‘Reasonable Music’ by Samson Young | Kochi Muziris Biennale 2022-23

Samson Young’s ‘Reasonable Music’ is an interactive environment with many parts derived from processing Scottish missionary James Legge’s 1891 translation of the Daodejing, a classical Chinese text often credited to the sage Laozi and written around 400 BCE.

An AI algorithm called Tensorflow is used to function as an auto-writing machine that produces and preaches new teachings.

These sometimes profound and sometimes absurd teachings are further translated into sounds, visuals and three-dimensional shapes.

Installed at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2022-23, the installation is constantly collecting data about the space, its atmosphere and sounds. Sandpits, like those used in Daoist temples for spirit writing, are used to etch these teachings.

This installation is co-commissioned by Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Art Jameel and The Burger Collection. Additional support by Experimenter

Video Lab Support- Kiran Nadar Museum of Art