beta tales
what
exhibition
Galeria Salon Akademii
year
2024
2024
beta tales exhibition view (jakub wróblewski “untitled”)About
Using machine learning, Sebulec, Isakov and Wróblewski create a delicate gesture that transforms collective memory into collective imagination. "beta tales" consists of three open-ended narratives captured in the process, morphing, awaiting their first test. They cannot be touched, but in my fantasies they are perversely slippery, emitting a synthetic sound under the pressure of hands. Am I the only one who dreams of touching them, or do they desire my touch too?
(excerpt from curatorial text – full version below)
Andrei Isakov, Oracle, gaming experience, 2024
beta tales
Data has become a sensitive issue. Since it has become impossible to separate the digital from the non-digital, data has become part of us. Databases have taken the form of a digital collective memory, recording human smiles, sorrows and stories of success and failure on the disks of this world. Sensitive or not, their use can serve different purposes - destructive or constructive.
Using machine learning, Sebulec, Isakov and Wróblewski create a delicate gesture that transforms collective memory into collective imagination. "beta tales" consists of three open-ended narratives captured in the process, morphing, awaiting their first test. They cannot be touched, but in my fantasies they are perversely slippery, emitting a synthetic sound under the pressure of hands. Am I the only one who dreams of touching them, or do they desire my touch too?
Wróblewski weaves a visual narrative about tactility through an 18-part sculptural group made from airbags, spandex, lycra, vacuum and a mechanical metal arm. Although their abstract aesthetics mock my neurotic search for meaning, I speculate about their purpose – ergonomic armour, or perhaps colonnades enclosed in a cloud of material? The objects are based on visual prototyping using language models such as Python, TensorFlow and PyTorch, accompanied by projections of objects designed through deep learning.
With plaster reliefs of fairytale creatures with luxuriant manes or athletic torsos covered in scales, Sebulec creates a fantastical world that I want to inhabit. Expanding the universe he has built over the years, this time he conjures up characters created from a combination of ancient deities, algorithmic rearrangements and his characteristic fandom aesthetic. He queers the stony seriousness of mythological male figures with a delicate and soft masculinity that resembles the fur of anthropomorphic furry creatures.The starting point for the physical objects are graphics generated using Stable Diffusion. The title "Six Fingers, Three Tails" refers to errors and glitches in the generation process.
The last tale is a story of destiny, technocratic spirituality, or perhaps innocent play? The gaming experience "Oracle" created by Isakov is a contemporary oracle in the aesthetics of DOS. The desire to know the future has always accompanied us, regardless of the form of divination we entrust our fate to – be it the Delphic oracle, tarot cards, or the Co-star app. Oracle, influenced by hallucinations, answers our questions about fate or prosperity and leads an internal dialogue. The experience is based on a Large Language Model.
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jakub wróblewski “untitled”, 2024
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jakub wróblewski “untitled”, 2024
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Sebulec, “Six fingers, three tail”, plaster relief, 507x412 mm
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Sebulec, The story about lizard hero who was exiled for being too hot, 2024, plaster relief, 199x183 mm
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Andrei Isakov, “Oracle”, gaming experience, 2024
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Andrei Isakov, “Oracle”, gaming experience, 2024
Using machine learning, Sebulec, Isakov and Wróblewski create a delicate gesture that transforms collective memory into collective imagination. "beta tales" consists of three open-ended narratives captured in the process, morphing, awaiting their first test. They cannot be touched, but in my fantasies they are perversely slippery, emitting a synthetic sound under the pressure of hands. Am I the only one who dreams of touching them, or do they desire my touch too?
Wróblewski weaves a visual narrative about tactility through an 18-part sculptural group made from airbags, spandex, lycra, vacuum and a mechanical metal arm. Although their abstract aesthetics mock my neurotic search for meaning, I speculate about their purpose – ergonomic armour, or perhaps colonnades enclosed in a cloud of material? The objects are based on visual prototyping using language models such as Python, TensorFlow and PyTorch, accompanied by projections of objects designed through deep learning.
With plaster reliefs of fairytale creatures with luxuriant manes or athletic torsos covered in scales, Sebulec creates a fantastical world that I want to inhabit. Expanding the universe he has built over the years, this time he conjures up characters created from a combination of ancient deities, algorithmic rearrangements and his characteristic fandom aesthetic. He queers the stony seriousness of mythological male figures with a delicate and soft masculinity that resembles the fur of anthropomorphic furry creatures.The starting point for the physical objects are graphics generated using Stable Diffusion. The title "Six Fingers, Three Tails" refers to errors and glitches in the generation process.
The last tale is a story of destiny, technocratic spirituality, or perhaps innocent play? The gaming experience "Oracle" created by Isakov is a contemporary oracle in the aesthetics of DOS. The desire to know the future has always accompanied us, regardless of the form of divination we entrust our fate to – be it the Delphic oracle, tarot cards, or the Co-star app. Oracle, influenced by hallucinations, answers our questions about fate or prosperity and leads an internal dialogue. The experience is based on a Large Language Model.
jakub wróblewski “untitled”, 2024
jakub wróblewski “untitled”, 2024
Sebulec, “Six fingers, three tail”, plaster relief, 507x412 mm
Sebulec, The story about lizard hero who was exiled for being too hot, 2024, plaster relief, 199x183 mm
Andrei Isakov, “Oracle”, gaming experience, 2024
Andrei Isakov, “Oracle”, gaming experience, 2024