Lead by Oxford Regional Education Centre [OREC] teacher Matthew Aldred, students and the community have participated in a new was of creating art: by agreeing what art would be. Dubbed “collective intelligence artwork’ participants used a new form of computer programming that lets large groups make decisions, and that output is then turned into images the collective continues to make decisions on until a general consensus is made.

The result: a striking multicolored abstract artwork everyone agreed looks as it should.

Coding for the project was done by Dr. Lewis Rosenberg’s work with his Unanimous A.I. project and gave permission to Aldred to use the program for creating art. It’s a small step in the word of collective intelligence, Aldred said, and he feels someday people will look back at the artwork in Oxford as the beginning of something that changed the world.

“So far it’s been done in a game, fun predictive way, like who is going to win the Oscars.  It works, but how does that work. What’ he’s really interested in is how can you do creative, artistic ways,” Aldred said. “This is a world’s first. There’s been no collective intelligence art up until now.”

Currently, the creation can be viewed on the OREC website www.goldenbears.ca, and at Aldred’s personal website www.nexusart.ca. A digital display of the image will be projected at the school on March 21, before becoming part of an exhibit at the Oxford Riverside Gallery from April 29 to June 17.

To learn about the project or watch videos of the project’s development visit www.nexus.ca. To learn more about Unanimous A.I. visit unanimous.ai.