AI at the UK Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai. Poems prepared by
The UK’s contribution to Expo 2020 Dubai is a wooden sculptural composition that celebrates cultural diversity and collaboration, highlighting Britain as a meeting place of cultures and ideas. Created by artist and designer Es Devlin, Poem Pavilion uses advanced learning algorithms to transform visitor input into collective poems. The latter can be read on displaying lights on the façade, turning the pavilion into an exhibition.
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In the Poema Pavilion, visitors are invited to donate a word to the “spokesperson” when entering the central space, which demonstrates these contributions in English and Arabic with sound. An algorithm compiles the donated words into text, creating a collective poem every minute. The machine learning model was initially trained in Internet text and adapted to the project through a diverse selection of over 5,000 poems carefully selected by a team of poetry curators.
Known for large-scale installations that blend music, language and light, artist and designer S. Devlin first proposed the idea of machine-generated poetry in 2016 with the Poem Portraits project at the Serpentine Gallery in response to the idea. searched in A sculpture social.
“Algorithms are among us, they are an ever-increasing part of our culture, their output based on who they train and who trains them. The pavilion is at the same time the ideal of a culturally diverse Britain. Expression is, with which I grew up, influenced by the growing awareness of the role algorithms play in shaping the future of our culture.” – S. Devlin.
Located in the “Opportunity” district of the Dubai Expo 2020 masterplan, the UK Pavilion was developed in conjunction with structural engineers Atelier One, environmental design consultant Atelier Ten, executive architects Veretech and creative agency Avantgarde. The structure is made of timber laminated with wood sourced from sustainable Italian and Austrian forests. The construction of the pavilion itself showcases multiculturalism, with LED elements designed in Belgium and algorithms produced in China and developed in California.
