If the epitaphs are written by artificial intelligence (in a deconsecrated church)

It has already been exhibited at the Maxxi Museum in Rome during the exhibition Redefine the Boundaries, focused on relationship between contemporary art and artificial intelligence (on Italian Tech we had told it here). Now Don’t You Forget About Me is back in a frame that is perhaps even more suitable for her.

Until 15 July, the work of the collective Numero Cromatico is exhibited in the spaces of the Santa Rita room, in the deconsecrated church of the same name in Rome (it is in via Montanara): here, in the exhibition curated by Daniela Cotimbo in collaboration with Re: Humanism, an AI continually generates a series of causal epitaphs, some of which are read aloud to visitors. In ancient times, the epitaph was the commemorative speech recited in honor of war heroes after their death, and over time it has increasingly acquired the form of a short text to be used as a description of a person. According to what was explained by the Roman collective Numero Cromatico, the purpose of the work is also that of “question the viewer about the perception they have of themselves, on his memories, on his role in the world. “And the fact that an artificial intelligence does it, and that it does it inside a deconsecrated church, adds a further element of suggestion to the whole.

Precisely the characteristics of the exhibition space, full of historical-religious connotations, provided the starting point for the installation, consisting of a large screen and 3 fabric banners that simulate the large altarpieces normally present in sacred architecture, even on the occasion of funerals and other ceremonies; to complete the exhibition, the voice of the Bolognese philosopher Franco Bifo Berardi who recites some epitaphs, also giving the work a vocal dimension.

The potential (and risks) of AI
On the occasion of the exhibition at Maxxi, Cotimbo had explained to us that “the idea was also that of deepen the relationship between man and machine, between us and computers “and that” it was stimulating to do it right in the year of the pandemic, because artificial intelligences are also a tool to go beyond and to overcome borders “. However, understanding well what the potential is but also the risks of these intelligent machines: when we are gone, will they decide with which words we will be remembered?