The opening of the Lauren Anyone Home? visual art installation by Lauren Lee McCarthy took place on Saturday, March 8th, at the MOMus-Experimental Center for the Arts, as part of the 27th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. The event was introduced by Akis Salellariou, President of the Board of Directors of the Thessaloniki Festival, Elise Jalladeau, General Director of the Festival and Christiana Kazakou, curator of the exhibition. The film won the Human AI Art Award, a joint initiative of TELEKOM and the Bonn Museum of Modern Art and is presented at the Festival, in collaboration with COSMOTE TV, as part of the grand Festival’s tribute titled AI, an inevitable intelligence.
The audience was welcomed by Akis Sakellariou, President of the Board of Directors of the Thessaloniki Film Festival, who initially thanked COSMOTE TV for the valuable support and the organization of this exhibition, as well as MOMus-Experimental Center for the Arts for hosting the event. «Lauren Anyone Home? installation is a unique experience combining art and AI technology, while it is also part of the Festival's great tribute to Artificial Intelligence». As part of the tribute, we will deal with various projects and watch exciting documentaries. Above all, however, we will have the opportunity to question the human dimension vis-à-vis Artificial Intelligence." The General Director of the Festival, Elise Jalladeau, also thanked COSMOTE TV and the MOMus-Experimental Center for the Arts for their excellent collaboration: "We have the opportunity to watch this exciting interactive exhibition connecting art with Artificial Intelligence, which plays a special role in the great tribute of the 27th edition to AI. As part of this tribute, we have the opportunity to attend an exciting masterclass and watch short and feature films related to AI, while the special edition of the Festival and the beloved magazine First Shot are dedicated to Artificial Intelligence. All the actions of the tribute and the present art installation aim to rethink mankind's relationship with Artificial Intelligence," she concluded.
The curator of the exhibition, Christiana Kazakou, then welcomed the audience, thanked COSMOTE TV, as well as the Documentary Festival, the volunteers, the performers and the MOMus-Experimental Center for the Arts for their hospitality. Soon after, she gave a brief description of the Human AI Art Award. "This award was given for the first time to highlight how AI is changing our perception and creativity, and by extension our ability to create new technology. Lauren: Anyone Home?, which has received this award, inventively approaches Artificial Intelligence and in this context we present this installation at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. The artist examines social relationships through automation, monitoring through electronic devices and algorithmic life. Lauren Lee McCarthy teaches Design, Media and Arts at UCLA. Her undergraduate studies are in Electronic Sciences at UCLA and in Arts and Design at MIT in Boston, as well as her graduate studies are at UCLA in Fine Arts. Lauren: Anyone Home? combines the different fields of her studies. Within the context of the installation, the artist monitors as a human Alexa the participants' homes through smart devices. Microphones and cameras turn the place into a fully connected, smart home. Unlike ordinary smart home technologies, Lauren: Anyone Home? focuses on human presence. It balances between intimacy and privacy, while wondering about the future of human work, in a world that is increasingly automated," said Christiana Kazakou.
At that point, Lauren Lee McCarthy, who was connected online, analysed her work and the source of her inspiration: "The project started in 2017 when Alexa first appeared as a technology and I started putting electronic devices in people's homes who signed up. What does it mean to put AI in intimate places? How do we behave in these places? I was basically entering personal places by monitoring people's daily lives through electronic devices. I watched every single move in their home, watering the flowers, reading: any activity someone does in their intimate place. However, we do something better than Alexa: we focus on the humanitarian element."
She then clarified the differences between the installation presented in Thessaloniki and the one she originally had: "The version of the installation now presented at the MOMus-Experimental Center for the Arts is new, while the old one was available at the Museum of Modern Art in Bonn, Germany. In this version, the interaction taking place in a physical space, as well as the relationship between the audience and the artist, changed. Through the Lauren: Anyone Home? system, I challenge our relationship with technology. A futuristic house has been created where interaction takes on another role. Questions arise around technology; who guides it and what we might expect from it in the future" the artist asked.
"It is an honor to present my work in Germany as well as in Greece. And it's also very interesting to see how the audience interacts with the installation in different countries. I had the opportunity to work with local performers and see how they embody the role of a human AI. The way they embody their character into the role changes the whole project. In essence, they perform not only as Lauren, but as an anthropomorphic AI assistant who maintains his personality within the play. This whole composition is a broadened imaginary construction about who is behind the AI system, while raising questions about its ordinary function and the identity of its guide."
Regarding how her academic background was practically integrated into AI, Lauren Lee McCarthy said: "I studied Computer Science and Arts and it raised questions about social computing. The four years I spent at MIT, I wondered who these systems are designed for, and how they can be created. I am very interested in participatory performance because of the relationship I develop with the audience and how the interaction takes place in different social backgrounds. I think about how the performances I do through AI have been integrated into our daily lives. I am interested in these changes in the system, how we interact with it, what constitutes successful and failed communication with it. The questions that ultimately arise are: who builds these systems? What values do we use to create them? What role does gender play in their creation? What are their limits and what does it mean to be present?" concluded Lauren Lee McCarthy.
The installation will be open to the public:
9th -16th of March, from 10:00- 22:00
The interactive part of the installation will be open to the public:
-Sunday 9th of March: 11:00-14:00 and 18:00-21:00
-Monday 10th to Friday 14th of March: 18:00-21:00
-Saturday and Sunday 15th and 16th of March: 11:00-14:00 and 18:00-21:00
*Free entrance
