Only Traces, No Beings is a research document expressed in practice around notions of surveillance and bias in technology. The work builds upon my research into bias within AI programming, their roots in non-diverse physical programming environments and the transference of social biases into algorithmic injustices. The soundtrack is composed of field recordings, samples from open-source libraries and algorithmic generative sounds assembled alongside a video-performance addressing the seeming intangibility of data points even as they dictate every aspect of our lives.

The Artist

Vishal Kumaraswamy is an artist and filmmaker based in Bangalore, India. He has an MA in Photography from Central Saint Martins, London & his works have been shown at several international exhibitions including The Venice Biennale’s Research Pavilion, Athens Digital Arts Festival, CCS Bard College, The Royal College of Art & Furtherfield. Vishal has previously been an artist in residence with the US Consulate General Mumbai, Contemporary Calgary in Alberta, SAVAC Toronto & Vital Capacities, videoclub UK. Some of Vishal’s works are distributed by VIVO Media Arts and he is currently producing works for SITE Gallery Sheffield, The Mozilla Foundation, Platform Art Projects UK & Industra Art BRNO. Vishal is the recipient of the Australia Council for the Arts Transmitter Delhi X Darwin Grant & the inaugural Artists for Artists Microgrant.

Vishal is the founder of the international artist collective; Now You Have Authority (www.nyhacollective.com), a collaborative practice through which he has curated exhibitions, residencies, and delivered workshops at the Tate Modern’s Tate Exchange Programme, Tanzfest Aarau and The Sluice Biennial. He also develops independent curatorial projects with a focus on contemporary South-Asian artistic practices and his most recent project www.the-lack-of.com was shown as part of The Wrong Biennale.