A new series of work by design studio FIELD visualises algorithms that have shaped the world, in a creative exploration of Artificial Intelligence.

System Aesthetics makes five smart systems - facehacking, blockchain, adversarial networks, voice assistant software and autonomous cars more visible. In doing so it shines a spotlight on technologies which have a vast and pervasive impact on the way we live today, and which are shaping the way we think, communicate and identify. By trying to visualise these complex non-human intelligences, the project also addresses the need for new codes or languages which function as links between humans and computers.

FIELD’s visualisation of a self-driving car

Finance, driving, speaking, body language, image recognition, motion, hearing...the impact of algorithms is immense and overwhelming, restructuring not only concepts, but also structures, around which humans have understood themselves for centuries. As FIELD writes: “A.I. algorithms are the invisible force that increasingly shapes our lives. As individuals and society, we need new visual metaphors to help us decide how much influence we want to give to these intangible systems.”

With this in mind FIELD have developed a series of code-based illustrations. The logic of the code used to produce the pieces informed the illustrative layer; this created a new visual language in which the disconnect between line drawing and code is blurred.

The first five artworks from the System Aesthetics project were created exclusively for WIRED magazine, and are featured in WIRED World’s 2018 issue. FIELD will also be discussing the project at See, the conference for visualising information, in Wiesbaden, Germany in April.