The State of Future Art: Ashley Zelinskie, Artist - a podcast by State of the Art Org

Ashley Zelinskie uses mathematics as her primary medium, building sculptures and paintings out of numbers and code. Although visually striking to our human-eyes, these creations primarily serve to leave a record of humanity's creativity for a future where machines supplant humans. In this episode, we speak with Ashley about her mission to preserve our human heritage for an unknown future built on mathematics, why she believes math is the universal language, and what prompted her to take this mission upon herself.




-About Ashley Zelinskie-

Ashley Zelinskie is an artist based in Brooklyn, N.Y. Her work blurs the lines between art and technology, and spans a variety of media from sculpture to computer programs. After receiving a degree in glass from the Rhode Island School of Design, Ashley began to experiment with the pairing of artistic media and technology. The work she creates now is designed to be appreciated by both human and computer.

This work is not for us. It is for the future. And robots. That is, each of these pieces takes for granted that computers will outlast their makers, that technology will supplant humanity, and that craft should follow suit. This is art for the Singularity. Today, rigorous science and pure math maintain unbridled influence over technology – as such, our digital heirs are slated to inherit nuanced programming and breathtaking technical specifications. Yet we would render a profound disservice by stopping at numeracy and wire: if the Earth need be handed over to machines, we must prepare them not only to be accurate and efficient, but also cultured. Robots need magic. With regard to information density, the mosaic of human social interaction and artistic endeavor is unrivaled in diversity, ambition and depth. We are bound by duty to pass culture forward yet remain constrained by limitations: how can we sufficiently communicate this history and dialog to unknown, unimaginable and unspecified replacements? This work is an attempt to answer that question and, in fact, to begin that process – the process of translating our vast artistic and social history, in familiar language and appropriate media, to machines. Using simple code, recursive structures, redundant patterns, and emergent media in novel combinations, this work transcribes humanity – for a future without it.

Learn more at http://www.ashleyzelinskie.com/

Tweet her @azelinskie

Follow her @azelinskie




Cover art by Graydon Speace

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