Dagmar Schürrer. Juried Artist
SAE
Artist Statement
In a poetic interpretation the animation »Dreaming is the mind left to itself« links neuroscience with new technologies such as Extended Realities and Artificial Intelligence to examine their role in accessing and revealing different constructions of reality in various states of consciousness – the waking reality, the digital realm, the dream world, drug induced conditions, spiritual meditations. Especially the role of dreaming has fascinated artists and researchers for a long time. The »Overfitted Brain Hypothesis« (OBH) by neuroscientist Erik Hoel compares dreaming to a certain aspect of Artificial Intelligence (AI). For AI to deliver meaningful results it needs to be fed with a sufficiently variable dataset. To increase variations, it can be interspersed with noise and glitches. OBH draws parallels to the purpose of dreaming and argues that it works as a similar noise injection, so our brain can cope with the many self-repeating patterns during waking world. The AR video installation »Dreaming is the mind left to itself« leads the visitor through abstract dreamscapes and digital environments, focused through a vignette reminiscent of Virtual Reality glasses. The imagery gets more and more moshed, suggesting the dissolution of parallel realities.
The animation is accompanied by the augmented reality application »Dreaming Mind AR«, available for free in the app stores.
About the artists
Dagmar Schürrer is an Austrian digital artist based in Berlin, Germany. She holds a degree in Fine Art from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design in London, UK, and works in the field of expanded animation and extended reality (XR) technologies.
In her hybrid experiences, she links (Neuro-) sciences, new technologies as XR and Artificial Intelligence, digital world building and poetic interpretations of human consciousness and its environmental entanglements, to create intricate and contemplative animations and spatial multimedia installations.
Significant international presentations of her works include the New Contemporaries at the ICA London, the Moscow Biennale for Young Art, the Centre Pompidou Paris, Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin, Louvre Auditorium Paris, Transmediale Vorspiel in Berlin, Eunam Museum South Korea, Ars Electronica Linz, the Museum of Waste in Changsha, China, and Tate Modern London.
Her animations were screened at international festivals, amongst others at Supernova Denver, Diagonale Filmfestival Graz, ITF International Trickfilm Festival Stuttgart, Vienna Shorts, Crossing Europe Linz, Tricky Women Vienna, Filmfest Dresden, Filmfestival Seattle.
Credits: Mrs Dagmar Schürrer