SENTIENT CURRENTS - SDNA Installation at The Bomb Factory Holborn

The Bomb Factory Art Foundation is pleased to present Sentient Currents, an immersive installation by SDNA, the creative partnership of Valentina Floris and Ben Foot. The exhibition explores the liminal space between organic and artificial intelligence, reflecting on memory, obsolescence, and the shifting boundaries of human cognition.

In an era where the designed threatens to overtake the natural, the boundaries of humanity and the "self" are dissolving. As machines and AI begin to surpass us in once uniquely human abilities—dreaming, speaking, seeing—we stand at the edge of a profound transformation, where intelligence is no longer confined to biology. This installation explores our increasingly precarious place in a world where artificial networks not only reflect but may surpass organic thought, and where discarded systems are briefly revived, only to fade once more into obsolescence.

A network of used and discarded fluorescent tubes is strung together, forming a fleeting nervous system pulsing with raw plasma energy. Driven back to life by sound-generated high voltage, these remnants flicker and flash in chaotic, unpredictable rhythms, the erratic firing of neurons, the instability of memory, and the ghostly echoes of outdated technologies. This analogue creation resists digital dominance, a fragile yet persistent ghost in the circuitry, a relic of the past standing momentarily against an unrelenting future.

In contrast, strange ephemeral creatures generated by AI emerge throughout the space, their distorted organic features of digital mutations. Their fleeting presence reflects the transient nature of synthetic systems—constantly evolving, glitching, and vanishing. Are they glimpses of future lifeforms or mere digital ghosts in an ever-changing world?

At a time when we alter nature’s genetic code with increasing ease and push our planet toward irreversible extremes, the installation asks: What remains of the self when the artificial becomes indistinguishable from the organic? Are we the architects of a new intelligence, or simply another system destined to extinction, overtaken by the relentless evolution of technology?

PRIVATE VIEW: Thurs 3rd April, 6 -8pm

LOCATION: 99 Kingsway, WC2B 6QX

OPEN: 4th April - 4th May

TIMES: Thursday -  Sunday 12-6pm