Ian Cheng’s Life After BOB: The Chalice Study (2021-2022) tells the story of Chalice, a girl implanted with BOB. Chalice lives by the optimal path calculated by BOB. As the AI uses its technology to make ‘better choices’ for Chalice’s life, she feels skeptical about his life where autonomy has been eliminated. When Chalice turns 20 years old, “Chalice Study” comes to an end, Chalice reacquaints herself with her life away from BOB. She then makes choices away from the optimal life path and turns toward “pointless paths,” or subplots. And Chalice creates and provides a program so that people can experience it. Her actions signal a new beginning. AI is a technology built to explore the complexity of human consciousness. If AI determines optimal paths and makes more efficient choices than the human mind, could it be a form of evolution? Cheng asks about the ‘better life’ through the lens of Chalice’s story and her life.
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Ian Cheng, Life After BOB: The Chalice Study, 2021-2022, story and simulation with sound, 50 min.
Courtesy of the Artist, Gladstone Gallery and Pilar Corrias, London. © Ian Cheng.
What an Artificial World
MMCA Cheongju
26. Apr. 2024. - 25. Aug. 2024
