Artificial It
Writing to the test of the machine
One more set of experiments around text generation using deep learning, an exhibit presented at the occasion of the Printemps de la poésie by the gallery Le Cabanon at the University of Lausanne. The show also included the interactive page « Pastiches & mélanges ».
The texts presented here fit into three categories: Logisms gathers words generated or inspired by a network trained on the CNRTL dictionary (and then translated); “to begin with…” as well as the Lumps are the result of a three-pronged trajectory, a) the slow elaboration of the still subterranean corpus It I-VI, b) the training of a network on this corpus and the generation of raw texts, c) the rewriting (and translation) of the finished texts; finally, an essay pertaining some encountered issues and questions, that can be read in parallel with this one.
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Artificial It is composed of four parts:
- Artificial It
- Lumps I-VII
- Logisms
- “to begin with…”
As well as an essay, “Writing and its Double”.
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All my gratitude to Colin Pahlisch for inviting me to participate in the Printemps de la Poésie in Lausanne, as well as Monica Unser and Rafael Santianez, co-curators of Le Cabanon, as well as the rest of the team, Marie, Clarissa, Letizia, Chloé, Janett, Lucas and Sébastien, for their enthusiasm and the impeccable professionalism they showed during the development of this project. I am also grateful to Rebecca Aston, Clément Hongler and Jacob Menick for their support and sorcery. None of this would exist without them, thank you!
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2020 Update: « exist digressively » exhibited in a metro station in Stockholm by Text Type Light.
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2021 Update: “Artificial It” exhibited in Helsinki as part of the exhibit Kirjasto/Library. All my thanks to Jonni Korhonen, as well as to the whole curatorial team (Chih Tung Lin, Noora Lehtovuori & Ria Andrews), whose work and support made this exhibition possible.
Photos: Noora Lehtovuori