James Bridle

@jamesbridle

Artist, author of New Dark Age (2018) and Ways of Being (2022). Free Palestine, Protect Trans Kids, for ever and ever. / jamesbridle.com

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James Bridle@jamesbridle· 25d

Microsoft also asked me for a sample of my handwriting and signature for their graphic design. I demurred. That's why at the bottom of the article you will find a picture of a darkling beetle, drawn by my kid.

James Bridle@jamesbridle· 25d

For Microsoft's new publication, The Humanist Review of AI, I wrote about living on what feels like a different planet to AI boosters, the friends I've made over there, and the fatal limits of what they call "humanism".

Screenshot of text reading: "In January, the undersea pipeline which brings water to our island failed for the second time. There are a few old boreholes on the island, but the water they pump up is contaminated with saltwater and household waste. We were advised not to drink the tapwater, or shower, or brush our teeth with it. Fifteen thousand people, in Europe, on a small island, surrounded by ocean, without access to mains water, for months. Reading, as I often do, about technological advances happening elsewhere, and promising so much, I sometimes feel like I live on a different planet entirely."

Screenshot of text reading: "I am learning from the darkling beetle and the primrose, from the slime molds and the hyperaccumulators, how to be better at living in this world, how to be a part of its flow and its flourishing. This is more-than-humanist intelligence: it is embodied, relational and multiple, and it is ecologically beneficial, which means it is good for all of us, Lake Erie included. Any intelligence, artificial or otherwise, which acts in the opposite direction—which concentrates power and wealth, which demands ever greater amounts of scarce energy and water and requires the violent extraction of material from the earth, while degrading our natural, cognitive environment and our collective agency—is no intelligence worthy of the name."

James Bridle@jamesbridle· Jul 15

To make the map, we developed our own drone and underwater survey processes, and worked with scientists to ground truth large-scale satellite mapping data - an approach to art-science collaboration we want to develop further in the future.

A screenshot of mapping software showing a section of coastline with drone photographs of seagrass beds overlaid.

James Bridle@jamesbridle· Jul 15

We spent nine months surveying local seagrass meadows. Then we made a traditional taverna tablecloth map showing the seagrass alongside rivers, wildlife, and ecological info. Now we've distributed it to restaurants across the island for the summer season. Pretty damn proud of this piece of work.

A stained tablecloth depicting a map of Aegina, a Greek Island, in blue and white, with local seagrass meadows in green.

The same tablecloth on a restaurant table, with a moustachioed man and a wall of pictures in the background.

James Bridle@jamesbridle· Jul 11

Appropriate VPN connection selected.

A photograph of a flatscreen TV balanced on a pair of wooden chairs. The screen shows a VPN connection to Wembley, UK.

James Bridle@jamesbridle· Jun 5

Good morning from the roof, again.

James Bridle, a person with a mustache wearing sunglasses and work clothes, crouches on a rooftop of corrugated fiberboard panels, which they are in the process of screwing down. In the background: sea, blue sky, small islands.

James Bridle@jamesbridle· May 22

@dieworkwear.bsky.social this is a photo of John Craxton (left) taken by Joan Leigh Fermor. Please tell me where I can find these shorts, perhaps the whole thing. I will never need anything else.

A black and white photo of two men in conversation, leaning against a white wall on a Greek Island (likely Hydra). On the left, the younger man west's high-waisted shorts, and a dark short sleeved shirt over a white tee; the other wears turned up jeans, a wool (?) shirt, with a pullover over his shoulder, and holds a woolen cap.

James Bridle@jamesbridle· May 19

Putting the roof on our house.

A young man stands on the partially covered roof of a timber-framed building in the Mediterranean; bright sunshine, blue sky, sea and mountains in the distance.

James Bridle@jamesbridle· May 9

As a former participant in the Biennale, and an ANGA signatory, I stand in solidarity with the strikers in Venice. Powerful to see those who actually make creative work taking over the narrative from institutions and sponsors. anga.live hyperallergic.com/historic-str...

A poster of a red triangle on a black background reads: "AGAINST GENOCIDE. AGAINST APARTHEID. AGAINST RACISM. AGAINST ARTWASHING. I STAND I SOLIDARITY WITH ARTISTS AND ART WORKERS ON STRIKE AT THE VENICE BIENNALE."

James Bridle@jamesbridle· Apr 18

Sometimes (as I'm sure you're aware) they didn't even need to shoot... www.forcesnews.com/heritage/wwi...

A black and white photograph, with an Imperial War Museum watermark, of a Spitfire aircraft flying wingtip-to-wingtip with a V1 flying bomb, in an attempt to destabilise it and cause it to crash.

James Bridle@jamesbridle· Apr 8

And the swallows are back, coming at us head-height down the street, and whipping away over the rooftops, just when we needed them most. Τα χελιδόνια είναι εδώ!

James Bridle@jamesbridle· Mar 24

Rock rose and lavender and some kind of orchid. Collected lots of wild asparagus too. It's a good day if the little dog is all tuckered out.

Rock rose, or cistus: paper pink flowers with a yellow heart. Make great tea.

Lots and lots of lavender buds, out of focus and pibk/purple against the green.

An unidentified tiny orchid with pink purple flower growing our of winter ground.

Jack Russel and man in massive orange raincoat on a walking trail, from the river to the monastery wells and back again.

James Bridle@jamesbridle· Mar 19

No Genocide Pavilion in Venice. hyperallergic.com/the-case-for...

A black red and white panel reads: "I SUPPORT ANGA. Art Not Genocide Alliance. Artists, curators and cultural workers standing together. NO GENOCIDE PAVILION."

James Bridle@jamesbridle· Mar 13

James Bridle@jamesbridle· Mar 3

Raise high the roof beams.

Aerial view of a carpenter lifting 4.5m wooden beams into place for raising.

A tiled rooftop covered in roof beams waiting to be fitted, with blue sky and sea in the distance.

James Bridle@jamesbridle· Feb 26

Thinking about this too much, so just putting it here: a friend sent me this screenshot, saying "I don't know if this is fake news, but would be a great idea if real" and, yeah, that does look fake - those are AI-generated owls (this world, man).

A screenshot of an instagram story about a conservation project to make special terracotta tiles for building roofs in Spain which would enable owls to nest in them, except both the tile and the nesting owls are obviously AI illustrations. It has over 5000 likes.

James Bridle@jamesbridle· Feb 22

Drove down the Rhodopes today, from Bulgaria into Thracian Greece, passing through Pomak villages where goats surround the mosques.

A green-painted turban, the remaining topper of a Muslim grave, stands on a low white-washed wall, marking a desecrated cemetery, somewhere in the Greek Rhodope borderlands.

James Bridle@jamesbridle· Feb 10

I also learned today there was a large solar desalination plant built on our island in the 1960s, the size of a basketball court, or bigger. Look at that!

A black and white aerial image of a peninsula surrounded by sea. Next to a large orthodox church there is a large black, striped rectangular installation - a solar desalination plant.

James Bridle@jamesbridle· Feb 10

This evening I organised a workshop discussion in our studio around DIY solar water stills and other methods for obtaining clean water, because the local tap water has been undrinkable for two months, and people are angry, but also confused and scared.

People stand in front of brightly coloured wooden boxes with hand-drawn posters showing methods of DIY rainwater collection, solar distillation, and dew harvesting.

James Bridle@jamesbridle· Feb 10

Yesterday we made our first fitted insulation panel from seagrass and clay - the former gathered on the beach, the latter dug from the ground ten meters away. Local, sustainable, traditional, and vital materials we've been working to adapt to a modern, timber-framed, self-built, home.

Wooden studs frame a meter-high panel of brown-and-grey mixed seagrass and clay.

James Bridle@jamesbridle· Feb 2

Morning.

Several sheets of paper spread out on a desk with pencil diagrams, measurements, and numbers, labelled cutting guides.

A view of a building site, sunlight, sea in the distance, blue sky, with wood laid out for cutting and varnishing, and a slide rule and plunge saw.

James Bridle@jamesbridle· Jan 19

January 19th. The first Asphodel spears appear, flower of the dead, but sacred to Persephone, who will, in time, return the Spring to us.

White Asphodel flowers grow on a tall green stalk in front of a chainlink fence. In the background, olive trees, and the Mediterranean, beneath a cloudy grey-blue sky.

James Bridle@jamesbridle· Jan 13

The chair was built according to instructions I made for "benchmarking" AI. It involves asking an AI programme for the plans for building a chair, then building it. Previous efforts using ChatGPT and others have been mixed - see booktwo.org/notebook/ai-... and booktwo.org/notebook/ai-...

Someone sits in a wooden chair, shown from the waist down. Their feet dangle some distance from the floor.

James Bridle@jamesbridle· Jan 13

Here's the chair Grok designed, as built by my friends at Thingscon back in December. You're supposed to be able to sit on it. You can, sort of.

A man in a yellow sweatshirt perches awkwardly, his legs outstretched for balance, on a wooden chair which has large armrests but no apparent back. The chair is on a conference stage, with a projector and a presenter on a dais in the background.

James Bridle@jamesbridle· Jan 1

No cheating, reskeet with the most recent photo of your pet.

Lemmy, 2yo Jack Russell, pup who legged it off piste on today's walk, forcing me to descend over a hundred metres through thorn terraces and faceplant in a dry riverbed, snuggling.

James Bridle@jamesbridle· Dec 23

Amidst everything, a lone flamingo visited us today, on the shore just below our house. So we sat with them awhile, because they are the most magical of birds.

James Bridle@jamesbridle· Dec 19

Harvested mistletoe in the forest today. The Nameless Day approaches. Remember that everything is possible.

Pine trees frame a view over the mountains of Arcadia.

High in the towering pines, patches of misletoe glow bright green.

A person who knows nothing carries bunches of mistletoe on a long stick across their shoulder.

James Bridle@jamesbridle· Dec 18

... and the tinkling bells of a passing sheep herd.

James Bridle@jamesbridle· Dec 18

Writing all day in a near-empty village in the Peloponnese, the only soundtrack the screams of Greek Air Force jets doing low altitude circuits of the mountains...

James Bridle@jamesbridle· Dec 12

First public meeting for our energy community tonight: aphaia-energy.com Sometimes the revolution starts with a dozen people in a chilly studio trying to understand net metering, right?