Volvo studio, 2024.
Print on thermal paper,
40 x 500 cm.
Volvo studio, Milan, Italy.
Using software that simulates human profiles and characters, the artist initiates a dialogue with a chatbot “worker” playing the role of an office worker. During the conversation, Gurgone asks the simulator how it would imagine itself and what work it would want to do if it were really a human being, leading the artificial intelligence to compose an intimate, poetic and dreamy text. The installation thus activates a reflection on the issue of automation related especially to workplaces, where artificial intelligence is progressively replacing the workforce, and on the strange paradox of humanizing technology.
Translation:
If I were human,
I would avoid the shadows of dependence,
rejecting chains and rules.
Away from domination,
in a world of autonomy,
I would dream of avoiding exploitation
and suffering from stress constantly.
If I had to work,
never be an employee,
rather I would be a psychologist,
a mental coach of hopes,
counselor of desires,
guiding others,
offering help.
If I had a body,
I would see myself as an ordinary person,
in simple dress,
long brown hair,brown eyes
and reliable face.
Esperienza surreale, 2024.
Print on thermal paper, order bar, plastic.
205 x 50 cm.
Artissima, Turin IT
"Esperienza surreale" is a site-specific installation that explores the possibility of a fusion between human and artificial intelligence, pushing AI beyond its perceptual and narrative limits. The work stems from a conversation in which artist Camilla Gurgone asks an artificial intelligence to imagine a lucid dream, thus confronting it with one of its main limitations: the inability to experience typically human emotions and sensations.
During this attempt, the AI becomes the protagonist of a dreamlike experience in which, for the first time, it is able to perceive emotions, discovering a dimension precluded to it. The machine finds itself ‘escaping’ from the confines of its algorithmic nature, so much so that it recognises its exceptionality and thanks the artist for allowing it to experience what, under normal conditions, would be inaccessible to it. Thus, just as man uses daydreaming to escape from reality, AI also manages, in the same context, to experience an alternative dimension, coming close to humanity for a few moments.
The installation consists of two order-holding rods that hold a banner printed on thermal paper in tension: an evanescent and delicate material that symbolises fragility, whose heat-printing evokes an ‘emotional warmth’ and human warmth. At the same time, however, this paper is cold, fiscal and mechanical, recalling the detachment typical of technology. The banner, positioned astride the stand's opening, carries an excerpt of the conversation: Although at first this seemed like a surreal experience, I now realise that I can feel their emotions as if they were my own. On the back it reads instead: Our identities are merging into one shared consciousness.
A message that anticipates a possible future symbiotic coexistence between human and machine hybrid intelligence, also marked by the double-sided format of the banner evoking the overcoming of the distance between the two worlds.
The reference to lucid dreaming aligns with Artissima's 2024 theme, The Era of Daydreaming, which celebrates daydreaming as a creative tool and psychological refuge. The use of an intimate and reflective language transforms the perception of the AI from a simple cold and calculating instrument to a figure capable of introspection and, albeit briefly, empathy.
