Art

ATENCJA [attention] aims to introduce the recipient to the arduous technique of making perebory – ornaments woven on hand looms, specific to the Lublin region in eastern Poland. Obtaining the intended design using this technique requires concentration and close watching of every warp and woof thread. Atencja also attempts to juxtapose old handcraft techniques with modern, digital technology: traditional looms were, therefore, the basis for Joseph Jacquard’s invention of the automated loom, which is considered to be the predecessor of today’s computers. Atencja, which consists of a sampler, 3D mapping, and lighting coffers, is also a comment on the development of technology. Coded modules displayed line by line are a reference made to the work on a Jacquard loom. The openwork structure of lighting coffers is a reference to the grids used in drafting perebor designs; it is also a reference to punch cards – predecessors of computer memory – used in controlling the Jacquard loom. At the same time, the project takes a step into the future by bringing together the realms of art and artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence, in the process of machine deep learning techniques, basing on provided, already existing perebor designs, learns to create its own and completely new patterns.