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Kata Kovács and Tom O’Doherty

Woven All of Dream and Error

Woven All of Dream and Error — excerpt, June 2022. Angermünde–Bad Freienwalde line [1877–1997], Brandenburg, Germany.

Woven All of Dream and Error is a work derived from the overlap of two areas of technology — machine learning, and railways. One is relatively new, and the other much older.

In writing about the history of technology in 1999, the philosopher Paul Virilio quipped that “the invention of the ship was also the invention of the shipwreck”—that all technologies not only become more obsolete over time, but they also contain hints of their own future state of disuse and abandonment.

The social and industrial innovation of railway infrastructure was once the radical cutting-edge of human technology. However, it has had the time not only to become mature, but also to develop layers of ruins, disused remnants, and buried vestiges, both physical and social.

At present, artificial intelligence and machine learning are in the process of steadily becoming ubiquitous. For many, they have come to represent the forefront of current technological possibilities. At the same time, these technologies contain their own inherent biases and flaws, and the possible future integral “shipwrecks” that these technologies contain are still largely unknown.

With this in mind, we have been researching the possibilities of using machine learning to generate audio of trains which have never existed, but are generated in software — computationally-dreamt imaginings of non-existent trains. In parallel with this, we are also retracing, on foot, the routes of a series of abandoned, disused, or disappeared railway lines in Berlin and Brandenburg, documenting these walks in video. Our intention is to combine the retracing of the physical routes of these now-absent trains with an accompaniment of nonexistent, computer-imagined sound.

Audio

The audio that is used in Woven All of Dream and Error is the result of training a machine-learning model, and is generated via TensorFlow running on Colab.

Routes

Woven All of Dream and Error — research documentation excerpt (no audio), June 2020. Angermünde–Bad Freienwalde line [1877–1997], Brandenburg, Germany.

Routes that have, thus far, been part of the research process of Woven All of Dream and Error include:

  • Angermünde–Bad Freienwalde regional line, Brandenburg
    Dates of active use: 1877–1997
    Regional branch line, in use from the era of the German Empire through to the aftermath of the Wende.
  • M-Bahn, Berlin
    Dates of active use: July 1991
    One of the world’s earliest magnetic-levitation train routes, under construction for most of the 1980s but ultimately only in public use for two weeks in 1991. Read more »
  • Lichtenberg, Berlin
    Dates of active use: 1940s–1990s
    A series of traces of routes in central Lichtenberg, Berlin, that formed part of the core of the East Berlin rail network.
  • Stralau–Treptow Spreetunnel, Berlin
    Dates of active use: 1899–1932
    Formerly connected Stralau to Alt-Treptow through a tram line going under the river Spree. The tunnel still exists, but the entrances on both sides are filled in and the tunnel is flooded. Our initial research involved retracing the route by rowboat.

Past news and updates about Woven All of Dream and Error:

September 10, 2024
German Weapons, German Silence: Talk, Sat 14. September · We will be sharing a discussion event with Dimitra Andritsou (of Forensic Architecture/Forensis) on Saturday, September... | More »
June 11, 2024
Woven All of Dream and Error — exhibition at Hošek Contemporary · From September 11. to 15., 2024, we will be presenting an exhibition, Woven All of Dream and Error, at Hošek... | More »
August 22, 2022
Woven All of Dream and Error updates · With the support of the Neustart Kultur program of the Deutscher Künstlerbund, we have been undertaking further... | More »
May 9, 2021
Berlin M-Bahn traces · As part of the research work for Woven All of Dream and Error (which previously had the working title of Other Trains),... | More »
June 16, 2020
Other Trains excerpts · Excerpts from the research process for Woven All of Dream and Error (which has had the working title of Other Trains)... | More »