TouchDesigner

repost STAR VALLEY (SIRIUS), 2016
Matthew Biederman & Marko Peljhan .mx
STAR VALLEY uses two -gap in endless conversation, generating military operation and program nicknames through a network trained on DoD and NATO datasets. Each transmitter receives the same nickname but generates different descriptions, revealing how language shapes, and is shaped by, the machinery of secrecy.
The work pairs the earliest form of wireless transmission with then-emerging AI - this time a word RNN, prior to today’s ubiquitous LLMs - to interrogate the encode/decode cycle. Who controls classification systems when they become performative rather than procedural?
In the current geopolitical and national shifting in the US, the algorithm has been replaced by ego, zeal and disregard of the Laws of War. NICKA’s randomization dissolved into names designed to intimidate, to brand, to sell. In 2001: NOBLE EAGLE. ENDURING FREEDOM. The nicknames of visible events were always also used to communicate them to the public, but there has been a visible shift in 2025 and 2026. “EPIC FURY”continues in Iran, “SOUTHERN SPEAR” for Venezuela, algorithmic neutrality is now theatrical branding. Names that are focus-grouped for maximum cable news impact.
STAR VALLEY has been exhibited at Ozmoza (SI), (AT), and (BE) /
Created with the support of:
.council ENCAC,