A short film of animated thinkers from the past, having conversations of today. These celebrated figures ask existential questions that we as humans have asked throughout the ages and how these questions will guide us into the future.
COLLECTIVE 42 – Jens Isensee | Cat Scott | Smruthi Gargi Eswar
Concept Note
The idea for our film was generated from the conversations of three artists from different parts of the world, connected through computer screens. A collaborative relationship resting heavily on today’s technology. Our opinions were born of the questions we had as a group. Questions about life, the universe – everything. Hence our group name – Collective 42. A name inspired from the all-knowing computer from the novel, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Our question was – will artificial intelligence be the answer? We decided to address the future by exploring voices of the past. We used a search engine as a framework to ask big questions about our existence. Talking heads of thinkers, innovators and change-makers through time come to life, enabling them to have important conversations with us, in the present day.
Diversity, equality and individuality were important themes to us, to create a world view of the universe. We asked ourselves – which voices do we want to present? We used this to inform which people we wanted to platform, to create a meaningful dialogue between us, the thinkers of the past and the audience of today and to question – where does AI sit in these conversations?
We have provided a space for audiences to think about these deep, philosophical questions and to invite them to explore their own voices, in this universal dialogue between nature, humans and AI.
Bibliography, References and Tech Stack
● Cuddly Baby Chimpanzees – Cutest Compilation – AnimalTV – https://youtu.be/e2-3af95Uf4
● Cassowary Conservation Documentary (2020) – Two World Optimists – https://youtu.be/LdSYbqixo2U
● Junglesound by folkart films – https://freesound.org/people/folkart%20films/sounds/122767/
● Network of Connecting Dots | 4K Relaxing Screensaver – Josu Relax – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOBj1wPyuVU
● https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/1984-book-george-orwell-dysoptian-novel-scotland-jura-history-a8944886.html – Getty Images.
● https://pixabay.com/vectors/author-1984-big-brother-british-1320965/ – Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay.
● https://www.thoughtco.com/answers-to-questions-about-evolution-1224893 – DEA PICTURE LIBRARY – Getty Images.
● Still from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: Space Odyssey Film, 1968 https://itself.blog/2016/02/29/humanity-has-grown-so-old-on-2001-a-space-odyssey/
● Seabed / Kenneth L. Smith, Jr./Getty Images – https://www.thoughtco.com/answers-to-questions-about-evolution-1224893
● https://www.stylist.co.uk/visible-women/ada-lovelace-day-2018-facts-best-quotes-most-inspiring-science-confidence-work-computer/230835 – Getty Images.
● https://www.claymath.org/publications/ada-lovelaces-mathematical-papers – CMI (Clay Math) – Ada Lovelace’s Mathematical Papers – The image on this page is of a daguerreotype of Ada Lovelace, owned by Geoffrey Bond. It is reproduced with his kind permission.
● https://edition.cnn.com/ampstories/tech/meet-ada-lovelace-the-first-computer-programmer – Hulton Archive – Getty Images.
● https://www.azquotes.com/author/29338-Ada_Lovelace
● Photo collection: Anne Frank Stichting, Amsterdam https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/main-characters/anne-frank/
● Image 01: Microsoft Word – Creative Commons – This photo by Unknown Author is licenced under CC BY https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.
● Image 02: Microsoft Word – Creative Commons – This photo by Unknown Author is licenced under CC BY-NC-ND https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/.
● https://mymodernmet.com/inspirational-quotes-women/
● https://peacealliance.org/tools-education/peace-inspirational-quotes/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CPeace%20cannot%20be%20kept%20by,only%20be%20achieved%20by%20understanding.%E2%80%9D&text=%E2%80%9CDarkness%20cannot%20drive%20out%20darkness,~%20Martin%20Luther%20King%2C%20Jr.
● Getty Images https://www.inc.com/sonia-thompson/these-4-skills-helped-martin-luther-king-jr-become-a-transformational-leader.html
● https://www.scholastic.com/parents/family-life/parent-child/teaching-kids-about-martin-luther-king-jr.html – Dick DeMarsico/New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection/Library of Congress.
● Image 01 – This photo by Unknown Author is licenced under CC BY-SA.
● Image 02 – This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA.
● Inner Horizons, Cat Scott, 2019, ACC.ACI, photo by Sarah Kim (6) – http://www.catscott.co.uk/inner-horizons
● Cat Scott, Brighter Sound Electric Storm Residency 2020. Photo by Shirlaine Forrest & Female Perspective – http://www.catscott.co.uk
● Music by Alex Bainter / CC BY – https://record.generative.fm/licensing.
● Tokking Heads – https://talkingheads.rosebud.ai/
● How Gandhi Became Gandhi – New York Times – https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/books/review/book-review-great-soul-mahatma-gandhi-and-his-struggle-with-india-by-joseph-lelyveld.html
● Jiddu Krishnamurti – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiddu_Krishnamurti
● Original artworks and Art pieces – studiosmu.in – https://studiosmu.in/The-Logue – https://studiosmu.in/Old-City-Cave – https://studiosmu.in/Still-Life-Still-Move – https://studiosmu.in/Sister-Misfortune
● https://smuartcatalog.tumblr.com/
● Sarojini Naidu – Indian Philatelic Stamps – http://indianphilatelicstamps.blogspot.com/2017/02/sarojini-naidu-1964-india-stamp.html
● Sarojini Naidu: The Nightingale Of India | – Feminism In India
● https://feminisminindia.com/2017/03/22/sarojini-naidu-essay/
● Rabindranath Tagore – Britannica
● https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rabindranath-Tagore
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