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:

1. The resistance to forced silencing and censorship
2. The loss of information through the processes of translation and interpretation
3. 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.