WAVEFORMS - a Multimedia Art Installation at the Museum of Science

On July 13, myself and the rest of NikuAI were delighted to be included in the Waveforms Multimedia Art Occurrence at the Museum of Science in Boston. Our piece, Tipping Point, was designed to convey the multitude of variables that support a healthy environment. This interplay of factors was illustrated by a game of Jenga projected next to AI visions of what begins as a healthy environment. When enough critical variables are removed, the tower collapses- and so does our environment. With the power of generative AI, we can visualize what that destroyed environment might look like.

For this event, I created video imagery which depicted the disastrous effects of climate change using generated imagery of pristine coral reefs filled with fish that gradually turn into empty, polluted underwater wastelands filled with garbage.

Our piece was projected on the wall of the atrium alongside the famous Archimedean Excogitation kinetic sculpture. We also had an interactive game of Jenga re-imagined through this environmental lens for everyone to play.

I used a different workflow than usual for this piece. To add more detail and picturesque framing, I generated a few starting images using Midjourney. Then, I fed those into img -> img stable diffusion. The goal was to generate multiple images with the same framing and layout but varying amounts of environmental destruction, in order to smoothly transition between the different levels, but I was unable to force Midjourney to create ugly imagery. The "trash-filled" reefs it generated were still quite picturesque. So, I scrapped that idea, but still used the initial Midjourney image to kick off the generation.

Thanks to Masary Studios for curating this event, Illuminus for the gorgeous projection mapping, and the Museum of Science for hosting this event. Thanks as well to all the other artists and collaborators who made this event happen!

See more about the event here: https://www.waveforms.media/