CROSSLUCID
Dwellers Between the Waters, 2023
Virtual installation: HD video with audio, HD video directional audio, 3D sculptures
Video narration and soundscape: Sayaka Botanic
Sigil audio narration: Electric Lake Text / poetry: Oxi Pëng

across the star-flooded fields
the sound is shining clear
composed of glimmering lights
it’s frothing the viscous air
inhaling the copper promise
in the frayed tint
speckled with olfactory traps
slithering away
in the lustrous gardens
through cushions of time
dictating the direction of winds ...
— crosslucid (2023)

Dwellers Between the Waters (2023) is conjured by the interdisciplinary artist collective CROSSLUCID as a series of hybrid rituals that mediate the space in between physical presence, trauma, memory, healing and virtuality. Polyphonic in its artificially-intelligent framework, Dwellers Between the Waters could be experienced as a happening that is chanted by various elemental entities such as waters, winds, earth, air, algorithm... as well as poetry, history, magic, human and more-than-human creatures... This happening of digital rituals questions about the singularity of humanist perception on reality. Co-performing with artificial intelligence, it attempts to create alternative epistemologies and outlooks on the (so-called) reality through rendering multi-focal narratives and embedding the psycho-magical practice in forms of living ‘sigils’.

Combing artificial intelligence with the practice of magic and alchemy, Dwellers Between the Waters seeks possible solutions in response to the traumas of the contemporary anthropos, and examines how artificial intelligence, in terms of artistic practice, remains integral to our contemporary condition, that is, the ever-evolving climate crisis and the sixth extinction of species coupled with wars, inflation, capitalist exploitations...By evoking, cultivating and connecting various forms of consciousness in the virtual realms, Dwellers Between the Waters invites the ‘dwellers’ who inhabit in and among ‘realities’ to share their stories and experiences, which then feed back to the (so-called) reality as evolving strings materialising across both physical and virtual domains to (hopefully) bring novel perspectives for further changes. - Oxi Pëng

EPOCH presents, XENOSPACE, a ground-breaking and experimental virtual exhibition that features seven artists exploring the collaborative boundaries between AI and machine learning within their creative processes.

The title “XENOSPACE” alludes to an unusual or unfamiliar environment. EPOCH has processed 360 equirectangular panoramas through Stable Diffusion, generating the subsequent AI-assisted environments that serve as the backdrop for the artworks.

XENOSPACE responds to a significant moment in the field, as it reflects on the growing relationship between humans and machines and the impact of AI on creative expression. The exhibition serves as a benchmark, showcasing the expansive collaborative potential of AI and machine learning in contemporary art practices and exhibition building. – chatGPT