Razstava glavnega nagrajenca za študentski intermedijski projekt festivala MFRU 2020:

MATEJA MIHEVCA

in

FARAH SARE KURNIK aka Liara T’Soni

6. - 26. november 2021

GALERIJA MEDIA NOX / Židovska ulica 12, Maribor

Kurator/avtor besedila: Maks Valenčič

Matej Mihevc (1995) je podiplomski študent smeri Video in novi mediji na ALUO. V svojem delu se na različne načine ukvarja z vplivom novih tehnologij na kulturno produkcijo. V preteklosti je sodeloval v številnih oblikovalskih projektih, v zadnjem času pa goji tudi zanimanje za različne industrijske procese in umetne materiale (3D tisk, oblikovanje plastike itd.) ter za strojno učenje in umetno inteligenco. Oktobra 2020 je na Mednarodnem festivalu računalniške umetnosti (MFRU) v Mariboru prejel glavno študentsko nagrado za svoje delo Latent space walk. Že peto leto na Radiu Študent vodi avtorsko oddajo Modem v kateri raziskuje internetno glasbeno podtalje.

Farah Sara Kurnik aka Liara T’Soni (2000) je ljubljanska vizualna umetnica, ki ustvarja na področju grafičnega oblikovanja in videa. Trenutno študira na Naravoslovnotehniški fakulteti, smer grafična in medijska tehnika. Oblikovala je že mnogo grafičnih podob aktualnih tako slovenskih, kot tudi tujih glasbenikov, glasbenih dogodkov in razstav, znotraj katerih pogosto prevzame tudi vlogo VJ-ke. Med drugim jo zanima eksperimentiranje z medijem digitalnega kolaža, v katerem gradi razne artefakte spekulativnih realnosti. Njeni interesi pa se razširjajo tudi na področja industrijskega oblikovanja in novih tehnologij, ki brišejo meje med umetnim in organskim ter vplivajo na pojmovanje človeškega. Sodelovala je na 34. grafičnem bienalu Iskra Delta (2021).

Zloženka:

Kambrijska eksplozija vmesnikov

Velika oksigenacija omogoči vznik večceličnih organizmov oziroma kompleksnih oblik življenja. Internet naredi iz informacije estetski dogodek[1], pri čemer ta s svetlobno hitrostjo potuje po medmrežju, povzroča množenje vmesnikov in posledično vstopnih točk v novo realnost.

Morda se najbolj bizaren element, povezan z vznikom interneta, kiberkulturo in proliferacijo novih tehnologij, tiče ravno njihove množičnosti, nepreglednosti in bizarnosti, ki se morajo kot ekološke niše najprej prilagoditi na informacijsko krajino in diseminirati lastni potencial in stanje – verzijo prihodnosti.

A ti futuristični zastavki se nikakor ne ujemajo s trenutnim mankom slednje. Ideja (ali mit) razvoja je še tu, a deluje mnogo bolj utilitaristično in racionalno. Namesto morja potencialov in nedorečenih možnosti se srečujemo z vedno bolj determinističnimi prijemi in prevlado neumne tehnologije[2]. Verjetno res drži, da so ideje anarhokapitalistične prihodnosti mnoštva kriptovalut, kolapsa nacionalnih držav in radikalno decentraliziranega UTD-ja bile nadomeščene z bojaznijo o tehnofevdalizmu in novih oblikah gospostva.

To nas privede do tehnike fiktivljanja (angl. fictioning[3]) in dela Mateja Mihevca in Liare T'Soni. S tehničnega vidika se je vsekakor vredno zazreti v prelom tisočletja in preverjati možnosti implementacije različnih tehnologij: pametnih asistentov, hologramov, kompleksnih vmesnikov, psevdo- (ali meta) jazov itn. Šele od pred kratkim, denimo zaradi razvoja jezikovnega modela GPT-3, si znamo predstavljati potencialno učinkovitost tovrstnega sodelovanja, a v imaginariju devetdesetih let prejšnjega stoletja in na začetku novega tisočletja podjetja s tem niso imela težav. Tedaj ni bila ključnega pomena tehnična izvedljivost, temveč vzdušje (angl. mood) in nova afektivna krajina, katere imaginarij in percepcijo so krojili znanstvena fantastika, milenijski hrošč in temačni zvoki novega začetka – nove tehnološke faze človeštva.

Poleg ekspanzivnejšega razumevanja človeka je ključno vlogo odigral prav novi občutek prihodnosti, novi mit, ki se je tokrat pojavil izza zaslona ter v trenutku spremenil naša pričakovanja in napovedi. A morda je prišel, podobno kot revolucionarna teorija (prepozno oziroma v tem primeru) prezgodaj in se ravno zato ni vkodiral v kolektivno zavest, v nizkodimenzionalni reprezentacijski prostor treniranega samokodirnika, ki bi iz vhodnih informacij končno naredil vibe[4] – torej novi fenomenološki horizont, kjer je proliferacija identitet in prostetično avgmentiranje ter preizkušanje novih prostorov (novih vmesnikov, ki bodo na novo izumili bistvo človeka), končno mogoče in sprejemljivo. Slednji človeka, če se tu dokončno navežem na delo Mihevca in T'Soni, ne le kibernetično preobrazijo, temveč vanj vdahnejo novo krajino, ga na nov način vržejo v svet.

Povedano drugače: če te do kosti ne prestraši, da *sploh* obstajajo objekti, potem nisi razumel_a ničesar. Pri kambrijski eksploziji vmesnikov zato ni osrednjega pomena funkcionalnost, temveč anticipacija prihodnosti, ki na podlagi samouresničujoče se prerokbe čaka na lastno uresničitev. Vmesniki Mihevca in T'Soni delujejo na ravni atmosfer, fikcijskih krajin, ki transformirajo naše afektivno doživljanje sveta, kurirajo naša občutenja in poskušajo v nas vzbuditi novi senzorični aparat. Ne toliko novih čutil, kolikor zmožnost nove zaznave, novega vkodiranja relacij med vhodnimi informacijami, ki na način informacijske kompresije generirajo svet, ki je bil pozabljen, čeprav kratek čas resničen in kmalu spet realen (ne pozabimo na resonanco med internetom 1.0 in 3.0 ter postopno smrtjo Facebook ere[5]). Kar nam torej najbolj manjka, na ravni želje, je ravno vznik nove prihodnosti; prihodnosti, ki bo delovala kot markovska odeja pred nevarnostjo kapitalističnega realizma, cinizma in normi sveta nasploh. Ali si res upaš stopiti v stik z vmesnikom?

Cambrian Explosion of Interfaces

The Great Oxygenation Event gives rise to multicellular organisms or complex life forms. The Internet turns information into an aesthetic event[6], where it travels at the speed of light across the interconnected web, causing a multiplication of interfaces and, consequently, entry points into a new reality.

Perhaps the most bizarre element related to the emergence of the Internet, cyberculture and the proliferation of new technologies concerns their multiplicity, opacity and the bizarreness which, as ecological niches, must first adapt to the information landscape and disseminate their own potential and state – a version of the future.

But these futuristic starting points by no means match the current lack of the latter. The idea (or myth) of progress is still here, though it works in a much more utilitarian and rational manner. Instead of a multitude of potentials and undefined possibilities, we are faced with increasingly deterministic approaches and the dominance of stupid technology.[7] It is probably true that the ideas of the anarcho-capitalist future of a multiplicity of crypto currencies, the collapse of nation states and a radically decentralized UBI have been replaced by fears of techno-feudalism and new types of domination.

This brings us to the technique of fictioning[8] and the work of Matej Mihevc and Liara T'Soni. From a technical point of view, it is definitely worth looking back to the turn of the millennium and examining the possibilities for implementing various technologies: smart assistants, holograms, complex interfaces, pseudo- (or meta) selves, etc. Only recently, for example due to the development of the GPT-3 language model, have we been able to imagine the potential effectiveness of such cooperation. But in the imagination of the 1990s and the early 2000s, companies had no problem with this. At that time, it was not technical feasibility that was crucial, but the mood and a new affective landscape, whose imaginary and perception were shaped by science fiction, the millennium bug and the dark sounds of a new beginning – the new technological phase of humanity.

In addition to a more expansive understanding of the human, the new sense of the future, the new myth, played a key role. This time, it appeared from behind the screen and instantly changed our expectations and predictions. But perhaps, like revolutionary theory, it arrived (too late, or in this case) too early, and that is precisely why it did not encode itself into the collective consciousness, into the low-dimensional representational space of a trained autoencoder that would finally turn input into vibe[9], that is, a new phenomenological horizon where proliferation of identities, prosthetic augmentation and testing of new spaces (i.e. new interfaces that will reinvent the essence of the human) are finally possible and acceptable. The latter, to refer definitively here to the work of Mihevc and T'Soni, do not only cybernetically transform the human, but also breathe a new landscape into her, throw her into the world in a new way.

In other words: if it does not scare you to the bone that objects *exist* at all, then you have not understood anything. The Cambrian explosion of interfaces is therefore not about functionality, but about the anticipation of a future which, based on a self-fulfilling prophecy, awaits its own realisation. The interfaces of Mihevc and T'Soni operate at the level of atmospheres, fictional landscapes which transform our affective experience of the world, curate our sensations and try to awaken a new sensory apparatus in us. Not so much in terms of new senses, but the ability of having new perception, new encoding of relations between the input information which, in the manner of information compression, generate a world that was forgotten, though briefly real and soon realistic again (let's not forget the resonance between the Web 1 and Web 3 and the gradual death of the Facebook era).[10] What we lack the most, at the level of desire, is precisely the emergence of a new future, a future that will act as a Markov blanket when faced with the dangers of capitalist realism, cynicism and the normie world in general. Do you really dare to come in contact with the interface?

[1] Manovich, Lev. 2007. Information as an Aesthetic Event. Predavanje. http://manovich.net/index.php/projects/information-as-an-aesthetic-event

[2] Morozov, Evgeny. 2013. »Is Smart Making Us Dumb?« The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324503204578318462215991802

[3] David Burrows in Simon O'Sullivan. 2019. Fictioning: The Myth-Functions of Contemporary Art and Philosophy. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

[4] Grietzer, Peli. 2017. »Deep Learning, Literature, and Aesthetic Meaning, With Applications to Modernist Studies.« Medium. https://peligrietzer.medium.com/informal-research-overview-deep-learning-sense-and-literature-with-applications-to-modernist-fc22f12858ae

[5] Murphy, Justin. 2018. »Ideology, intelligence and capital: Interview with Nick Land.« Vast abrupt. https://vastabrupt.com/2018/08/15/ideology-intelligence-and-capital-nick-land/

[6] Manovich, Lev. 2007. Information as an Aesthetic Event. Lecture. http://manovich.net/index.php/projects/information-as-an-aesthetic-event

[7] Morozov, Evgeny. 2013. “Is Smart Making Us Dumb?” The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324503204578318462215991802

[8]David Burrows and Simon O'Sullivan. 2019. Fictioning: The Myth-Functions of Contemporary Art and Philosophy. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

[9] Grietzer, Peli. 2017. »Deep Learning, Literature, and Aesthetic Meaning, With Applications to Modernist Studies.« Medium. https://peligrietzer.medium.com/informal-research-overview-deep-learning-sense-and-literature-with-applications-to-modernist-fc22f12858ae

[10] Murphy, Justin. 2018. “Ideology, intelligence and capital: Interview with Nick Land.” Vast abrupt. https://vastabrupt.com/2018/08/15/ideology-intelligence-and-capital-nick-land/

Otvoritev razstave, 6. november 2021, foto: Mitja Lorenčič