Exhibitions

Keep Smiling

Varvara Guljajeva & Mar Canet exhibition

Fundació Lluís Coromina – Espai Isern Dalmau
C/ de Mallorca, 305, 08037 Barcelona

From 9 November to 17 December

Timetable
Tuesday 17:00-20:00
Wednesday 17:00-20:00
Thursday 17:00-20:00
Friday 17:00-20:00
Saturday 10:00-13:00

Keep Smiling it is a piece that stages an online interview with the audience. When you click on “start interview”, the process performed by the Super Deep AI agent that is supposed to be an AI algorithm begins. The only thing that is evaluated is the index of a smile, which determines when a person will be fired. Through the interview, the system aims to extract the maximum benefit from the participant. In the end, the art piece incorporates a number of elements from the AI industry that illustrate how decision-making and work culture have shifted and how it is absurd that they are based on extraction and surveillance. For example, similar to what happens on Amazon, the artwork evaluates the “smile rate.” If the audience is below the established “smile index”, they are fired. Although it is difficult, if not impossible, to judge one’s happiness, AI emotion detection algorithms use exactly this effect in real-life applications. Keep Smiling it allows the audience to literally experience how fake AI is when it comes to detecting and encoding emotions.

Varvara & Mar

Varvara & Mar is an artist duo, formed by Varvara Guljajeva and Mar Canet in 2009. The duo’s work is often inspired by the digital age. In their practice, they face social changes and the impact of the technological age. In addition, Varvara & Mar are fascinated by artificial intelligence, kinetics, audience engagement and digital fabrication, integral parts of their work.