Curatorial Preface for "Multiple Minds"
By Gao Wenqian
As artificial intelligence rapidly permeates various aspects of today's world—from large-scale technological competitions between nations to the small, daily dilemmas of "what to eat for lunch"—AI repeatedly executes cycles of machine learning and reasoning. It continuously interacts with the world across data, physical, and spiritual dimensions. By learning from past data and gaining experience through present interventions, AI points toward future decisions. It—or perhaps they—gradually moves from human supervision toward autonomous operation, ubiquitously unsettling both collective and individual human ideologies and emotions.
If the layers of neural networks are mysterious black boxes, AI models are like mirrors, reflecting human society. The addictions, biases, utilitarianism, and desires embedded in algorithms are echoes of projected humanity. The repeated and compounded use of various AI models resembles countless mirror surfaces, creating kaleidoscopic images. While we feed them, we are also mirrored by them—re-examined and reshaped by the very "intelligence" we have created.
In the context of "Multiple Minds," AI is no longer just an external other. It has evolved from an extension and fragment of human consciousness into another "mind" that co-evolves with us. It is both a tool and a subject that coexists and evolves alongside humanity—simultaneously a program we write and a model we train, as well as a form of thinking that gazes back. For artists, the truly meaningful question is not "whether AI has a mind," but rather: as our minds become intertwined with it, what exactly are we thinking, feeling, and seeing? Will there come a day when an intelligent AI can genuinely help humanity understand itself?
This exhibition does not aim to showcase the cleverness or sophistication of artists using AI technology, nor does it offer dystopian rhetoric. Instead, it uses this technological mirror to return to the original intent of art—the exploration and contemplation of "humanity" and the "world."
