The medium is numbers : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Fine Art in Fine Art at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

Abstract

This text documents and expounds upon key works that began as an inquiry into the historic and contemporary role of technology in the construction of "alternate realities". Through always connected online tools aided by the promise and potential of emerging artificial intelligence technology, the computing device is becoming increasingly powerful and capable of constructing true, false, or something-in-between digital personas, identities, representations, and environments. This writing, and the works outlined within, embrace and critique the devices and software tools that are used to construct and experience digital fantasies. Usurping noninteractive media such as books, film, and television, the computer is increasingly becoming the gateway to fantastic transcendent experiences that seem real but cannot be. My works manipulate digitised “unreal truths”, expose potential social bias embedded into modern software image making tools, and positions the "thinking" or "discerning" computer as culturally articulate, dangerous, powerful, and capable of outlasting its human creators.