Helen Knowles

The trial of Superdebthunterbot 2016 

HD Video with sound. 45’ 

Can an algorithm be held culpable for its actions in a court of law? In her ongoing project The Trial of Superdebthunterbot Helen Knowles explores questions of ethics and accountability in relation to the increasing, and often unseen, computer automation of our lives. The piece imagines a speculative scenario not too far removed from current practices in technology and finance. A debt collecting company buys up student loans and uses big data to ensure fewer loan defaulters by targeting individuals with job adverts posted to their social media pages. A chain of events leads to deaths in medical trials. What might the legal consequences be? At the centre of Knowles’s installation is a 45-minute film shot at Southwark Crown Court. Initially developed as a performance piece in 2015, Knowles collaborated with lawyers Oana Labontu Radu and Laurie Elks to develop and present prosecution and defence speeches. The Superdebthunterbot algorithm was a tangible defendant tried in the courtroom, housed in a transparent computer unit built by artist Daniel Dressel. TV actor Mark Frost (Poldark, Silent Witness) played the role of the judge, and the jury was made up of volunteers. The film shows this jury’s real-time and unscripted response to the case presented, through to their deliberations and delivery of the verdict on the guilt of the algorithm.  

Helen Knowles is an artist, curator of the Birth Rites Collection and PhD researcher at Northumbria University. Recent shows include; Hyundai Motor Studio, Beijing (2022), Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Alberta, 'Ars Electronica' Austria, (2020). The Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, NEMO, Paris, Hannover Kunstverein (2019) ‘Impakt Festival, Centro del Carme, Valencia, ZKM Germany, Zabludowicz Collection, London (2017). Knowles received an honorary mention in ARS ELECTRONICA Interactive Section, (2020). Her work is held in collections including The Whitworth Art Gallery & Tate Library and Archive. She began her PhD studentship at Northumbria University in 2021, under the guidance of Christine Borland, Fiona Crisp and Tehseen Noorani.