Itziar Barrio

and Dan and (when some small metal is spun)
May 5 - June 9, 2023

New York, NY, May 5, 2023 – La MaMa Galleria is honored to present ‘and Dan and (when some small metal is spun)’, a video based project by Itziar Barrio involving the creation of a narrative using artificial-intelligence. The resulting grammar is a glitched, a subverted and at times incorrect one. The language of poetry prevails in the final text resisting logic and opening future horizons. Itziar Barrio’s solo exhibition will include and Dan and (when some small metal is spun) video, and related works. Barrio has developed this project as a member at the New Museum’s incubator NEW INC. This piece uses now legacy technology, GPT-2, a form of generative large-language Transformer model that was a predecessor to ChatGPT. The script was generated in collaboration with creative technologist Jared Katzman, by using an algorithm that mimicked an amalgamation of texts across three datasets: a collection of texts from the Cyberfeminism Index; a subset of Poetry books from Project Gutenberg; and a manuscript of poetry from the performer Candystore. Through alternating different prompts to the AI model and putting them in conversation, dominant narratives around labor and bodies become transfixed by the salacious and radical musings of the trained artificial-intelligent model. This unpredictable text has been then interpreted by Candystore — uncertain and vulnerable — while being filmed. and Dan and (when some small metal is spun) explores the idea of meaning - or the lack there of - between the interplay of the AI model, the script, and Candystore's interpretation. Using an earlier ancestor to ChatGPT, language models have shown and complicated what meaning looks and feels like, as so much of the conversations around ChatGPT is a misattribution of meaning around the affect of language. These systems are getting better at parroting meaningful and coherent language, but then at the same time we are quickly exposed to how quickly the AI shows its incoherence and lack of understanding. This video piece analyzes these themes and reminds us of the importance and nuance of meaning. When does it matter that the AI is coherent or incoherent? When does it matter for humans to be coherent and incoherent (not to mention incoherence is a politically powerful tool in a world of oppressive rationalization)? And how do we remind ourselves that at the end of the day, humans are who give these systems and other people meaning - it doesn't exist in objective truth.

For press inquiries, images and interview request, please contact the gallery at

lamamagalleria@gmail.com

and Dan and (when some small metal is spun). 4K video, 2022, 15mins 25sec

CREDIT

Director and Creator: Itziar Barrio.

Creative technologist: Jared Katzman.

Performer and Poet: Candystore.

Editor: Itziar Barrio.

Cameras: Erin Smith and Itziar Barrio.

Audio: Erin Smith.

Text written and generated in collaboration between Itziar Barrio, Jared Katzman and

Candystore using data and a generative large-language Transformer model (GPT-2)

Sustainably created garments by Timothy Westbrook.

Filmed at GUM studios, NYC, September 2021

Produced by Tabakalera

With the collaboration of GUM studios.

Many thanks to: Adonay Bermúdez, Carrie White (GUM studios), Jared Katzman, Candystore, Timothy Westbrook, Zachary Kaplan (Rhizome), Mindy Seu, Kat Mustatea, Sue Huang, C. Finley and the the New Museum’s incubator NEW INC Community.