Unfinished business Open studio with Alsino Skowronnek April 9th from 12 to 2.30pm with the friendly support of Montana colors SOUVENIR – Space for cultural and artistic collaboration Travessia de Sant Antoni 27 - 08012, Barcelona In previous centuries, artists would trace their inspiration to the time they spent in leisurely contemplation as they followed their own interests. For artist and programmer Alsino Skowronnek, his artistic source are computer programs. Through his programming work, Alsino has developed various machine learning approaches that produce templates which he uses for his visual art. Contemplation gives way to a kind of dreaming, but instead of appearing during sleep, the artist's surreal, subconscious images are produced by a form of artificial intelligence – one whose subject are his own paintings mixed with loose associations of thoughts. By adding concepts in the form of textual vectors to paintings via machine learning methods, the image develops into new directions and diverts to different degrees from the content and form of the original painting. How do machines interpret human input and vice versa? This question is at the core of this ongoing exercise. Alsino Skowronnek is a Berlin-based data designer, artist, map maker and producer of visual artefacts. He has collaborated with organisations around the world, always at the intersection of data visualization, storytelling and socioeconomic issues. His deep interest in making sense of data has somehow lead him from Economic Geography towards Interface and Data Design as well as - more recently - towards Data Art and installations. He is currently exploring how data can be used in storytelling not only as a carrier of information, but instead as a material resource to express affect and emotional meaning.