Witnessed Theories

Witnessed Theories is an interactive installation that explores the relationship between memory, artificial intelligence, and strategic decision-making. It highlights AI’s role not as a passive tool but as an active force in shaping, distorting, and restructuring recollection—blurring the boundaries between human cognition and machine interpretation. At its core is a chessboard-like structure for two participants, where memory is not static but a negotiation between perception, logic, and algorithmic influence. The board acts as both a physical and conceptual space, where past, present, and speculative futures converge. As participants engage, they navigate fragmented recollections, questioning distinctions between organic thought and computational reasoning.

This interactive art installation visualizes the strategic depth of chess AI by translating algorithmic decision-making into kinetic motion. Suspended elements, reflecting strategic movements, shift vertically in response to patterns generated by the Minimax algorithm with Alpha-Beta pruning—techniques used in AI to evaluate optimal moves by minimizing potential loss and maximizing strategic advantage. Inspired by IBM’s Deep Blue, the system processes decision trees in real time, influencing the motion of the elements as if guided by an invisible intelligence. This fusion of computation and movement transforms abstract decision-making into a spatial, perceptible phenomenon.

The installation manifests as a lightweight, self-supporting pavilion—an adaptive structure merging architecture, scenography, and interactive storytelling. Functioning as both a sculptural object and an experiential space, it immerses visitors in a dialogue between spatial perception, digital logic, and memory. Witnessed Theories challenges the notion of memory as fixed or individually held, instead presenting recollection as a shifting construct—continuously shaped by technological mediation and collective interpretation.