A.rtificial I.ntrospection O.

The exhibition A.rtificial I.ntrospection O. (A.I.O.) explores questions of thought, perception, and subjectivity at the intersection of introspection, cybernetics, and artificial intelligence. Its point of departure is the work of the Austrian writer, cognitive psychologist, and cyberneticist Oswald Wiener (1935 – 2021), whose genuine thinking since the 1950s critically navigated between these fi elds while systematically resisting institutional appropriation.

Engaging with Alan Turing’s theory of automata, Ludwig Wittgenstein’s critique of language, and cybernetic concepts, Wiener develops a radical critique of the humanistic conception of the subject. In the appendix of the work – – the partly ironic bio-adapter—the human being appears not as an autonomous conscious entity, but as an automaton that dissolves into its environment in the form of a technical suit of gratification. According to Wiener, the fundamental problem of the Turing Test and many concepts of artificial intelligence lies in their behaviorist approach, which is based solely on observable behavior, on stimulus-response patterns, and on statistically analyzable events, while subjective consciousness remains excluded. Those invisible qualities of human thought — such as imagination, emotion, perception, and understanding of the world — are not captured. In fact, the motive behind an action is thus usually left out as well.

As early as the late 1950s, Wiener began exploring these questions and worked on a theory of thought that expanded the formalistic theory of automata to include the aspect of introspection. In doing so, he developed an original approach that seeks robust concepts for describing and explaining human consciousness.

A.rtificial I.ntrospection O. relates Wiener’s theoretical reflections to the artistic practices of his generation as well as to contemporary approaches that engage introspection, language, and cybernetics. Art is not understood here as the antithesis of technology, but rather as a field of comparable translation processes: visual, linguistic, and affective information is encoded, decoded, and transferred into circulating systems. At the same time, recent artistic positions reflect on the increasing intertwining of analog and digital reality as a fundamental condition of contemporary living environments.

Against the backdrop of a present in which algorithmic systems help shape decisions and AI-based language models simulate human communication, Wiener’s early skeptical thinking takes on new relevance. The indistinguishability of human and machine language production, as posited in the Turing Test, shifts the question of intelligence toward questions of introspection and self-description. Exemplary of this is the figure of the dandy, which fascinated Wiener deeply: a mental attitude that assumes that neither human beings nor their inner lives are fully explicable. The dandy observes himself and his environment with the utmost precision, yet does not develop closed systems; instead, he formulates spontaneous thoughts, fragments, and aphorisms — a process that also shapes Wiener’s own thinking and eludes the logic of the machine.

The exhibition broadens the historical scope of Wiener’s thinking to include fellow artists as well as a younger generation that does not simply continue his line of inquiry but reconfigures it in light of contemporary conditions. The impact of artifi cial intelligence on everyday life, the body, and language is already palpable for many and will intensify significantly in the future. The experimental exhibition A.I.O. seeks to make Oswald Wiener’s ideas artistically productive while simultaneously moving beyond them. The focus is on the origins of cybernetic thought, the practice of introspection, and the complex interaction between human and machine — and thus on that ability which has so far remained the exclusive domain of machines: independent thought and the development of inner concepts.

Curated by Sandro Droschl with Franca Zitta
Curatorial consultation, Estate of Oswald Wiener: Thomas Eder, Thomas Raab, Nicola Cipani
Cooperation: Franz Nabl Institute/​Literaturhaus Graz: Klaus Kastberger, Daniela Bartens