Angie Abdilla
featuring Uncle Ghillar Michael Anderson, Aunty Bronwyn Penrith, Eric Avery, Emma Donovan – with James Brown, Kieran Browne and Kirli Saunders.

The Edge State Library, Meanjin / Brisbane
Open 23-28th June
Launch 24th June 6pm

Meditation on Country brings together Indigenous knowledges and Western astrophysics through charting Creation time and evolutionary events. The talk will share the cultural and creative development process for the immersive experience generated through this artwork. Using scientific and cultural datasets with an array of early Machine Learning models to LLM models and trained through cultural programming protocols, this work uses foundational insights from the Indigenous Protocols for Artificial Intelligence (IP//AI) research developed over the past six years. We will explore how the artwork’s space and earth data visualisations and sonification interrogate technology as cultural practice and the role of resonance, language, and story within the context of evolution and Creation.

Supported by ANAT, QUT, ISEA International and the State Library of Queensland, made possible by the Imagination Residency at the ANU School of Cybernetics, Meditation on Country premieres at ISEA 2024 Everywhen, one of the world’s pre-eminent electronic art symposiums.

Angie Abdilla, Founder CEO, Old Ways, New. Photograph James Horan, Smith Journal.

Angie Abdilla, palawa is a Professor at the Australian National University’s School of Cybernetics, working with Indigenous knowledges, systems, and technology as a cultural practice. She co-founded the Indigenous Protocols for Artificial Intelligence network in 2017, and her research has been engaged with relationality, design, and technology as cultural practice, specifically within automation. Originally trained as a film director, her artworks are exhibited in documentary and installation formats. Angie is the founder and director of Old Ways, New, a culture and technology consultancy. She created the strategic design methodology, Country Centered Design, leading projects for the public and private sectors over the past decade.

Artwork Credits
Angie Abdilla palawa
Featuring Uncle Ghillar Michael Anderson Euahlayi, Aunty Bronwyn Penrith Wiraduri/Yuin, Eric Avery Ngampa/ Yuin, Emma Donovan Gumbaynggirr/ Yamatji and Kirli Saunders Gunai.
Composition and Sound Design: James Brown
Programming: Kieran Browne.
Astrophysics Consultants: Distinguished Professor Brian Schmidt AC FRS FAA FTSE, Professor Ghillar Michael Anderson Euahlayi, and Karlie Noon Gamilaraay (PhD).