Ki Ai Nirnur: Reinterpreting AI through Handcraft in the Visual Cultural Context of Bali

Abstract

The development of artificial intelligence (AI) has generated perceptions of its position as a threat to human creativity and artistic practice. This tends to frame AI in binary terms without considering the context and relationships between technology, humans, and culture. Hence, this study aims to examine how AI has been reinterpreted through handcraft and acquire meaning within the visual cultural context of Bali. Such a case happened through Ki Ai Nirnur by Putu Marmar Herayukti, not only as an Ogoh-Ogoh effigy artwork to deem negative forces (Pengrupukan) before Nyepi (Day of Silence), but also as a documentary film. This study employs a Visual Communication Design approach grounded in social semiotics and visual grammar, along with Fine Art readings on visual activism. Not only AI in Ki Ai Nirnur exists as a visual artefact that expresses technological intelligence, but also seeps through issues of human consciousness and responsibilities.