In collaboration with Wasawat Somno and P.A.T.C.H.

Close Inspection From Afar
ETA Bangkok

This project uses the three-body problem as a metaphor to generate speculative fiction about global
relationships. Three celestial bodies represent countries and their distances reflect the state of diplomacy, when the bodies move too close, it suggests conflict; when they move apart, it represents stability or peace.

An algorithm calculates the distances between the three bodies and interprets them as indicators of current
geo-political tension. This data is sent as a prompt to a large language model (such as GPT-4 or Grok) which
generates a short speculative fiction about a possible future based on the current state.

The generated text is then used as input for StreamDiffusion, which creates a visual scene
displayed on the top of the screen. The bottom section prints or embosses the generated story and image, archiving each event as a record of “machine-written history.”

Each new event adds to the archive and becomes part of the next prompt, allowing the system to remember previous narratives and build a continuous, evolving story about the future.

A flower arrangement accompanies the installation, acting as a living decoration that grows or withers by the end of the exhibition. Painted in metallic tones, the flowers appear futuristic but lifeless, reflecting smaller nations that drift around the larger powers, present yet with little influence on the global scale.

Realtime system, custom software, mixed media, 3 channels, LLM; variable duration

Display installation by Studiogamma.b
Coding assisted by Palindroma