Lorem
The codified order of things: Realitiy as narrative and aesthetic challenge.
Deconstruction seems to be one of your biggest go to's. How would you describe your work?
I am fascinated by intricately structured devices and complex representations. We live disorienting times, where it's almost impossible to reconstruct truth and to reason in terms of big picture. I think recent pandemic related events are a good example of what I mean: things are often way too much complicated to give a meaningful interpretation. As a consequence of such unstable scenario, representing phenomena is becoming a creative operation: if there's not a codified order of things, it's more a narrative and aesthetic challenge. I approach Artificial Intelligence within this framework, trying to deal with data through aesthetics. Every data becomes relevant when connected with any other, in an arbitrary way, and that's in a way liberating.
In Adversarial Feelings I addressed neural networks to perform emotions through text, images and video. The idea was to observe complex human behaviors from the outside, from a non-human perspective. At the moment, indeed, I am working on dream reports to produce some kind of explorations of transpersonal unconscious.
What is your message?
I have no precise messages I want to spread with my work. I would like to question the (boomer) imagery we have regarding AI and to Human-Computer interaction. The idea of and AI as a sentient being with his own intentions it's really dangerous. Because algorithms always respond to a programmer, who set them according to very specific (and often opaque) purposes.
Speaking of deconstruction: Did you get any inspiration out of the COVID-19 crises yet?
It's still hard to say, for me. It is an ever-moving scenario. On a personal level, my life has changed, just like the one of anyone else. And despite some nice gigs, screenings and exhibitions were canceled, I had the chance to slow down and to work on long-term projects, which is pretty rare and healthy. On a more global level, especially in the beginning, it was REALLY hard for me to collect all the data and to understand what was happening. Numbers allowed multiple divergent interpretations, and most of them looked quite well founded. Now I have my personal opinion about political implications of pandemia, but I must accept that such gigantic phenomena are beyond any exhausting understanding. And that's inspiring as well, somehow.
What are you top 3 favorite films and why?
Oh, this is even more difficult after speaking about COVID. lol. I try to pick 3 movies somehow related to Lorem.
1— Fire walks with me + Twin Peaks 1,2,3. I know Twin Peaks is not a movie, but the whole project is a monumental single film. Viewers are called to decode hidden correspondences and to move through many narrative layers. You have to question everything, and to suspect whatever. In this sense it is a really realistic film.
2— Children of Men. It's just a beautiful allegory of our times, and it's full of poetic gems.
3— The Matrix. Well, I think everybody is now aware that we all live in the Latent Space of the Big-Big-Big-GAN, and that's thanks to The Wachowskis.
If you would paint a horse for us - what would it look like?
like this (see attached image)
What historical painting moves you the most? (and why)
Carl Borromäus Andreas Ruthart — Adam Naming the Animals I saw this painting through a Skype call with a friend and collaborator, Mirek Hardiker. He has this big poster just above the sofa, and I was really fascinated since the very first time I noticed it. It's a baroque painting depicting the biblical episode of Adam in the act of naming all the beasts of Eden. It is visually stunning, as there are more then 100 incredibly painted animals, and it's a celebration of the creative power of Adamitic language. Language, in the act of naming, creates knowledge, and knowledge literally shapes the word. Once again reality is narrative and aesthetic challenge, and once again everything is connected, isn't it?
courtesy LOREM
interview FRANCIS SALVATOR
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