Shaman in the Loop, Vanderbilt University
Shaman in the Loop
Chalet Comellas
in collaboration with Clint Sleeper
Space 204 Gallery
August 24 - September 21, 2023
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Shaman in the Loop is a collaborative installation that features multiple interdisciplinary works connecting esoteric systems of divination and healing with algorithmic computations. Each piece expresses and simultaneously critiques our newly forming relationship with artificial intelligence by abstractly referencing machine learning in both formal and conceptual frameworks. This collection of works facilitates a discussion surrounding artmaking, auto-generation, and other forms of non-human intelligence, allowing the viewer to reflect on extensions of technology and how they intersect through a range of contemporary spiritual practices.
Similar in method to John Cage's use of the I Ching, or Book of Changes, to abstract and randomize his musical compositions and scores, all the works in this exhibition - paintings, drawings, video, and sound - are mediated through elements of chance, randomness, and indeterminate marks that operate in collaboration with code-based systems. The tension inhabiting these works lies within an absence of human intervention and interaction, suggesting an absence of community, an absence of the body, and an absence of a sentient knowledge holder. The installation is set in place to elicit questions from the viewer… and asks, if you "virtually" commune with your ancestors, who is the medium? If a sound bath is automated, where is the healer? Who is the Shaman-in-the-Loop?