Latent Spaces is an immersive sound installation by Manchester artist Vicky Clarke that invites audiences to step inside the Aura Machine – an imaginary computational model combining spatial audio, sculpture and digital objects.
We live among invisible technological systems where algorithms and machine learning shape our daily lives, often in ways that feel abstract yet impact us profoundly. At the heart of these systems is “latent space” – a shifting data dimension where material becomes data, past meets future, and new machine languages emerge. Latent Spaces asks: what might it feel like to enter this environment? What does it sound like, and what meanings could it hold?
Inside the Aura Machine, audiences encounter a sonic composition of Manchester’s industrial past: mill machinery from Quarry Bank Mill, electricity, glass and metal, all processed through PRiSM SampleRNN, an early neural synthesis model now considered a relic. These sounds, layered with sculpture, drapes and moving images, create a dialogue between computational and industrial spaces – both sites of flux, invention and memory.
Latent Spaces situates our present moment in the AI hype cycle, asking how we might reimagine these hidden systems with creativity, ethics and ecology in mind.
Book here for a special exhibition preview on 23 October.
Vicky will introduce her artistic practice working in music production, DIY electronics, sculpture and digital art at SEESAW on 8 October at part of The Cultural Welcome.
