Being in the Garden of Forking Paths

Being in the Garden of Forking Paths, an exhibition at OFFICE IMPART, a multi-dimensional space and platform for contemporary art, features works by CROSSLUCID, Salomé Chatriot, and Pola Sieverding. The exhibition runs from July 17th to August 23rd, 2024.

CROSSLUCID’s latest work, We Have Never Been Human / alias (2024), breaks from traditional construction methods by focusing on the interplay between models, data sets, and prompts. Unlike the common AI approach that emphasizes prompt generation as the key to artistic control, CROSSLUCID prioritizes the model and data interpretations over the artists’ direct inputs.

This shift allows for the emergence of beings with emotional expressiveness previously unseen in photographic and GAN outputs. Emotion here is seen as arising from the complex interactions within the latent space—the undefined and uncontrolled area between prompt, data set, and model.

This concept echoes the themes of Landscapes Between Eternities (2018), the dataset for We Have Never Been Human / alias (2024), highlighting the importance of finding new ways to connect objects and subjects. Released on the platform Alias, which uses protocol-based technology for IP attribution and royalty redistribution, the work invites audiences to delve into the artist’s process. Visitors can engage with the CROSSLUCID x Alias model to create their own artworks, available as digital collectibles or physical prints.

A special event will be the artist talk at the Office Impart this Thursday, 1 August 2024, 6pm.

Very special for us about these works is the AI portraits, which were also featured on the covers of our Slanted Magazine #37—ai. Every single magazine had its individual AI generated cover (a few printed copies and an e-Book are available here!), making it a particularly exciting and visually interesting issue, which is why it’s great to see familiar faces in the exhibition again!

© exhibition shots by Hans-Georg Gaul

Antiphony

Antiphony is a type family that explores typographic extremes and orchestrates commonalities through opposites. Antiphony is a dualistic system that challenges the viewer as well as traditional models for typographic systems. Because of the extreme angle of the forward and reverse italics, Antiphony is suitable for setting type at 45° in either direction. Additionally, the fluid nature of the design allows naturally setting the type on curved paths.

Aff. (1+2)

Affection (1) is a sculpture. It is made out of wire, concrete, plaster, acrylic paint and a reflective stainless steel plate, measuring approx. 300×400×600 mm (D×W×H). It needs a wall to lean on. Affection (2) is a state of mind and body. It is a come together of two different beings or forces under good will and tenderness. Aff. (1+2) is the sum of Affection (1) and (2). It also is the realization, that one half is leaning on a reflection, that is leaning on something else.

Metabolic Typeface

Metabolic Type is a typography inspired by the Japanese architectural movement Metabolism. What would the movement be like if letters changed shape like living creatures and adapted to their surroundings? This typeface is characterised by a wave-like movement, with the serifs changing according to the letter that comes next.

ARRIVEDERCI E GRAZIE – Thermal Traces

This experimental lettering is one of the results of visual experiments conducted for the “ARRIVEDERCI E GRAZIE” publishing project. It is a letterset created by blackening receipts exploring the thermal paper properties. Many letters show residues of other words contained in the receipts themselves. This practice is inspired by the work of M. Duchamp who used ready-mades to create art by giving them a second life. Following the same principle, even the receipts can reveal something unexpected.

ARRIVEDERCI E GRAZIE – Thermal Traces

This experimental lettering is one of the results of visual experiments conducted for the “ARRIVEDERCI E GRAZIE” publishing project. It is a letterset created by blackening receipts exploring the thermal paper properties. Many letters show residues of other words contained in the receipts themselves. This practice is inspired by the work of M. Duchamp who used ready-mades to create art by giving them a second life. Following the same principle, even the receipts can reveal something unexpected.

unform actress

“unform actress” is a geometrically constructed typeface that tries to jump between classical latin and abstract forms. all letters are related to each other in their form and at the same time are independent in their expression. in large formats, the perception between letters and organic forms becomes blurred

shapeshift

Analogously created letterforms were digitally captured and interpreted by an image-generating AI. Influences such as transparent foil, Y2K product design, X-ray images, and anatomical visualizations shaped the process. The sketches were interpreted and refined using a real-time image-to-image model and repeatedly blended to create new perspectives and expressions. Through the process, static forms transformed into more abstract and organic shapes.

Snap!Gammon

A play on Backgammon, Snap!Gammon pushes the iconic format of the game into a new visual field and narrative. The starting point was turning the board into a crocodile’s mouth, with the pieces – Egyptian plovers – moving along the teeth. The typography is made of triangles/circles. They reference cuneiform lettering – from Sumeria, like the game itself.

Ride

The workplace has evolved from an office cubicle, to the home. With the rise of prioritising self-care, work-life balance, and home office aesthetics, the Ride embodies this new lifestyle. Designer Guy Skerman’s playful concept invites us to explore how we sit and share space. The unique tubular steel frame flexes according to where you sit. Upholstered in a carbon-neutral leather, there is plenty of room for sharing. 

The mark is a redrawn rotated version of the frame creating an ‘r’. The logo

Notation Rotation

The letterforms form the squares themselves. The designers aimed for the type to be abstract, allowing it to be perceived as squares first and then as the notation. The typefaces are constructed from a grid of 64 pixels, reflecting the board. Two cuts, light and heavy, were designed to create the black and white squares, named Notation Black and Notation Light. The black and white squares are oriented in each direction for each player to read, leading to the name “Notation Rotation.” This concep

Time-wasters

Lettering embossed by hand on re-used aluminium. This is time-wasting and inefficiency translated to the design process. An experiment and speculation about if the slowness of craft can open up for re-valuing time and imperfections, rather than prioritising effectivisation and optimisation within design and production.