Displacement: The Dark Side of the New Industrial Revolution

DISPLACEMENT

Displacement is an art exhibition and critical inquiry into the role, purpose and characteristics of the new industrial revolution. The rapid onset of technological change has seen artificial intelligence and robotics expand use-cases to such a degree that large sections of the current workforce have been or will be made redundant, laid off, sacked, or otherwise displaced. Displacement observes, however, that the rollout of algorithms, chatbots, robots, and androids is not due to an inherent dynamism hidden within the non-human entity but rather is due to a wealthy elite whose desire and cunning plan is to create a non-unionised and non-human workforce. And that, humans are being displaced by machines and neither government nor elite appear to have considered the consequences of a rapid social change that brings about an unwanted transformation. We appear to be travelling towards a nightmare scenario where paid employment for humans will soon become extremely scarce and as a consequence of this paucity of paid work, many more people will become homeless. Displacement is unafraid to explore this outcome seriously and displays what life is like when you run out of options and have to live on the streets.

THE SPECTRE OF UNWANTED TRANSFORMATION

The spectre of unwanted transformation examines the sudden shock of displacement through seven confrontational artefacts. Each encourages the viewer to develop their imagination regarding the robot rollout and to draw connections between artificial intelligence and human displacement. Moreover, the viewer is challenged to consider who might be financing the unfolding new industrial revolution. Who stands to gain from the deployment of chatbots and algorithms which replace unionised human labour with non-unionised robot labour? In sum, the spectre evokes a time of enforced change similar to those historical periods when great upheaval swept through whole continents.

THE REMNANTS OF CIVILISATION

A multitude of empty and abandoned properties which remain scattered throughout our neighbourhoods are the remnants of civilisation. At one time each property was useful and served a desired purpose; now all these properties exist beyond the perimeter of normal human activity. They are no longer homes or places for people to gather to socialise, to be entertained, to conduct business, to receive a valuable social service. Instead, these properties now exist solely as a lurid spectacle of wastefulness and mismanagement. Each of the thirty digital images conveys the essence of a society in decline. Most document vividly the senseless destruction of our national housing stock. Many of the artefacts utilise the zoom-in effect to magnify property details. It is this magnification that serves as metaphor for the close examination that is urgently needed to understand why these properties have been left empty to fall into a state of severe neglect and disrepair. Correspondingly, the remnants of civilisation draws attention to the consequences and after-effects of a wild west property market, which has emerged after many years of unrestrained real estate speculation. Which in turn has helped fuel a national housing crisis within Australian cities and towns because the material interests of property investors often exclude spending money on domestic dwellings for normal use. Any money that may have been spent on servicing the housing needs of the Australian people has been wagered elsewhere. Given the current stock market betting trends, that potential investment money may well have been staked on AI stocks. Lastly, the photographs have been sourced from the free online database, Empty Properties Register.

THE NEW INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Job losses. Mass layoffs. Workplace closures. Loss of income. Asset forfeiture. Eviction. The above six observations coalesce to form a clear picture of the consequences of the new industrial revolution. The rollout of mechatronic devices – such as a robotic arm – into production lines brought the first wave of displacement into our working lives. Then the arrival of artificial intelligence, primarily in the form of chatbots, brought the second. Presently, we are experiencing the third wave of the new industrial revolution, which is largely a synergy of the first two waves. We have now reached the critical point where robots can be operated by artificial intelligence, further removing human involvement from the cycle of production and service delivery. Displacement pursues this trend towards excluding humans to its logical end and explores the situations and scenarios that will very likely arise as the new industrial revolution penetrates further into our lives.

THE INEVITABLE RESULT OF PREDATORY ECONOMICS

The inevitable result of predatory economics presents the kind of economic forecast that you won’t see in the mainstream media. The seven artefacts expound upon the themes of the rapid increase in power consumption demanded by the rollout of AI, government disinterest in normal human affairs, collaboration between government and a wealthy elite that puts corporate profits before people, the use of non-unionised android labour to replace an existing workforce, the hoarding of empty properties for profit, the likely economic collapse that will arrive to further disrupt our lives and which will be fuelled by large bets placed on AI stocks and derivatives, and how the endgame of this sudden change will appear to many of us. In sum, the result is a dismal one for both middle and working class people.

THE HARSH REALITY OF HUMAN DISPLACEMENT

Photography can enhance our understanding of others by introducing an intimacy between observer and subject that may not otherwise exist. The harsh reality of human displacement accurately portrays what life is like when living on the streets. The fifteen photographs each show clearly the conditions of the most vulnerable within our society. The photographs were taken in the cities of Sydney and Melbourne during the period 2024 – 2026. For hundreds of thousands of Australians, this is how they must get by on a daily basis. Bereft of safe and healthy alternatives, the homeless sleep rough in doorways and along the edges of the city footpath. Should mass displacement occur, expect many more to be living like this.

THE ASSAULT ON CULTURE

The insidious nature of the new industrial revolution is that it is not purely industrial in nature. Artificial intelligence in the form of educational chatbots or in the form of algorithmic matchmaking has penetrated into areas of our lives that we ordinarily would not associate with the workplace. ChatGPT, among other competing chatbots, can write an essay that simulates actual learning activity and genuine creative talent, which in turn can be submitted to school or university in an attempt to trick and fool and deceive the essay markers. However, what is learnt is limited to how to phrase a question to, and how to set a task for, ChatGPT. No real cognitive or creative skills are gained by the student. Next, matchmaking algorithms are programmed by humans. What may appear to be an impartial match may in fact be a purposeful exploit of the matchmaking application. To fully grasp this, think of who you would not accept dating advice from and then imagine that same person inserting some code into the matchmaking algorithm. Also consider the ubiquitous surveillance camera which tracks your movements and which can now upload facial images into a live database, and without even asking for permission to capture and store your likeness. In sum, we have become so comfortable living with AI that a blind spot has been allowed to develop. Due to this, many of us have been unable to perceive what is likely to be coming next.

TO BE HUMAN IS TO BE MORE THAN MACHINE

To be human is to be more than machine and no matter how much displacement we suffer under or through, we remain human and utterly untouchable in our own unique way. Moving beyond accurate and truthful but nevertheless overly broad terms such as spirit and soul, the collection identifies seven aspects and/or qualities that illustrate what it means to be human. However, in order to portray the essence of humanness, Displacement has adopted a universally recognised human form that is both non-human and non-android. This is the form of the mannequin and the statue. The use of the harmless mannequin and statue, which looks like us but can never rule over us or displace us, serves as counterpoint to the android which can also be made to emulate human appearance, but which may arrive with sinister objectives and in turn take our jobs away or kill us.