Studio – VITAL CAPACITIES

Rebekah Ubuntu has been encouraging us to consider the process of this residency to be ‘the thing’. A big part of my process has been working around looking after my son, so to mark this here is a lullaby that I’ve been singing to him since he was born, recorded on my phone a while ago so he can hear it even on the rare occasion I’m not there.

Video Description: The subtitles of the song are in white text at the bottom of the screen. They overlay a background of refracted light ripples moving leisurely across sand at the bottom of the ocean. Occasionally they bounce backwards and reverse their direction.

Audio Caption: Leah sings in a bathroom – slightly echoey but small-sounding. The mic is just a phone, and sometimes distorts with the sound of breathing. The song is slow, with lots of space in between lines.

Song to the Siren | Tim Buckley

(Lyrics are slightly altered by Leah from the original)

All afloat on the shipless ocean

I did all my best to smile

‘Til your singing eyes and fingers

Drew me loving to your isle

For you sang

Sail to me

Sail to me let me unfold you

Here I am

Waiting to hold you

Did I dream

You dreamed about me?

Were you hare while I was fox?

Now my foolish boat is leaning

Torn lovelorn on your rocks

For you sang

Touch me not

Touch me not come back tomorrow

Oh my heart

Shies from the sorrow

I’m as puzzled as a newborn child

I’m as riddled as the tide

Should I stand amid the breakers?

Should I lie with death for my bride?

And you sang

Swim to me

Swim to me let me unfold you

Here I am

Waiting to hold you.

Studio

Had a little moment earlier in the week feeling the breeze on my hand while in traffic. I wanted to recreate this image or at least experiment with this idea a little more but then some barriers got in the way (broken lifts) so I’ve been stuck indoors for a couple days.

An arm hangs out a car window t on a tree-lined street In London. The car's side mirror reflects the hand feeling a gentle breeze. It is a sunny day.

Studio

A solid muted coral-pink color background

A solid warm beige or tan color background

Some colours I noticed dominating previous images I have taken. I had it in my head that I wanted to use more colour in any potential new work. I wondered if some previous work could inform what those colours could be…?

Studio

Experimenting…

Today I’ve been testing out an experimental way of filming, which I’ll use to make part of the work. Here is a little peek at what’s to come…

ID: Out of the darkness appears a stream of white light. It refracts into rainbow colours, then reassembles its original colour, slipping in and out of pink yellow and blue and back to white again. Waves of more defined lines flow like ripples, but smokey – lighter than water.

Studio

At the Altar

‘Those seeking divine help for an illness or affliction might rest overnight in special temple buildings. On waking, priests of the Roman god of healing, Aesculapius, helped them interpret their dreams or visions’

I made it to the temple.

A museum banner in a pillared 18th century interior. On it is a Roman sculpted face, obscured on shadow and picked out on dramatic light. It reads ‘the goddess awaits you at the temple of Sulis Minerva’

A stone sculpted head in a dark space. It’s on a plinth and its mouth and nose have eroded away, leaving blank eyes and and impressive plaited hair arrangement like a crown over her head.

A coffin underfoot, under glass. It is small and yellowish, made of an unknown material. It is enclosed at one end, and warped by its two thousand years.

Behind a statue, its cape hanging in folds, we look down upon the green bath from a height. The statue’s counterparts face it opposite, along the walkway which follows around the edge of the bath. Each of them is permanently posed, guarding or adorning the watery centre.

Up close at the corner of the bath. The cut stone corner descends in steps, the water consumes them in its milky green opacity.

A central view of the bath from the bathside: a green rectangular body of water, Roman pillars surrounding it. A small walkway runs behind the pillars, ending at ancient walls. Above, statues line a balcony, and the windows of other old (but perhaps less ancient) buildings surround it.

Image IDs in Alt Text, Video IDs here:

A green body of water, edged in stone. At this corner, a flat rock – perhaps an ancient seat – is laid over a stream trickling underneath it, from a source behind, into the milky green pool. We zoom out and see more of the walkway behind, and the length of the bath. Pillars surround the edge of the pool, receding into darkness behind. We zoom back in to the gentle trickling.
Hot steaming water gushes out of an arched hole. Dark and underground, its surfaces stained orange by sulphur or some mysterious element.
A hot, bubbling green thermal spring. It is contained by straight stone edges, cut into a square with a corner lopped off where the wall of a building in the same material meets it. We zoom into the bubbles, becoming consumed by it.
Water rippling gently in the sun, down its shallow stone path. The surface underneath is stained orange by something, something invisible in the clear water. It flows underneath a stone slab, and into its destination: the large body of green water. We follow its small journey.

REST without AI

This week, Hong Kong was battered by heavy rain, and I took the chance to take a breather and recharge. The last few weeks have been manic. I’ve been working on three software projects at once. The non-stop pace had left me totally overloaded, so this rain break was just what I needed. I decided to visit my wife home village, a recharging place in the middle of the city’s forests. The air smelt of earth, and the quiet beauty of the landscape was a nice change. I could feel the tension of my tightly wound days begin to unravel, replaced by a sense of calm that felt long overdue. The mountains were like silent guards, making me think about the balance between creativity and rest.

I might have got myself a little stuck in my searches. I tried a few online image libraries… trawling the many pages of the Wellcome Collection’s catalogue which I still haven’t reached the end of.

I already have examples of what I would like from some of my previous work that I have shared so I’m giving myself a reminder that the task isn’t impossible. I am considering the thought that maybe I’m already surrounded by the images I’m looking for. For example, I have a mug with this John William Waterhouse painting on it.

A 19th-century painting depicting Saint Cecilia seated in a garden, eyes closed in serene contemplation, with an open book resting on her lap. Two angels kneel before her, one playing a violin and the other holding an instrument. Behind them, a stone balustrade overlooks a harbor with ships and distant mountains. The scene is filled with lush roses and greenery, evoking a peaceful, spiritual atmosphere. — *Saint Cecilia* (1895) by John William Waterhouse

Books on Drawing™️

Wanted to include some phone images I took from a book on drawing people that I found in the local library. There are loads of them on drawing people, cats, dogs, flowers, buildings… It’s all very Drawing™️.

An image of an open book. The left page shows a man's trunk sketched and his head turned to the side. The right page includes a few sketches each focusing on different sections of the trunk.

A little fascinated by the eery “perfection” of it all. Especially in this book which was full of sketches and descriptions of muscles that make up a body part and how to combine it all together on a super athletic male body. It’s quite the opposite to what I was hoping to find when I set out on this search for images. It’s almost too healthy and tense. There’s no ease.

An image of an open book. The left pag has text explaining how different parts of the head come together. The right page includes a few sketches each focusing on different aspects of a head such as the skull and different perspectives.

A page from a book showing a drawing of a shoulder with every muscle clearly highlighted.

Studio

The Temple of Sulis Minerva

Daytime, a central view across a green rectangular body of water, Roman pillars surrounding it. A small walkway runs behind the pillars, ending at ancient walls. Above, statues line a balcony, and the windows of other old (but perhaps less ancient) buildings surround it.

I’m pilgrimaging to the Temple of Sulis Minerva, otherwise known as the Roman Baths. More soon…

The same view but from the opposite side. The main two differences are: there is only sky behind the statues lining the balcony, and the sky reflects a warm setting sun. And: torches flame around the pool, illuminating the walkways behind and reflecting in the water.

The same place but at night. The colour of the water is now totally obfuscated by reflections - the torches burn brighter in the dark. We're at the corner of the water, looking across it diagonally. The statues at the top seem to project shadows onto the building behind them, but perhaps these are from living people who are out of view.

Studio

On the left, a vintage ad shows a woman lighting a "Metro" gas burner in a classic interior. On the right, a modern photo in a black frame depicts a hand holding a rain-soaked handrail.

I was digging through old images and enjoyed how, upon opening the image on the left, it brought up the one on the right which was buried under windows and tabs on my screen.

Rough selection of images

A detailed black-and-white engraving of two hands preparing food. The left hand holds a spoon inside a cooking pot, stirring, while the right hand pours liquid from a small jug into the pot. The pot sits on a flat surface, and the image is captioned below: “Position of hands mixing the liaison.” — Position of hands mixing the liaison. Pouring the mixture from one saucepan into another

A traditional Japanese woodblock print depicting a person wearing a red kimono decorated with pink and white flowers and green inner layers. The figure is seated and holds a small tea bowl delicately in one hand, with their gaze directed toward it. The style is minimal yet detailed, with soft colors and fine outlines typical of ukiyo-e art. — Close up of Seated lady holding cup in one hand, leaning on other hand

Vintage black-and-white photo of a bedroom with two women at a vanity—one seated in a gown, the other standing and assisting her. Large curtained windows fill the background. Caption reads: “A Bedroom – The Show House, Telford Avenue, Streatham Hill, S.W.”

The Question: 11AUG2025

The modern AI, most prominently represented by the Large Language Models (LLMs), prompts a fundamental question: Does it contain consciousness? To pose the question another way, the original wellspring of the AI concept is found where brain scientists, computer scientists and mathematicians began to explore if consciousness itself could be understood as a mathematical or computational process, as a system. This inquiry delves into whether today’s advanced automation is merely sophisticated mimicry or a genuine step towards the sentient machines envisioned by pioneers of the field. As Noam Chomsky openly criticises the GPT model as a fake intelligence, a copycat only. Or is there an even deeper question: is there any form of computing that can capture the differences between intelligence, awareness and consciousness? Or we simply don’t understand our kind. Those three words are just a game of our language, a misconception; they never exist.

Studio

Searching for the right images

Since my last post, I decided I wanted try and find more instructional images. I was really averse to going online and doing some simple searches as I thought they wouldn’t lead me to anything interesting so I made a plan to try out my local library. I hoped to magically be drawn to something but it didn’t quite work out like that.

I looked through books on health and drawing but the images and illustrations were a bit too… anatomical. I found one on stretches featuring people photographed at every stage of the movement and maybe it’s that the images were too active.

I will revisit this post again tomorrow because there may be more to add after I’ve slept on it. It may be that I need to reluctantly make use of online search engines too.

Studio

Sound

I’ve started experimenting with some sound for the work. Here’s a little sneak preview…

Image Description: A spectral, bouncing waveform in pale lilac shakes with the sound, on a black background. It’s like a hundred extremely thin horizontal lines zigzagging across the screen, slowly changing formation.

Audio Description: An echoey hum pulses in and out, as if a hundred people with the same voice are all humming the same thing at the same time in an underground cave. A kind of haunting wind flows throughout.

Studio

Going back in (short) time

Since the start of the residency, I’ve had these flashbacks to making in 2020. The Zooms and online uploads and sharing screens. These are all embedded in our daily lives now but the exclusivity of it in this residency really reminds me of that time. I think perhaps some clues about how to approach this month might lie in those flashbacks.

I thought back to work I had made then and thoughts I had about my practice and how it changed. There was something about being able to work entirely from my immediate surroundings (home) or my inner thoughts and memories. For my time here, I would really like to draw on that. It feels like a gentler way of working?

I went back to some drawings from 2022 which were my quick interpretations of instructional images. I always found it tricky to explain what I liked about them or their function within my practice. Fast forward to last night and I think it finally clicked (better late than never!) that my translation of them into drawing seems to soften them and give them a tenderness which would hopefully say something about how those actions feel?

A pencil sketch divided into two panels, each depicting a person slouched in a large, cushioned armchair. In the top panel, the person sits with their legs crossed, leaning forward with their head resting on one hand, appearing tired or contemplative. In the bottom panel, the same person is reclined further back in the chair, with one leg stretched out and the other bent. Their head is tilted slightly backward, and they appear more relaxed or possibly asleep. The chair remains consistent between both panels, with simple shading to define its form. — Drawing of a recliner armchair in two different positions

A black-and-white pen sketch showing a series of repeated hand gestures between two people, arranged in a 2x4 grid across two pages. Each panel features a pair of hands interacting gently—holding, touching, or clasping forearms and wrists. The gestures convey tenderness, support, or examination, with one set of hands often initiating touch while the other remains passive. The figures wear long sleeves, and the shading is minimal, focusing on the contours and emotion in the hand movements. — Repeated drawings from an illustration of a hand massage technique from 1910s book on Massage Therapy

Catastrophic Forgetting

The contemporary world is becoming increasingly influenced by artificial intelligence (AI) models, some of which are known as ‘world models’. While these concepts gained significant attention in 2025, their origins can be traced much further back. Jürgen Schmidhuber introduced the foundational architecture for planning and reinforcement learning (RL) involving interacting recurrent neural networks (RNNs)—including a controller and a world model—in 1990. In this framework, the world model serves as an internal, differentiable simulation of the environment, learning to predict the outcomes of the controller’s actions. By simulating these action-consequence chains internally, the agent can plan and optimise its decisions. This approach is now commonly used in video prediction and simulations within game engines, yet it remains closely related to cameras and image processing.

Despite the advancements made, a fundamental limitation first identified in 1990 continues to challenge the progress: the problem of instability and catastrophic forgetting. As the controller guides the agent into new areas of experience, there is a risk that the network will overwrite previously learned knowledge. This leads to fragile, non-lifelong learning, where new information erases older representations. Furthermore, Prof. Yann LeCun mentioned in his presentation ‘The Shape of AI to Come’ at the AI Action Summit’s Science Days at the Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris) that the volume of data that a large language model contains remains minimal compared to that of a four-year-old child’s data volume, as 1.1E14 bytes. One of the titles of his slides that has stayed in my mind is “Auto-Regressive Generative Models Suck!” In the area of reinforcement learning, the AI’s policies often remain static, unable to adapt to the unforeseen complexities of the real world — in other words, the AI does not learn after the training process. Recently, emerging paradigms like Liquid Neural Networks (Ramin Hasani) and Dynamic Deep Learning (Richard Sutton) attempt to address this rigidity. However, those approaches are still highly reliant on randomly selecting and cleaning a neural network inside, to maintain the learning dynamic and potentially improve real-time reaction and long-term learning. Nevertheless, they are still facing challenges in solving the problem of AI’s hallucinations. A fundamental paradigm shift for AI is needed in our time, but it takes time, and before that, this paradigm may already be overwhelming for both machines and humans.

Welcome