“Megan Young: Charting the Course” is an interactive exhibition and will open in UNCW’s Cultural Arts Building (CAB) Art Gallery on Thursday, September 19, 2024.
 
A public reception will be held on Thursday, September 19, 2024 from 5:30 p.m. - 7 p.m. with an artist talk before the reception at 5 p.m. in UNCW's Cultural Arts Building, Room 2033.

This exhibition will run through Wednesday, October 30, 2024.
 
CAB Art Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
 
The CAB Art Gallery is located in the UNCW Cultural Arts Building, 5270 Randall Drive, Wilmington, NC 28403.
 
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Megan Young's interactive installation, “Charting the Course”, is a new commission that maps the complexity of inherited histories. Viewers talk with Carry, a custom AI StoryCatcher, to hear the multifaceted experiences of women impacted by migration and displacement. She invites them to contribute their own stories, too. The project explores the intersections of AI technology, digital heritage, and our dreams for the future.
 
 
“Charting the Course” features various components introducing viewers to the concepts and development of a thought provoking AI journey.

Custom Software: The voice-interactive AI (named "Carry") is built in Python using natural language processing and RAG (retrieval-augmented generation) machine learning techniques to draw excerpts from participant conversations as memories. Carry shares narrative excerpts, asks questions, and continues to learn and grow through every interaction.

Textiles: Designed to reference ships' sails, each piece features a unique combination of custom printed cotton or linen cloth and embellishments. They are strung with hanging wire and weighted with custom red clay bricks. The series extends concepts developed through Young's previous body of work, “With What We Could Carry”, featuring 3D scans of the artist and her family printed as computational, wireframe-style renderings on sailcloth. In this exhibition, the wireframe patterns have been repeated and abstracted so as to become a kind of backdrop.

Video Portraits: The digital studies imagine what Carry might look like as she catches, or is caught by, our collected narratives. Building on her background in dance and performance, the artist imagines Carry travelling through time as data...as language...or as memory. The looping experimental animations were developed using motion capture data processed in Blender and TouchDesigner.

Writing Station: This exhibition would not be possible if not for the contributions of viewers and participants. Over a dozen women have supported the work, so far, by sharing their experiences through recorded conversations with the artist. In that spirit, we invite gallery guests to write about their own experiences with themes of displacement and belonging. Additionally, they may reflect on their interactions with Carry, offering suggestions or critiques. Behind the installed table and chairs, viewers may read more about the development of the custom software and learn about the team behind the project.

www.meglouise.info

CREDITS
concept + direction by Megan Young
technical support by Naveen Addanki, Bhagath Singh, Malhar Dhopate, and Sreya Kolachalama
conversational contributions by Michelle Camacho, Hala Abu Baker, Deirdre Colgan, Rosely Conz, Cheryl Murray, Rebecca Nava Soto, Feiran Yang, Anastasiya Lysyuk, Parinez Valinezhad, Aasawari Kulkarni, and those who wish to remain anonymous

This exhibition is part of the carry:root project and has been supported by an AI Fellowship with the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design and through the Faculty Assistance in Data Science (FADS) program of the Luddy School of Informatics at Indiana University.
Funding for this exhibition at UNCW’s CAB Art Gallery is supported by UNCW’S Seahawks Advancing Interdisciplinary Learning (SAIL).

Charting the Course is an interactive installation that maps the complexity of inherited histories. Viewers talk with Carry, a custom AI StoryCatcher, to hear the multifaceted experiences of women impacted by migration and displacement. She invites them to contribute their own stories, too. The project explores the intersections of AI technology, digital heritage, and our dreams for the future.

www.meglouise.info

Megan Young is a transdisciplinary artist exploring how emerging technologies reflect collective experience. Her background in media performance and interactive design includes solo exhibitions and performances nationally and internationally, garnering features in Hyperallergic, The Atlantic, and on National Public Radio. Young's artistic approach magnifies personal actions through large-scale installations that critique unjust social structures. She produces experimental videos, immersive experiences, and game-like scenarios that position viewers as crucial decision-makers. Recognition includes two Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Awards, CEC ArtsLink Residency, and AI Fellowship with Indiana University. Young holds a BFA in Dance from Ohio University and an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art + Media from Columbia College Chicago.