New artwork exploring modern communication goes on display at The Exchange

Commissioned by Ikon and the University of Birmingham, with support from Birmingham-based Vivid Projects, Exodus has explored public perceptions of AI and reflections on media and technology as outlined in the work of celebrated Jamaican-British academic and cultural theorist Professor Stuart Hall.

Produced in collaboration with movement artist Chelsea Gordon, the artwork considers how developments in communication shift our behaviour in conversing with others. We need 2 tlk focuses on the haptics and gestures present in everyday phone use and the processing of information from the eye, brain and hands.

On each side of The Vaults a film shows a pair of hands in motion, the fingers bending and flexing as if typing on an invisible mobile phone keyboard. Through the variation in speed and intensity of movement, We need 2 tlk considers how technology mediates the tone and sentiment of the message originally conveyed through gestures of the body.

Opposite the entrance, Exodus presents a moving image installation comprising 13 mobile phones displayed horizontally to form the shape of a QWERTY keyboard. Each device displays three keys of an iPhone on-screen keyboard. Subtly, over some time, the key arrangement is distorted: each letter or symbol alternates between the Apple font SF Pro and a graphically rendered version that replicates the look of a handwritten letter. We need 2 tlk explores how we talk to one another and how AI mimics human behaviour.

This new commission is supported by the University of Birmingham and Ikon Investment Fund. It is the latest in a series of collaborations between Ikon and The Exchange, including Foka Wolf, Why Are We Stuck in Hospital? (2023) and Vanley Burke, A Gift to Birmingham (2022-23).

The artwork will feature as part of a key event at The Exchange on Thursday 25 July, called Opening Up. The event will be an evening of talks, exhibitions and creative workshops opening up conversations between artists and academics about artificial intelligence and the Stuart Hall Archive Project.

The artwork will feature as part of a key event at The Exchange on Thursday 25 July, called Opening Up. The event will be an evening of talks, exhibitions and creative workshops opening up conversations between artists and academics about artificial intelligence and the Stuart Hall Archive Project.

Dr Nick Beech, lead researcher on the Stuart Hall Archive Project said: “Our project aims to expand public understanding and engagement with Stuart Hall, so it is wonderful to see how Exodus has responded to Hall’s work on culture, media and communication within We need 2 talk. The Opening Up event will allow people to see the new commission, to explore Hall’s work for themselves, and to see how researchers and artists can collaborate.”

Linzi Stauvers, Artistic Director (Education) at Ikon, said: “Ikon is delighted to continue our partnerships with both Exodus Crooks and The Exchange; to present important new work, made in response to the Stuart Hall Archive, and displayed in a stunning heritage space. We encourage residents and visitors to the city to engage with the installation over the summer and to consider how developments in AI and technology have impacted our everyday lives.”

Opening Up is free and takes place at 18:00-20:00 at The Exchange, 3 Centenary Square Birmingham B1 2DR. You can find full details on the University of Birmingham website.

We need 2 talk is on display at The Vaults at The Exchange as part of the AI Futures programme, until Saturday 2 November. The exhibition is free. Full details can be found on the University of Birmingham website.