www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/14/11/1382.

 

~

Bidgoli, Ardavan, et al. “Artistic Style in Robotic Painting; a Machine Learning Approach to Learning Brushstroke from Human Artists.” arXiv.Org, 28 July 2020, arxiv.org/abs/2007.03647.

 

~

Han, Byung-Chul, and Daniel Steuer. The Disappearance of Rituals a Topology of the Present. Polity, 2020.

 

SELECTED PRESS

“Serpenti Meets Contemporary Artists: Bulgari.” Bvlgari, www.bulgari.com/en-gb/serpenti-75-artists.html. Accessed 12 Dec. 2023.

Designboom, Matthew Burgos |. “Bulgari Marks 75 Years of Serpenti Jewelry with Live Robot Arm Chiseling in Its Milan Exhibition.” Designboom, 14 Oct. 2023, www.designboom.com/art/bulgari-75-years-serpenti-factory-jewelry-milan-exhibition-10-12-2023/.

 

CREDITS

GENESIS
by Sougwen Chung

A Studio Scilicet Production
 

LIFE/LINES
Score:

Aquarian

LIFE/LINES
Production:

Sara Casella
Tessa Nijdam



LIFE/LINES
Film Direction:

Kevin Peter He

LIFE/LINES
VR Environment:

Eric Chang

LIFE/LINES
Film production:

Zerospace

Sculpture production:
FKB Studios

Supported by
Bulgari

Locations:
Dubai, UAE
Milan, Italy,

New York, US,
London UK

To learn more about the body of work, please visit the Press section.
For booking inquiries, please contact office@scilicet.xyz
For official press images, go here

works by sougwen

GENESIS (2024)what becomes of the human hand?

BODY MACHINE (MERIDIANS) - 2024machines as extensions of living systems

Assembly Lines (2022)a painting performance with a robotic swarm connected to the flow of a city

Mutations of Presence (2021)Exploring spectrality through sequencing bio-feedback to a machine

F.R.A.N. Flora Rearing Agricultural Network (2020)exploring machine and flora as part of a sympoietic, self-supporting networked system with human as gardener.

Exquisite Corpus (2019)a performance installation exploring human, machine, and ecological bodies

Omnia per Omnia (2018)a painting performance with a robotic swarm connected to the flow of a city

Into The Light (2019)an audiovisual AR installation

Artefacts (2019)a human and machine collaborative drawing

Drawing Operations (2018)a human and machine collaborative duet

Drawing Operations (2017)a human & machine drawing collaboration involving memory.

Drawing Operations (2015)a human & robot drawing collaboration involving mimicry

Chiaroscuro (2013)a spatial interplay of light and shadow as an immersive installation

Preparatory Gestures (2017)a series of sculpture studies in VR

Mycelia (2018)a series of sculptures inspired by bio-inspired cognition

Ecdysis (2013)a study in performative architecture

High Tide (Étude Op. 2, No. 4)a painting exploring the dynamics of change

The Limitless, The Absolute (2017)a painting inspired by the 八卦 Trigrams of the IChing

Cardia (2012)a short film depicting a transgression from interior to exterior

Apolysis (2014)a short film in collaboration with Clint Mansell

Untitled (Étude Op. 1, No. 1-4)a series of drawings exploring synesthesia

Chiaro Oscuro Prototypesa series of form studies with paper

Topographies (2015)a series of paintings inspired by nature and flow states

Dénouement (Recurrent fevers of unknown origin)

Sougwen 愫君 Chung is a Chinese-Canadian artist and researcher. Chung is the founder and artistic director of ⇢ SCILICET, a studio exploring human & non-human collaboration.

A former research fellow at MIT’s Media Lab, Sougwen is considered a pioneer in the field of human-machine collaboration – exploring the mark-made-by-hand and the mark-made-by-machine as an approach to understanding the dynamics of humans and systems. 

— Sougwen 愫君 Chung is a Chinese-born, Canadian-raised artist & (re)searcher based in London / New York / Hong Kong.

— Sougwen 愫君 Chung is a Chinese-born, Canadian-raised artist & (re)searcher based in London / New York / Hong Kong.

— Sougwen 愫君 Chung is a Chinese-born, Canadian-raised artist & (re)searcher based in London / New York / Hong Kong.

Copyright Sougwen Chung
css.php