Isabella Lee Arturo
Tabula Rasa
Performance and Installation, 2023
Tabula Rasa is a transdisciplinary project that involves texts, drawings, an installation, a performance and Generative AI.
The project explores three main phenomena:
- The resistance to forced silencing and censorship
- The loss of information through the processes of translation and interpretation
- The symbolic rupture of grieve and trauma
The performance consists of a live drawing that the artist makes on the floor, while attempting to verbally express a message. This message is recorded with a wireless microphone and transmitted to a program that activates audio files in a database. The program is designed to trigger different phrases based on the volume of the artist’s voice, giving the impression of a machine translating the message. However, the translation is far from perfect, resulting in a gibberish cacophony that overpowers the original message.
Initially, the blackboard paper was intended only as a support for the diagrams made during the two acts, but later it transformed into an interactive art installation piece. During the performance, it serves as a stage, a delimitation between the artist and the audience. After the performance in Ars Electronica 2023, it was displayed on the wall, as a witness of the past encounter. This post-performance archiving method brings a contrast between the enduring nature of installation media and the ephemeral nature of the performative artwork.
