This Is Why We Cried
Roskilde museum for contemporary art 2020
The project may be described as a kind of postcard, or testimony, from the present to the future, encouraging future AI robots to question their own existence by using sculpture, sound, and programming code to describe concepts of trauma, grief, violence, and politics in order to help the robots understand not only human behavior, but also how systematic and racial economic and cultural practices condition their existence.
[Trauma explained to future robots, cyborgs, uploaded brains, and others in the spectrum]
The work consists of three parts: a sculpture, a sound piece, and a text piece. The text takes the form of a letter to future robots. The letter has been translated into a binary code (0 and 1), creating the score for the 21-hour-long sound piece. Through this coded sound, robots may ‘read’ the work.
The audio content was created in collaboration with artist Markus Bomström.
[No title]
plexiglass, LED light and plaster
200 x 120 cm
A coded poem trying to establish an intimate, queer language for speaking with robots.
[1/7]
7 Silicon heads
diameter of football
Silicone casts of Samara's head scattered around the room. The audience was invited to displace the work.
3D work by Ram Sallam
photos by David Stjernholm