Kathryn Blair
The animated neural network is generating the image you see in the background. Click on a neuron to change its parameters and see how you impact the image. Your changes will disappear if you reload the page.
The images you see when the page first loads show how the output of the network has evolved as people added physical neurons to a sculpture at the University of Calgary in February, 2024. The parameters they set for their neurons were saved to a database that defines the network structure you see here.
This interface is part of a participtory art installation coordinated by Kathryn Blair. It is a neural network that generates the images you see in the background. You can click on each neuron (or node) and change its parameters to influence the image. Each time you change the network, a new image is generated.
It is paired with a physical sculpture of the neural network on display at the Taylor Institute at the University of Calgary. Visitors to the installation can add their own neuron to the physical scuplture and to the digital version, and see how it changes the overall image.
Secial thanks to Lora Oehlberg, Pil Hansen, Bruce Barton, the Curio Lab, and the iLab at the University of Calgary. It is part of Kathryn Blair's ongoing PhD research.
If you have any thoughts or feedback, please contact Kathryn Blair via email.
The Neural Net is part of an ongoing artistic and research project investigating how our societies use algorithmic decision-making. No data is automatically collected via the online version; people who visit in person and contribute a neuron can express interest in participating in an interview. The study is being conducted by Kathryn Blair, PhD Candidate at the University of Calgary, supervised by Lora Oehlberg. More information is available here.
This work draws on The Nature of Code by Daniel Schiffman Chapter 10 Network Visualization and Neural Network Generative Art in Javascript by studio ōtoro.