Siri-ous Psychodrame

A Participatory Performance by Lee Wells

Event : Saturday 6 October 2018, 7:45-10PM

“A séance brought people together and enabled them to face their fears. Women and men would sit in the dark in close contact, and they would have no idea what was going to happen.”

Darling Pearls & Co invites you to a participatory seance experiment. We shall attempt a form of techno-spiritualism by calling to Siri in a group setting in the hopes of discovering the ghost in the machine in a fun and carefree way.

In due time we will all have our own personal AI data-bodyguard but for the time being understand that Siri, the virtual assistant, although quite proficient in aiding us in our daily lives, is only narrow AI. These digital subalterns do not possess any qualities of self awareness. But can they make us more self aware and better question our own existence…

Keywords:
GLITCH
awkward
binary blob
traces
human machine learning
narrow AI
what do algorithms want
human experience
the meaning of life
Self awareness
The genie in the bottle
Your wish is my command

Beware the App-aritions!

***A computerised assistant that can help you manage your day to day life, built atop an artificial intelligence platform developed by the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the United States’ internal military research group. Siri, the startup building the assistant, is today announcing $8.5 million in venture funding.

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Lee Wells (b.1971) is a conceptual artist and writer whose work ranges from painting, drawing and photography, to video and new media. His work primarily focuses on systems of power and control in society and has been presented internationally for over 20 years. Venues include the Guggenheim Museum, PS1/MoMA, NCCA Moscow, 51st Venice Biennale, in addition to numerous universities, festivals, art fairs, and galleries. Wells was a co-founder of The Perpetual Art Machine, the video art community portal project (2006-2011), and founder of the alternative curatorial platform IFAC Arts which began in 1996. Wells splits his time between New York City, Athens and most recently London through an ongoing collaboration with Darling Pearls & Co.

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Siri-ous Psychodrame is part of Sophia’s Safehouse in an Uncanny Valley on view at Darling Pearls & Co until November 29, 2018.