Thomas Feuerstein

Year of birth, place

1968

Austria

Biography

Thomas Feuerstein studied Art History and Philosophy at the University of Innsbruck. He works as an artist and author in the field of visual and Media Art. Since 1997 he has taught Art and Media Theory at various universities. In addition to participating in numerous exhibitions, he produces texts, seminars, radio plays, video works, CD-ROMs and websites. The central starting point of his work is everyday life and action in mediatized fields of perception and discourse. In addition to »Soziale Schwerelosigkeit« [Social Weightlessness] (2005), video works like »Interview Antonio Negri« (2003) and »Cut up« (2000) were produced.

Selection of publications

»Selbst:Darstellung«, Bern 2003 [together with Gerhard Johann Lischka].
»Welt als Tastatur«, Vienna 2000 [together with Ulrike Mair].
»Wenn 2 in ihrem Namen sich treffen [Elektronisches Medium]: performance art duos«, Bern 1999 [together with Gerhard Johann Lischka].
»System, Daten, Welt, Architektur«, Vienna 1995

BORGY & BES: METABOLIC MACHINES AND DEMONS OF LIFE – A Lecture at the Open Conference »Art and Artificial Intelligence«

Artificial intelligence turns machines into autonomous entities that process and digest data. Machines develop their own metabolism and become demonic beings. In the ancient Greek sense a daimon is a governor, a decision maker and an allocator. This significance continues to Maxwell’s demon, cybernetics and nowadays to bots, algorithmic processes and up to artificial intelligence.

The installation »BORGY & BES« spreads a scenario of digital demons animated by data processes that indicate a near future in which not only we communicate with artificial intelligence, but also artificial intelligences speak to each other.

What possibilities do metabolic machines and digital daemons offer to art? Could they make art more complex and sophisticated? Could they bring art closer to realities of politics, economics, society and nature? Does the artwork obtain its own will and further does emerge a new kind of »second order art«?