2024, Adam Cole, Gregor Petrikovic, Asher Levitas

AI generated moving image, sound
1'38"

Me vs. You

Me vs. You explores the nuances of queer intimacy in a world increasingly mediated by AI technologies. In this multi-channel video installation, artists Adam Cole and Gregor Petrikovič feed footage from a wrestling match through a generative AI pipeline to expose the limits of surveillance-oriented machine vision systems in interpreting human interaction.

Central to the artwork is a live recorded wrestling match between the artists, captured and analyzed by an AI depth map network. This technology is designed to separate subjects, but here the close contact between the fighters confuses the AI model. When fed forward into a generative video pipeline, the boundaries of the two entities becomes blurred. Instead of a straightforward wrestling match, the fight oscillates between moments of intense aggression and tender entanglement.

The installation was showcased in an exhibition Model For Me at K48 project space in Vienna. It features two screens: the lower displays the depth maps, showing the machine’s perspective, while the upper screen interprets the depth maps through an AI video pipeline. Accompanying the video installation was a large-scale hanging print with the AI depth maps.

The audio includes original sound recordings from the match, grounding the piece in reality, alongside an enveloping soundscape by composer Asher Levitas.

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