You Only Have Seven Seconds: From Intimate Whispers to Shared Worlds in Participatory Data-Driven Cinematic Art

Keywords

Generative Design, Experimental Data Visualization, Computer Animation, AI Art.

Abstract

You Only Have Seven Seconds is a cinematic artistic visualization derived from an interactive AI art installation (ReCollection) that explores how machine intelligence can reassemble collective human memory through language input. Motivated by the artist’s personal response to her grandmother’s cognitive decline and informed by current research in Critical Dementia Studies that advocates for reimagining—rather than repairing—memory, the project collects and curates whispered, seven-second recollections and machine-generated image data from installation participants. These selected datasets are transformed into a generative visualization presented as a cinematic art using custom-designed AI systems and experimental visualization strategies. This paper introduces the conceptual foundations and technical development of this project, with emphasis on data collection, experimental visualization, narrative construction, sound design, and intelligent system integration. Through the design of artificial memory, You Only Have Seven Seconds constructs a dynamic archive of shared, ephemeral recollections for storytelling.