Distributed Consciousness

Octopuses are remarkably intelligent and unique. Most of their neurons aren’t in a central brain like ours but are distributed across their body and arms, which can independently think, act and feel. Their cognition is distributed; an intelligence, a consciousness, completely alien to us. Distributed Consciousness uses cephalopod cognition to reflect on the increasingly powerful and pervasive artificial intelligence (AI) technologies we are developing, trained on our collective consciousness scraped from the internet. As we face the climate crises and ecological devastation fuelled by exploitative and extractivist ideologies, Distributed Consciousness asks us to decentre human exceptionalism and work towards multi-species flourishing.

Initially conceived as an NFT collection on the eco-friendly Tezos blockchain, artist Memo Akten created images of Tentacular Critters using custom AI software. Cryptographically hidden in each image is a verse also created using AI, invisible to humans but decipherable by computer, which is spoken by the Tentacular Critters and revealed in scrolling text above the installation. Collectively, the images and verses form a manifesto on free will, consciousness, life, death, art, ecology and sustainability.

Discover the themes, process and motivation behind Distributed Consciousness in this piece by Memo Akten.

Distributed Consciousness is generously supported by Naomi Milgrom AC and the Naomi Milgrom Foundation. Through this important partnership, we commission and present major works across an international moving image art series, building on ACMI and Naomi Milgrom’s experience of supporting, commissioning and presenting leading artists working with the moving image globally.