Encyclopædia Mundi is an interactive software experience that questions the relationships between the authority of authorship, knowledge, and artificially generated text. The software presents itself as a genuine 90s digital encyclopedia, but the absurdity of the generated text, which is syntactically correct but semantically dubious, subverts the audience's expectation and reveals its true nature as an artwork. In this context, the audience is prompted to reflect on how we socially attribute authority to existing encyclopedic models, as well as the future role of artificial intelligence in contributing to our understanding of knowledge, truth, and reality. / Master of Fine Arts / What does knowledge and the authority of authorship mean in a society where artificial intelligence is becoming more involved with our lives? Encyclopædia Mundi is an interactive software experience that takes the form of a genuine 90s digital encyclopedia, but the absurdity of the generated text, which follows correct English grammar but has little or no sensible meaning, subverts the audience's expectation and reveals its true nature as an artwork. In this context, the audience is prompted to reflect on how we socially attribute authority to existing encyclopedic models, as well as the future role of AI in contributing to our understanding of knowledge, truth, and reality.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/103645 |
| Date | 28 May 2021 |
| Creators | Ge, Tianyu |
| Contributors | Art and Art History, Duer, Zachary Raymond, Santos Lages, Wallace, Upthegrove, John Tanner |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
Page generated in 0.0021 seconds