N.I. (Natural Intelligence)

“Inspired by pop-up ads and doom scrolling, N.I. (Natural Intelligence) addresses the contemporary moment of life lived in a constant state of interruption. Through a human designed audio and visual score, Cochran explores his own questions of A.I. and the relevance of the human artist in the current and future digital landscape. Is there room for all of us?”

— Abridged Artist Statement

at The Momentary | Sept 8 - nov 12

Bentonville, Ar | Showed nightly at 8:30pm | Projected on the tower

Audio + Visual

Curated by Cynthia Post - Hunt

Duration- 43:55

Credits: Er-Gene Kahng - Violin | Kevin Blagg - Guitar

Photos by Carson Ford + Andrew Camarillo

Premier - Interform Fashion and Art Biennial: Assembly

Curator - Alex Bodishbaugh

Duration - 43:55

Credits: Er-Gene Kahng - Violin | Kevin Blagg - Guitar | Playback System designed by Kenneth Moon / Fablab Fort Smith

“While spending time with the curatorial statement for FAST–particularly the ideas of consumption’s having become a pervasive aspect of modern life, the consequences of our cravings, and the elimination of nuance in our dealings with each other– I began to audiolize the idea of interrupted introspection. I wanted to create an audio space that feels as though the channel regularly changes to something different, something new and fleeting, without nuance, allowing us no time to take it in before the next switch. The questions then became: How would we react to such interruptions? Would we merely anticipate them, or would we settle into the overall movement of the piece and find ourselves in a space that, perhaps paradoxically, not only allows contemplation but encourages it? I see this work as an abstraction of my overall relationship with technology and how its consumption plays a crucial role in our societal psyche.

Though I use concepts as jumping off points, I always understand my work better from the process of creating it. N.I. came to life by combining improvisations on an old software sound generator with visuals of soft abstract shapes and strobes that meld colors and film grains. All of the individual pieces are synched by hand in an editing program rather than by way of a software algorithm that responds to the audio.

It’s interesting to build a work of this scale in a time where A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) has risen to the supreme benchmark for creating a “smarter, faster, and more efficient way of production.” It seems that the term “A.I.” became a household name with the image program Midjourney, where anyone could give a few words as prompts and ,“using A.I.,” an image would be generated. As I worked on the visuals, the inverse of Midjourney came to mind: What if A.I. came full circle and started giving humans prompts, expecting results (and being amused) in the time it takes for a human to build a visual piece by using their natural intelligence instead of an algorithm? Is it possible that time and attention allow for something wholly digital to feel more meaningful and nuanced?

I hope this work encourages contemplation and allows the user’s mind to wander, ideally coming to reflect on his, her, or their relationship with our consumption of technology.
”