Cliffhanger

Cliffhanger explores the dynamic forces that shape both landscapes and media through the operation of a speculative “leisure machine” based on the penny pusher amusement arcade game. James Hutton’s foundational geological text “The Theory of the Earth” drives an artistic process that reimagines ideas of resource extraction: language from Hutton’s text is fragmented and reassembled through the actions of the leisure machine when played by members of the public. This creates a live input stream for an AI system that converts recombined language fragments into prompts to generate fake landscape images. Forming a counterpoint to these pristine AI-generated scenes, the actions of the leisure machine also drive an abstract film narrative and sound score composed from video sequences shot by the artists at a slate quarry in Finnmark, in the Norwegian Arctic, portraying a mountain landscape being prised apart and dismantled.

Cliffhanger is a collaborative project by artists Bruce Gilchrist, Svein Flygari Johansen, and software developer Jonny Bradley that seeks to communicate a complex narrative across artistic, environmental, and technological systems. The project proposes a combinatorial method and conceptual framework to explore accessible ways of discussing and responding to a rapidly emerging AI-driven culture intersecting with nature.

A Dissonant Landscape

In a cultural moment where the techno-optimism of the 1990s has shifted towards technological fatalism, AI has become both a coping mechanism and a negative symbol of environmental entanglement. Leon Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance illuminates this tension: while AI is often promoted for its innovation, productivity, and convenience, its environmental and social costs are frequently rationalised or ignored. This tension underpins the project’s conceptual inquiry and drives its critical engagement with contemporary socio-technical systems.

Cliffhanger frames its subject through cognitive dissonance, embracing ambivalence rather than attempting to resolve it, potentially leading to richer, more layered comprehension and artistic outcomes. Rather than treating society’s contradictory relationship with AI as a barrier, the concept becomes a generative tool for enquiry. It highlights the psychological mechanisms through which people navigate technologies that are simultaneously captivating and troubling, revealing the emotional and ethical tensions often obscured by technical narratives. This approach humanises the debate and opens a space where ambiguity, uncertainty, and conflicted feelings become productive material for creative exploration to bring depth and nuance to public engagement with emerging technologies.