Upgrading Is Caring
Written on July 19th, 2024 by Dialekti Valsamou-Stanislawski
Upgrading is Caring
Sound and video, 2’23’’
2024
Description
Advertising spots from a possible future.
Together with ChatGPT and other more or less intelligent machines, we imagined an insurance company tailored to the hyper-productive tendencies that we perceive as “natural” in contemporary society.
The result is a world that is both human and non-human, where the uncanny becomes playful, entertaining, and thought-provoking at the same time.
Production Details
The project was sparked by an idea from Elena Vassila—a participant in some sessions of the Contemporary Art Workshop—who wondered:
“What would an accident between two self-driving vehicles entail?”
To develop the narrative and tone, I used ChatGPT, refining the AI-generated scripts into a set of three futuristic radio advertisements for “Junk Insurance”—a fictional insurance provider where overconsumption and upgrades are rewarded.
For the voices, I used various text-to-speech technologies.
Stock graphics, audio, and video assets were used to transform the radio ads into television commercials, which were then displayed as video art on an old Philips television. Finally, the playback setup used a 90’s Philips CRT TV that was hooked to a Rasbperry Pi via AV adaptors, so as to integrate it adequately and uncannily in the cozy feeling of the installation.
Video
A quick documentation capture of the installation:
To see the full video, please visit Youtube.
