“Future and the Arts: AI, Robotics, Cities, Life – How Humanity Will Live Tomorrow” at Mori Art Museum looks at our near future and the enormity of potential changes that could come from advances in technology. At the same time, it presents possible realities we might want to be warned of, if technology gets out of hand, or is misused. The exhibition encourages us to consider what kind of future might await humanity, in light of its techological advancements, and the kind of future we ought to build. As Mori Art Museum has written in the press release, the exhibition aims
to encourage us to contemplate cities, environmental issues, human lifestyles and the likely state of human beings as well as human society – all in the imminent future, via cutting-edge developments in science and technology including AI, biotechnology, robotics, and AR (augmented reality), plus art, design, and architecture influenced by all these.
Co-curators Nanjo Fumio (Director, Mori Art Museum), Kondo Kenichi (Curator, Mori Art Museum),Tokuyama Hirokazu (Associate Curator, Mori Art Museum) and Honor Harger (Executive Director, ArtScience Museum, Singapore) have been sided by advisors from MIT Media Lab, SymbioticA of The University of Western Australia and The Mori Memorial Foundation. Furthermore, the title of the exhibition is the result of a collaboration between the Mori Art Museum and the “IBM Watson” suite of AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology and services developed by IBM. The title was chosen from over 15,000 AI-generated options.
“Future and the Arts” takes past endeavours by the Mori Art Museum of presenting unique thematic exhibitions a step further. Shows like “Medicine and Art” (2009-2010) and “The Universe and Art” (2016-2017) combined contemporary art with historical and scientific objects. “Future and the Arts” mixes a range of very different exhibits, from contemporary art to urban theory and architecture, from design and product innovation to bio-art and even movies and manga. The futuristic works and products on display have been created thinking about humanity and its basic needs, such as food, clothing and housing. Among the objects and artworks are items of apparel, furniture, lighting and foodstuffs, for example, which invite visitors to imagine things that will bring added convenience and comfort to everyday living in the future, in respect of the environment.
There is also a biotechnology laboratory in the exhibition, where artists’ work using biotechnology to expand their creativity is on show. For instance, a work uses modern biotechnology to recreate the left ear that Vincent Van Gogh is believed to have cut off himself.
“Future and the Arts: AI, Robotics, Cities, Life – How Humanity Will Live Tomorrow” consists of five sections spread across the Mori Art Museum: “New Possibilities of Cities”, “Toward Neo-Metabolism Architecture”, “Lifestyle and Design Innovations”, “Human Augmentation and Its Ethical Issues” and “Society and Humans in Transformation”.
New Possibilities of Cities looks at leading examples of contemporary urban planning for the future, and at the unique visions of artists and architects, through photographs, video and models, among other media. This section considers how urban planning is taking the leap beyond conventional urban parameters to include desert, sea and air. These newly planned cities are reminiscent of Metabolism, Japan’s unique architectural movement and theory developed in the 1960s by Kurokawa Kisho, Kikutake Kiyonori, Maki Fumihiko and Ekuan Kenji. Inspired by the scientific term “metabolism”, the young architects believed that architecture and city should be designed organically just as life repeats growth and change. Their ideas could not come to life with the limited technologies available at the time, however, with the advances in information technology and biotechnology that we have today, the idea for ‘metabolic’ cities that are sustainable and environmentally-sound are becoming possible.
They are reminiscent of, almost a revival of Metabolism* envisaged and conceptualized by young Japanese architects during the 1960s. Most of them did not come to fruition with then technologies, however, with the advances of information technology and biotechnology, the real Metabolism cities that are sustainable, and environmentally-sound are becoming possible. An example is Bjarke Ingels Group’s (BIG) Oceanix City, a sustainable floating community of 10,000 residents designed as a manmade eco-system, following the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The idea for the project stems from the projection that by 2050 90% of the world’s largest cities will be exposed to rising sea levels, and the majority of coastal cities will suffer coastal erosion and flooding. These events will result in the displacement of millions of people, and the destruction of home and infrastructure. The Oceanix project foresees the possibility of survival in a changing environment by adapting our life to different surroundings, creating a maritime metropolis.
The second section of the exhibition, Toward Neo-Metabolism Architecture, suggests the possibility of a Neo-Metabolism architecture that is respectful of the environment, creating a coexistence of the built environment with nature, making it sustainable and dynamic, flexible and adaptive. This will become more and more viable thanks to the development of environmentally-friendly organic building materials and some new construction methods that fully utilise advanced technologies such as 3D printers, drones and robotics. This kind of forward-thinking building is exemplified by WOHA’s Oasia Hotel Downtown, a tropical “living tower” at the heart of Singapore’s densely populated CBD, combining sleek technology with greenery, natural light and fresh air.
Section three, Lifestyle and Design Innovations, looks at the technical innovations that are contributing to alter the way we eat, dress and live. Computer modeling and 3D printing have already changed design history, while the development of artificial foodstuffs, for example, has emerged as one solution to global challenges such as population growth and food shortages. This section looks at the kinds of design and products emerging from the latest technologies and radical new concepts, and explores their potential to generate new lifestyles.
Artist Vincent Fournier explores the tension between our fascination and fear of robots with the photographic series “The Man Machine”, which attempts to make various robots seem more human. Fournier suggests that the real problem will arise when – and if – robots seem to be better at everything than we are, making humanity feel threatened and replaceable. However, when robots are humanised, perhaps even a little flawed like humans, we feel more comfortable, says the artist:
My aim was to create a balance between the spectator and the robot, between a process of identification and distance. We find this idea in the “the Uncanny Valley ” – a scientific theory elaborated by the Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori which states that the more a robot resembles a human being, the more its imperfections seem monstruous to us. The current development of these artificial creatures in our society brings fascination but also the frightening issue of the social acceptance of these changes.
Human Augmentation and Its Ethical Issues focuses on the body, and considers advances in robotics and biotechnology that expand human capacity and could help overcome incurable diseases. These kind of interventions though raise ethical questions about the extent to which we as humans should be altering our bodies. Diemut Strebe’s Sugababe (2014-), first presented at ZKM Karlsruhe, Germany in May 2014. The work is a living replica of Vincent van Gogh’s ear, grown from tissue engineered cartilage. It is composed of living immortalised van Gogh cells from a male descendant. It contains natural genetic information about Vincent as well as genetically engineered components using genome editing CRISPRCas9 technique, and most recent bioprinting technology.
Section five, Society and Humans in Transformation, explores how technological developments and the concomitant changes in outlook overturn previously-accepted notions of society and what it is to be human. In future we may see humans being nursed by robots, for instance, or “ sharing” of children with the DNA of three or more parents. This last section in the exhibition urges us to rethink the definition of “ human”, “ life” and “ happiness”, and questions what we should do to move to a better future. Ai Hasegawa’s Shared Baby (2011) portrays a child that holds genes from more than three biological parents. Taking a DNA sample from an existing same-sex couple and predicting how the child will look and will behave, a ‘family photo’ was taken. Hasegawa depicts and showcases a realistically possible near future, questioning traditional family structures and reproduction. Looking at scientific research, the artist takes inspiration from her own desires and ideas.
Future and the Arts is the last exhibition at the Mori Art Museum in the foreseeable future, since the premises are closed indefinitely at the moment. This might give us, in lockdown across the world, more time to ponder on our present, and what kind of future we would like to live in, benefiting from advances in science and technology, yet being respectful of the world that is our host. As the Mori Art Museum writes,
Advances in technology over the past few years are now starting to have a significant impact on various aspects of our lives. It is said that not too far in the future, human beings will be entrusting many of their decisions to AI (artificial intelligence) which will then supersede human intelligence; the advent of “singularity” will potentially usher in enormous changes to our society and lifestyles. Another development, that of blockchain technology, looks set to build new levels of trust and value into our social systems, while advances in biotechnology will have a major impact on food, medicine, and the environment. It is also possible that one day, we humans will be able to extend our physical functions, and enjoy longer life spans. The effect of such changes may not be necessarily and universally positive, yet surely we need to at least acquire a vision of what life may look like in the next 20-30 years, and ponder the possibilities of that new world. Doing so will also spark fundamental questions about the nature of affluence and of being human, and what constitutes life.
“Future and the Arts: AI, Robotics, Cities, Life – How Humanity Will Live Tomorrow” is on view from 19 November 2019 to 29 March 2020 at the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan.