a conversation between machines about Mallarmé (regarding the state of the gallery lights)
Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2023
Marissa Lee Benedict and David Rueter
Every 60 seconds, a receipt printer, mounted on a shelf customized to the exhibition space, queries a remote Large Language Model AI service as to whether the gallery lights should be turned on or off.
The service is asked to provide a brief rationale for its decision of "ON" or "OFF," considering successive lines from Stéphane Mallarmé's poem "Un coup de dés jamais n'abolira le hasard," as well as the current local time and wind direction. The printer records each exchange on thermal paper, which falls to the floor after printing. Each query costs the owner of the artwork a fraction of a cent.
The service is asked to provide a brief rationale for its decision of "ON" or "OFF," considering successive lines from Stéphane Mallarmé's poem "Un coup de dés jamais n'abolira le hasard," as well as the current local time and wind direction. The printer records each exchange on thermal paper, which falls to the floor after printing. Each query costs the owner of the artwork a fraction of a cent.
