Verdi Square
from September 8th to October 1st
Discover the Unexplored
Bianchi Group takes you to Space
Immersive experience curated by OLO creative farm
In collaboration with Accademia Aldo Galli
Sponsored by Bianchi Group
As part of the
2023/24 Night Season
Gleam-X. the unknown space
Discover the unexplored is a leap of faith into the unknown, a journey to reach the new frontiers of knowledge. Man confronts artificial intelligence, experiencing its creative potential. Non-existent and surreal places are generated before the eyes of those with the explorer’s curiosity, leading them one step beyond the known to discover the unexplored.
The installation begins with a projection that embraces the spectator and, helped by the immersive sound design, draws them into the space. An avatar guides them in the investigation of the unknown worlds shaped by the artificial intelligence: at the end of the journey they will have the opportunity to interact with it by creating their own image through a prompt.
Discover the unexplored represents a small glimpse into the possibilities of artificial intelligence in the creative field, an opportunity to bring out a more informed thought on a much debated topic.
«It may be artificial, but it is still intelligence: the ability to read between the lines of reality, to react appropriately to stimuli, to adapt to external conditions, to cope with the unexpected and – as occurs in Discover the unexplored – even make it happen. Faced with the sharp and persuasive avatar that guides its viewers in the experience created by OLO creative farm with the contribution by Fabiola Porchi, one wonders if it is not human, even too human». [From the introductory text by Roberto Borghi]
The container outside will be transformed into an artistic work curated by Fabiola Porchi, in collaboration with the Accademia Aldo Galli – IED Network in Como, a course in painting and visual languages: the artist will play on the contrast between humanity and artificial intelligence.
Opening hours: from September 8th to October 1st
Tuesday and Thursday h 10.00-14.00;
Wednesday and Friday h 16.00-19.00;
Saturday and Sunday h 10.00-18.00
Free admission
The beauty of Gleam-X, the “cosmic object” after which the 2023-24 Night Season of the Teatro Sociale Como takes its name, lies in the fact that no one really knows what it is. Discovered almost by chance a few years ago, and entered lightning-fast into a cone of shadow, it made itself known for the intensity of its luminous emissions as well as the extreme difficulty in tracing its deeper genesis.
Gleam-X is, in short, a fascinating but subtly perturbing entity, just like Artificial Intelligence, a “technological object” that by now it is safe to say no one really knows what it is. In the case of AI, however, due to a sequence of alarms raised by its own “discoverers”, the sense of restlessness took over from fascination. The installation created by OLO Creative Farm on the occasion of the launch of the Teatro Sociale Night Season originates precisely from the threat that seems to loom over this mysterious technological object: how threatening is it? But most importantly, the farmers asked themselves, how mysterious is it and to what extent can its creative faculties emulate and override those of man? At a first stage, Discover the unexplored consists of an operation to test the expressive potential of AI: the result is an uninterrupted succession of childlike and visionary, sugary and delirious landscapes; in short, a sort of lysergic version of Disney’s imagery, At a further level, the installation is configured as a tool to familiarise ourselves with something that is not so foreign to us after all.
In fact, AI may be artificial, but it is still intelligence: the ability to read between the lines of reality, to react appropriately to stimuli, to adapt to external conditions, to cope with the unexpected and even make it happen. Faced with the sharp and persuasive avatar that guides its viewers, one wonders if it is not human, even too human, as its shrewd communication strategy would seem to suggest. The next level of discourse consists in juxtaposing, and perhaps recklessly contaminating, AI and DNA, as in the case of the external pictorial intervention by Fabiola Porchi, an artist who, since time immemorial, has been focusing her research on the close contiguity between the human dimension and the animal condition. It is a bold perspective, which could have the flavour of an invitation as well as of a warning, and that in any case can only be adopted by identifying the appropriate point of view: the one that allows one to encompass even what is artificial in the mystery of life.
Roberto Borghi
