In the popular imagination, artificial intelligence (AI) is usually portrayed as a divine entity that makes “just� and “objective� decisions. Yet AI is anything but intelligent. Rather, it recognises in large amounts of data what it has been trained to recognise. Like a sniffer dog, it finds exactly what it has been taught to look for. In performing this task, it is much more efficient than any human being – but this precisely is also its problem. AI only mirrors or repeats what it has been instructed to reflect. Seen in this light, it may be viewed as a kind of digital “house of mirrors�. Humans train machines, and these machines are only as good or as bad as the humans who train them. Based on this insight, the publication addresses not only algorithmic bias or discrimination in AI, but also AI-related issues such as hidden human labour, the problem of categorisation and classification – and our ideas and fantasies about AI. It also raises the question whether (and how) it is possible to reclaim agency in this context. Text in English and German.

This catalogue for a show at HMKV Dortmund explores techno-shamanism in the arts today, taking Joseph Beuys, who cultivated the figure of the shaman throughout his career, as the starting point. In addition to viewing shamanism itself as a form of technology, this artistic approach uses (speculative) technology as a way of discovering shamanic powers. Contemporary artists are updating Beuys’s strategies and themes for the digital age, deploying many of the same tropes. These acquired iconic status in Beuys’s oeuvre, and were aimed at healing and transforming society, cultivating a spiritual approach to the environment, and subverting power structures and the logic of capitalism. The positions introduced here combine aspects that appear diametrically opposed: technology and shamanism, technical progress and esotericism, rational modernism and the mystical tradition. Today’s artistic alchemists are engaged in a quest for “rare-earth elements� and metals, a fusion of the environment, technology, and artificial intelligence in order to create a technical/mythological description of the cosmos. Included here are works by: Morehshin Allahyari, Joseph Beuys, Mariechen Danz, Anja Dornieden & Juan David González Monroy, Lucile Olympe Haute, knowbotiq, Sahej Rahal, Tabita Rezaire, Jana Kerima Stolzer & Lex Rütten, Transformella (aLifveForm fed and cared for by JP Raether), Suzanne Treister, Anton Vidokle. Text in English and German.

Originally published in 2009, this book collects the work made between 1999 and 2009 by Austrian duo UBERMORGEN (lizvlx and Hans Bernhard). Along that decade, UBERMORGEN developed a consistent oeuvre, focused on the ability of media to infiltrate reality to the point of completely altering the perception of it or even its social, biological or human infrastructure; and on the potential of art to engage a dialogue with economic, bureaucratic and informational systems. All these works are presented extensively through pictures and introductory texts, and discussed in depth in two essays by Domenico Quaranta and Dr. Inke Arns. The book also features a visual tribute by artists JODI.ORG. UBERMORGEN have exhibited in museums and galleries internationally since 1999, including HKW, Berlin; MUMOK, Vienna; MACBA, Barcelona; Ars Electronica, Linz; SFMOMA, San Francisco; Witte de With, Rotterdam; Centre Pompidou, Paris; New Museum, New York; Sydney and Gwangju biennales.

Every month, the art association HMKV presents the latest videos by international artists in its series "HMKV Video of the Month" which has been ongoing since March 2014. The idea for the series came from the desire to show the newest artistic productions in rapid succession, changing works at a faster pace than in the exhibitions of the HMKV. For the first time, this publication unites all 78 works that have been exhibited since 2014. The videos address a variety of different topics and stories, ranging from labour conditions, structural changes, speculative technologies, or posthuman machines to technology (and its history) as well as artificial intelligence. A wide array of works is devoted to the old 'new' right-wingers and the alt-right. The book not only shows stills of all videos, but each work is also accompanied by an introductory text to provide a comprehensive overview. Text in English and German.

Viewers find themselves captivated by the edgy unconventionality of the works of Christoph Faulhaber, which point out the contra-dictions and abysses of our society today. In his new cycle he examines artificial intelligence. What at first seems like a phenomenon far distant from everyday life ultimately reveals a fascinating topicality. Marshall McLuhan talked about "art as radar." It is an "early warning system that allows us to recognize social and psychological weaknesses far in advance." There is hardly any other artist to whom this applies as much as it does to Faulhaber and his art, which dares to look toward the future in order to show, through artificial intelligence, what the consequences of our present day might be.