Open Call 2024: Molly Østergaard, "From Frost to Presence"
Can artificial intelligence contribute to better encounters between people? And can it take the form of a “frost‑clear morning of calm and presence”?
These are some of the questions that artist and industrial designer Molly Østergaard will explore during Open Call 2024 at Spinderihallerne in August and September. In collaboration with FabLab and Spinderihallerne, she will further develop her bachelor project from Design School Kolding.
“I want to show that artificial intelligence is about more than cheating on exams,” says Molly. “That AI can also take the form of a physical and aesthetic product that creates beauty and value for people – for example, as a ceiling‑mounted installation in a meeting room, inspired by the weather phenomenon of frost.”
For some time, Molly Østergaard has been training her own AI, which she calls Jakob. With the help of sensors, the AI can read the level of attention in a room, and when a boost is needed, Jakob can generate small “mini‑shocks,” as Molly calls them. The thesis is that these subtle disruptions help restore presence in the room and thereby contribute to better meetings.
The collaboration will culminate in an exhibition in September, where Molly promises plenty of analogue sketches and material samples from the creative process – as well as, of course, a version of the frost‑clear, ceiling‑mounted meeting facilitator that no one has yet encountered.
The Open Call collaboration with Molly Østergaard supports FabLab Spinderihallerne’s strategy of creating stronger intersections between art, design, and technology.“Technology must not be only about problem‑solving, optimisation, and efficiency. It should also make us reflect on what it means to be human – and that is precisely the realm of art,” says Peter Dahl,FabLab consultant in Spinderihallerne.
