Circadian Bloom
Anna works with Artificial Intelligence to explore the ways in which we understand, categorise and interpret the world around us. Inspired by the botanist Carl Linnaeus, known as the ‘father of modern taxonomy’ for his work on naming plants, Anna is developing a new screen-based digital work on his concept of the ‘Flower Clock’. In his research, Linnaeus noticed that certain flowers open and close at different times of day, which hypothetically would allow us to tell the time of day using knowledge of these species. Using complex algorithms and a machine that can keep time to an atomic level, Ann aims to make the ‘flower clock’ a reality.
Through exploring a non-human way of marking time, Anna’s work also reflects on the re-connection with the natural world that many of us have experienced during lockdown. The work will launch in early July at Salford Museum & Art Gallery, before appearing across the city and internationally in 2021.
About the artist:
Anna is an artist and researcher who works with information, data, photography and AI. A core element of her work lies in the creation of ‘datasets’ through a laborious process of selecting and classifying images and text. By creating her own datasets, Ridler is able to uncover and expose underlying themes and concepts while also inverting the usual process of constructing large databases. Her interests are in drawing, machine learning, data collection, storytelling and technology.
Anna was one of 14 artists nominated for Peer to Peer, an exhibition organised and presented by Open Eye Gallery in Liverpool and curated by Lindsay Taylor, (University of Salford Art Collection) and toured to Shanghai Centre of Photography in 2019. Two artists were selected for new commissions for the University of Salford Art Collection: Anna Ridler and Wu Yue.
Image: Anna Ridler – Circadian Bloom (California Poppy) / work in progress (2021). Courtesy the artist