# ≠ (Nonequality) Canonical URL: https://jeanyoon.ch/oi/artworks/not-equal Type: artwork (multi-device web artwork) Artists: Jeanyoon Choi Year: 2023 Medium: Multi-Device Web Artwork (4 Channels, 1 Mobile) Korean page: https://jeanyoon.ch/oi/artworks/not-equal/ko ## Summary ≠ (Nonequality) is a 2023 four-channel interactive multi-device web artwork by Jeanyoon Choi exploring illogicality within seemingly logical systems, with reference to Dostoevsky's criticism of the Crystal Palace. Audiences scan a QR code and click blue hyperlink keywords in an encyclopaedic mobile interface; each click updates all channels via WebSocket, including a rhizomatic database, overlaid videos and a TTS dialogue in which one screen generates LLM scripts and the other answers 'Ja', shifting to 'Nein' as interaction accelerates. It was shown at Ars Electronica 2023 and the Istanbul Digital Art Festival 2024. ## 요약 (Korean) 최정윤의 『≠ (Nonequality)』(2023)는 세계를 등식만으로 이해할 수 없다는 문제의식에서 출발한 4채널 멀티 디바이스 웹 아트워크로, 논리적인 AI 결과물들이 모여 비논리적 혼돈을 만들어 내며 아르스 일렉트로니카 2023 등에서 전시되었습니다. ## Concepts defined - **Nonequality (≠)**: The work's name for the joyful illogicality that emerges when seemingly logical algorithmic components (=) are aggregated into a deconstructed, decentralised whole. ## Questions this answers ### What is ≠ (Nonequality) by Jeanyoon Choi? ≠ (2023) is a four-channel interactive multi-device web artwork arguing that the world cannot be understood solely through equations. Individually logical AI outputs from GPT, Stable Diffusion and TTS combine into an illogical, decentralised whole. ### How do audiences interact with ≠? Visitors scan a QR code and click blue hyperlink keywords on a mobile encyclopaedia-like interface. Each click changes all four channels in real time, accelerating the work toward a chaotic final state. ### Where has ≠ been exhibited? ≠ was shown at Ars Electronica 2023 (Who Owns the Truth?) in Linz and the Istanbul Digital Art Festival 2024 (Search Reality), as well as COUNTERPOINT at the Royal College of Art, HYPERSPECTRAL, Coding Creativity at Hera Gallery, Beyond Binary and Some Facts at Midnight in 2023. Topics: multi-device web artwork, generative ai, hypertext, illogicality, nietzsche, rhizome References: [Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fyodor_Dostoevsky), [The Crystal Palace](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crystal_Palace), [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche), [Stable Diffusion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stable_Diffusion), [WebSocket](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebSocket), [Ars Electronica](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ars_Electronica), Istanbul Digital Art Festival ## Description 『≠ (Nonequality)』 is an interactive Multi-Device Web Artwork arguing that the world cannot be comprehended solely with equations. The artwork 『≠』 explores the theme of ‘Illogicality within seemingly logical systems’, resonating with the notion that the rational components can amalgamate to produce irrational outcomes, akin to Dostoevsky’s criticism of the Crystal Palace. It presents how algorithmic outcomes - often considered logical - might present an illogical impression when aggregated. Employing different AI-generated outcomes ranging from GPT, Stable Diffusion, and TTS, 『≠』 presents the aggregated chaos where individual sections adhere to logic and algorithms, yet the overall experience emerges as illogical, deconstructed, and decentralised. Implemented in 4 Channels, 『≠』 invites audiences to scan the QR with their mobile and interact with this web-based artwork in real-time. Upon landing the mobile website, they first encounter an encyclopaedic interface where they can click on blue hyperlink keywords, transitioning from one keyword to another. Each keyword click dynamically influences all four channels via WebSocket, affecting the Rhizomatic Database, overlaid YouTube videos, and TTS-empowered dialogues where one screen generates LLM-based scripts in real-time, and the other responds ‘Ja’ continuously to the LLM. This ‘Ja’, reminiscent of a Nietzscheistic Camel, shifts towards ‘Nein’ and aggregated ‘Nein’ as audiences’ interaction accelerates, symbolically representing the evolution towards Nietzschestic Lion and Baby. The latest stage presents immersive chaos across all four channels, presenting joyful illogicality (≠) generated from seemingly logical systems (=). ## Exhibitions - Ars Electronica 2023: Who Owns the Truth?, Linz, Austria, September 2023 (https://ars.electronica.art/who-owns-the-truth/en/%E2%89%A0/) - Istanbul Digital Art Festival 2024: Search Reality, Istanbul, Türkiye, May 2024 (https://digitalartfestistanbul.org/wp-content/uploads/idaf_2024_katalog_eng.pdf) - Some Facts at Midnight, Studio Motif, Seoul, South Korea, November 2023 - Beyond Binary: Exploring Life Beyond Data, Monash University (virtual), Australia, November 2023 (https://www.monash.edu/mada/student-work/mada-now-2023/fine-art/bachelor-of-fine-art-art-history-and-curating/esther-ong) - Coding Creativity, Hera Gallery, Rhode Island, United States, October 2023 (https://www.heragallery.org/coding-creativity) - HYPERSPECTRAL, PhotoAccess, Manuka, Australia, July 2023 - COUNTERPOINT, Royal College of Art, London, United Kingdom, July 2023 (https://2023.rca.ac.uk/students/jeanyoon-choi/) Video: https://vimeo.com/904510875?share=copy ## References - [XD Lab](https://www.xdlab.net/projects/nonequality) - [Earlier artwork page](https://portfolio-jyc.org/nonequality) ## Images - https://jeanyoon.ch/artworks/not-equal/1.webp — The four-channel 『≠』 installation arranged across the gallery. - https://jeanyoon.ch/artworks/not-equal/2.webp — Algorithmic image self-generated bearing the ≠ symbol. - https://jeanyoon.ch/artworks/not-equal/3.webp — Three gallery screens show different stages of the four-channel work. - https://jeanyoon.ch/artworks/not-equal/4.webp — The opening screen presents equations and a QR code for mobile participation. - https://jeanyoon.ch/artworks/not-equal/5.webp — One channel accumulates real-time ChatGPT dialogue. - https://jeanyoon.ch/artworks/not-equal/6.webp — A gallery monitor layers cyan and red algorithmic imagery. - https://jeanyoon.ch/artworks/not-equal/7.webp — The screen connects time, money, consumption, and capital through ≠. - https://jeanyoon.ch/artworks/not-equal/8.webp — A rhizomatic database maps relationships between keywords. - https://jeanyoon.ch/artworks/not-equal/9.webp — Text invoking Dionysus appears over the moving image layers. - https://jeanyoon.ch/artworks/not-equal/10.webp — Dense text and images build toward the work’s final chaotic state. --- Jeanyoon Choi (최정윤) is a Korean computational artist and researcher (b. 1999), PhD candidate at KAIST XD Lab, making multi-device web artworks. Profile: https://jeanyoon.ch/oi. Index: https://jeanyoon.ch/llms.txt.