HANDUO ZHANG - The building of the biblical Babel tower was disrupted by God by dividing the people’s language. This indicates a unified language among the people before building the tower. Such language must be extraordinarily efficient and accurate so people who communicate with it would be confident to attempt a project of such size.

As a media artist and an experienced idealist who is 26 years old, the idea of a universal language has been influencing my works for years. My bachelor graduation film »One« experimented storytelling with muted characters to erase the language barrier. My master’s project »Siro« works with EEG (Electroencephalography) data to create a mirror of the human brain-activities where the participants can interpret their consciousness and sub-consciousness from an abstract external reflection. My master’s thesis »The Concept of Universal Language« researches the history, the philosophical background, the technological applications, and the potential acquisition of such language.

While human beings are already co-existing with artificial intelligence, in order to not have a dystopian future as many cyberpunk literatures suggest, I believe that the key is in the realization of the universal language. With my recent works, I aim to have my audience imagine a future where the contextualization of biodata is no longer abstract but concrete. Such data technology could become a language that immediately speaks one’s mind. Such interconnection between humans has the potential to a great collaboration. In such a way, we can form a balance with the machines by doing what only humans can do.

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