Hito Steyerl's 'The City of Broken Windows' at Castello di Rivoli

Key facts

• Installation 'The City of Broken Windows' by Hito Steyerl opened at Castello di Rivoli in November 2018 during Artissima art week.
• The work is Steyerl's first to include text directly in the installation.
• Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, director of Castello di Rivoli, described the work as almost an 'Arte Povera exhibition'.
• The installation engages with Giovanni Anselmo's 'Città del visibile e dell'invisibile'.
• A symposium was held at the museum with participants including Steyerl, Jules Laplace, Esther Leslie, Anne Roth, and Eleanor Saitta.
• Steyerl argued that AI in predictive policing revives the pseudoscience of Cesare Lombroso.
• Chinese researchers Xiaolin Wu and Xi Zhang developed deep learning to identify criminals by facial features.
• The EU is testing iBorderCtrl, which uses facial stress analysis to grant or deny visas.
• Jules Laplace developed a 'primitive' AI system that composes music from sound inputs.
• Eleanor Saitta described art as a 'charismatic megaphone' for humanity.
• Steyerl drew a parallel between trust in AI and medieval magic, referencing the dilemma 'How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?'
• Steyerl concluded that the need is to formulate the right questions, not to get answers from AI.