Ecologías Híbridas

The Project

Ecologías Híbridas is an interactive exhibition that aims to highlight the ecological impact of Artificial Intelligence.

The installation consists of a dark room, illuminated by projections on the walls. Spectators can interact with a tablet, where they choose different concepts that lead to the description of a scene. This description is then fed to a local Stable Diffusion model, which generates an image that is projected onto the walls. Simultaneously, an amount of water equivalent to what a data center would require for its generation falls in the center of the room.

In this way, the goal is to make something as ethereal as the use of Artificial Intelligence tangible.

The project was created by Manuela Garreton and Martín Tironi, and was exhibited from November 2023 to March 2024 at the Centro Cultural La Moneda.

Visualization made for the exposition, showcasing the steps required to create Stable Diffusion.

My Role

My participation in this project initially consisted of providing advice and assistance on how these models work, how to calculate their ecological costs, and how to use them. However, four months before the exhibition, Manuela asked if I could actively join the project. Even though I was extremely busy, I was very interested, so I suggested involving Martin Bravo, a highly motivated student I know, and supervising his work while also supporting whenever I could.

In the end, I ended up helping to set up the local server, developing the inference pipeline with its respective backend, developing the frontend that runs on the tablet, configuring and debugging things in the installation itself, and preventing the entire installation from flooding hours before the opening using kilos of paper towels.