Afterall Publishes Richard Birkett's Study of Donald Rodney's Posthumous AI Work 'Autoicon'
Afterall has published a new book by Richard Birkett focusing on Donald Rodney's 'Autoicon', a digital artwork completed posthumously. Initially envisioned in the mid-1990s, 'Autoicon' was finalized in 2000 by friends and fellow artists under the collective name Donald Rodney plc, two years following Rodney's passing due to sickle cell anaemia. The piece draws inspiration from Jeremy Bentham's Auto-Icon and examines concepts of identity and history through a Java-based AI that interacts with users via text chat. Birkett connects this work to Rodney's 1997 exhibition '9 Night in Eldorado', interpreting 'Autoicon' as a representation of fragmented memory. The paperback edition, released in 2023, consists of 128 pages with 24 color illustrations and is priced at £15.99, with an e-book version also available.
Key facts
- Donald Rodney's Autoicon was conceived in the mid-1990s and completed posthumously in 2000.
- The work was finished by a group called Donald Rodney plc after Rodney's death from sickle cell anaemia.
- Autoicon is a Java-based AI and neural network that engages users in text-based chat.
- The AI draws from a dataset including artworks, medical records, interviews, images, notes, and videos.
- The work references Jeremy Bentham's 19th-century Auto-Icon.
- Richard Birkett's book links Autoicon to Rodney's 1997 exhibition '9 Night in Eldorado'.
- The publication is part of Afterall's One Work series, published in 2023.
- The book is 128 pages with 24 colour illustrations, available in paperback and e-book.
Entities
Artists
- Donald Rodney
- Richard Birkett
Institutions
- Afterall
- Donald Rodney plc
- MIT Press
Sources
- Afterall —