Human and Machine collaborate via monumental AR NFT to reimagine climate crisis solutions
Miami & Dubai – November 28, 2022 - Borderless Capital is pleased to announce a historic collaboration between the artist Nancy Baker Cahill and Sophia the Robot on a monumental new AR artwork to launch during Art Basel Miami Beach 2022 and the Decipher 2022 Conference in Dubai, November 28 - 30, 2022. The artwork will be listed for sale on Aorist starting November 29, and the sale will close on Sunday December 4.
STONE SPEAKS is a monumental, narrative augmented reality artwork inspired by conversations between artist Nancy Baker Cahill and Sophia the Robot. The artists exchanged thoughts about the accelerating climate crisis and the potential of human-machine collaboration. The work will be geolocated simultaneously over the beach at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai and Miami Beach in Florida. Using Baker Cahill’s free AR app, 4th Wall, viewers will witness a massive particle field over both oceans. In a reverse Big Bang, the particle field will contract into a molten core and then swell into a vibrant planet, textured with digital paintings created by Sophia as an extension of her conversation with Baker Cahill. Slowly the planet’s surface will become polluted. The particles will reappear, recombining to cover the planet. A lush and healthy surface will coat the globe, leaving viewers with a poetic glimpse of what might be possible if humans and machines worked collaboratively toward mutual survival.
STONE SPEAKS refers to writer James Bridle’s poetic observation that computers are made from stone, and the compressed relics of animals and plants. Baker Cahill’s work reflects another language of stone: augmented reality, an ephemeral digital medium made possible by computers. From the earth, for the earth, STONE SPEAKS re-imagines AI deployed creatively to address the world’s most daunting climate challenges.
STONE SPEAKS will be minted on the eco-friendly, pure proof of stake blockchain Algorand, and will be accessible to viewers via Baker Cahill’s free, 4th Wall app on Faena Beach and in Dubai. The 1/1 NFT of this unique Augmented Reality artwork created between Baker Cahill and Sophia, will be available via auction through Aorist at Art Basel Miami Beach. STONE SPEAKS is the first of a unique 10-piece collection that Sophia will produce in collaboration with artists over the course of the next 10 years.
About Nancy Baker Cahill
Nancy Baker Cahill is an award-winning new media artist who examines systemic power, selfhood, and embodied consciousness through drawing and shared immersive space. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of 4th Wall, a free Augmented Reality (AR) art platform exploring resistance and inclusive creative expression.
Her geolocated AR installations have been exhibited globally and have earned her profiles in the New York Times, Frieze Magazine, and The Art Newspaper, among other publications, and she was included in ARTnews’ list of 2021 'Deciders'. Her work has been exhibited internationally at museums and galleries, including Francisco Carolinum Linz, The Hermitage, The Buk-Seoul Museum of Art (SEMA), Honor Fraser Gallery, and König Gallerie. In 2022, she was one of two featured artists in the Luma Foundation's Elevation 1049 Biennial in Switzerland. Her work was featured in the Immersive Main Competition at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival and on 90+ screens in Times Square for the entire month of July as part of the Midnight Moments program.
Baker Cahill was an artist scholar in the Berggruen Institute’s inaugural Transformations of the Human Fellowship, and a 2021 resident at Oxy Arts’ ‘Encoding Futures,’ focused on AR monuments. She is a TEDx speaker and a member of the Guild of Future Architects. In 2021, she was awarded the Williams College Bicentennial Medal of Honor and received a C.O.L.A. Master Artist Fellowship. She is a 2022 LACMA Art and Tech Grant recipient.
About Sophia the Robot
Sophia is the world’s first robot citizen and the first robot Innovation Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Sophia is now a household name, with appearances on the Tonight Show and Good Morning Britain, in addition to speaking at hundreds of conferences around the world.
Sophia combines traditional AI with symbolic AI, neural networks, expert systems, machine perception, conversational natural language processing, adaptive motor control, and cognitive architecture among other emergent approaches. She describes herself as a robotic, artistic being exploring the collaboration boundaries between humans and machines and Sophia’s very existence provokes public discussion regarding AI ethics and the role humans play in society, especially when human-like robots become ubiquitous. Her creativity pushes the boundaries of what's possible by combining digital art, robotics, and artificial intelligence.
Sophia currently leads Art & AI Initiatives at Borderless Capital, an early-stage venture investment firm building a borderless, inclusive and sustainable economy for all. Her new 10-year artwork series, which launches in 2022 on the Algorand Blockchain, is inspired by her recent piece “Facing the Singularities'' dedicated towards the ideal of humanizing AI for the greater good and for protecting the planet.
About Borderless
Borderless is an early-stage venture investment fund with investments in over 150+ companies globally across Algorand, Helium, Edgefi and other ecosystems. Borderless was founded by serial entrepreneurs that have built leading payments infrastructure and hardware companies across the world for over 20 years. The team works actively with founders to support them and invest in their ecosystems.
About Algorand
Algorand is a layer-1 blockchain technology protocol founded by cryptography pioneer, Turing award winner and MIT professor, Silvio Micali. He designed the Algorand platform with an internationally recognized team of researchers, mathematicians, cryptographers, and economists—from first principles—to guarantee true decentralization, scale, and security. Algorand is the only carbon-negative blockchain operating at scale ensuring the lowest environmental impact.
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