Superconversation
Superconversation presents a fictional, AI-generated dialogue between SUPERFLEX and nine artists in the Jorn Museum’s collection: Asger Jorn, SUPERFLEX, Le Corbusier, Jørn Utzon, Pablo Picasso, Sonja Ferlov Mancoba, Per Kirkeby, Guy Debord, Troels Andersen, and Jacqueline de Jong.
The work springs from an interest in hearing what these artists would have to say today. How would they think of their practices in relationship to the present? Many of their concerns are still timely, such as Jorn’s interest in creating a “ministry of disruption,” Mancoba’s work with ephemeral materials, and Debord’s critique of media culture. Newly reanimated, the artists converse about the future of museums in a time of transformation and the need for a change in perspective. They debate the possibilities of building architecture that could be used by other species and discuss how this could affect humans’ understanding of art. Some of the artists propose utilizing materials and designs that are impermanent or change over time, while others want to preserve the traditional remit of the museum.
An audio work that brings these artists back to life using AI voice cloning technology, Superconversation is played on 10 speakers (one for each artist). Given the evolving status of current AI software, their voices are imperfect copies, suggestive of their actual voices but uncannily off—their accents are not quite right, their delivery is too even, their tones are unmodulated. Embracing the possibilities of new technology while playing with its limitations, Superconversation is an aesthetic and philosophic debate across time, a dialogue between the living and the dead about how we can imagine the future.
Placing the visitor in the center of the conversation, the speakers are situated on pedestals built from the wooden bricks that comprise the floor of the Jorn Museum. This flooring is set in bitumen, a viscous liquid that moves incredibly slowly. It is an uncontrollable substance that changes shape depending on humidity and temperature, so that the floor of the museum shifts unpredictably over time. In this way, Superconversation reflects not only on utopian ideas for museums, but also on the room that the work occupies.
