Nadja Reifer

Artificial Incubation - Sichtbarmachung von Inkubationsprozessen mithilfe von künstlicher Intelligenz

Beginn des PhD-Programms / Start of the PhD-Program​:
WS 2020 Betreuung / Supervision:
Tina Frank
Bettina Bruder Up to now, the generation of ideas has been described as an exclusive faculty of humans. One of the first research approaches of the idea generation process was presented by the British social psychologist Graham Wallas (1926) (cf. Qualter, 1980), which served as a basis for many subsequent theories (cf. Guilford, 1950; Kneller 1965; Ulmann, 1973; Lawson, 1991; Kounios/Beeman, 2015). He divides this process into a four-stage model, which includes the phases of preparation, incubation, illumination and verification. (cf. Vollmer, 2020) Especially the unconscious or intuitive states during the incubation phase, which are named in many theoretical studies as essential for idea genesis (cf. Smith/ Dodds, 1999; Dodds et al., 2003; Sio and Ormerod, 2009; Gilhooly et al, 2013; Kounios/Beeman, 2015; Vollmer, 2020), still raise many questions especially in the scientific context. The approach to explore the incubation phenomenon is often done only with rational models of thought such as statistics and analysis. But it doesn’t incorporate the unpredictability and complexity of matter charged with coincidence and metastability. Furthermore, recent results from neuroscience indicate that incubation processes possess not only passive components (for example, the relaxation of various brain areas), but are also involved in higher functions such as different states of consciousness and concentration (cf. Pizoli et al, 2011; Roach et al, 2018). In addition, the incubation state can be understood as an “intra-action” (cf. Barad, 2005) with external “rhythms of matter” and the world (cf. Diamond et al, 2008; Boussard et al, 2021). Accordingly, I hypothesize that incubation can be seen as an essential and active part of an unconscious contact with matter, which is also important for the processing of information and represents its own form of constellation of consciousness, while the unconscious becoming is constituted. Due to the fact that the problems of the future are subject to a constant increase of complexity, and the anthropocentric thinking can no longer be regarded as up-to-date, it needs a holistic connection to non-human rhythms of matter to be able to promote the absorption of complex information diversity. But in order to create an awareness of the active processes of incubation, an interdisciplinary perspective of the entanglement between the substance of mind and the substance of matter and the world is needed. Especially the theories of New Materialism and in particular Karen Barad’s approach of “agential performativity” allow new perspectives on the relations between matter and performativity (cf. Barad, 2007). Therefore, this interdisciplinary research project attempts to make those incubatory entanglements tangible with the help of machine actors (neuronal networks) as well as biological participants (physarum polycephalum/slime mold) in the form of an artistic speculative examination (cf. Dunne/Raby, 2013). These incubation assemblages will be developed together with scientists from the fields of microbiology, computer science, psychology, neuroscience and communication design. In this way, new possibilities for the mediation of senso-aesthetic rhythmic experiences with non-human actors can be designed, in which the technical as well as biological participants are not anthropomorphized, but freed from their passive role of the exploited other. Thus, the research project "Interspecies Incubation" tries to generate a sensitization for those complex active entanglements and a new perspective in the recipients with a speculative openness as well as transdisciplinarity and the associated engagement with uncertainty, which is detached from human-centered paradigms. This should interweave human consciousness or unconsciousness and action in a new way and tries to break through conventional models of thinking. Kurz-Biographie / Short Bio:
Nadja Reifer is a communication researcher, designer and bioart artist exploring unconventional visions of nature, technology and the self. After completing a bachelor's degree in marketing and communication management at the applied university of Kufstein, she focused on the complex interconnections between new technologies and the artistic process in her master's degree (Intermedia at the applied university of Vorarlberg). Her master's project was exhibited internationally at the 2019 Ars Electronica Festival, the 2019 Artificial Design Symposium, and the 2021 Poolbar Festival. Her practice combines hybrid media to create conceptual and immersive installations and performances. These include organic matter, living organisms, and algorithms that become part of the artwork not only as material, but as meaningful co-creators. Her increased research and artistic practice with biological actors, led her to start her PhD studies at the University of Art in Linz. In her bioart project "Interspecies Incubation" she is intensively engaged in the attempt to make the entanglements of the substance of mind with the substance of matter and the world tangible. Additionally, she tries to transform human-centered theories of incubation into interspecies incubation assemblages, which are created with the help of various participants. On the one hand these participants represent the many-headed organism Physarum Polycephalum (slime mold) and on the other hand machine learning apparatuses. In an aesthetic between bioart and science fiction, Nadja Reifer's PhD project questions anthropocentrism and enables alternative visions and new sensory experiences. Email-Adresse / Email-Address:
nadja.reifer@kunstuni-linz.at  Website:
www.mzeindl.eu/nreifer