Memory Draw
The title of the exhibition refers to the use of generative AI as a "memory machine." AI models extract information from existing cultural material during the training process, constructing a new historical archive. And when we probe inside this archive, asking AI tools to generate scenes from a specific historical period or place or to create something unique, the results are frequently too idealized or generic.
For me, using generative AI is a constant battle against these limitations of the generative AI medium (at least at present). The texts I wrote for this catalog describe the techniques I employ to push AI tools to generate more subtle, delicate, and ambiguous images.
The title of the exhibition also refers to a number of my works on paper from the 1980s, which are displayed as digital prints in this exhibition. These drawings were created following my emigration from the Soviet Union in 1981 (see the "Closed Word" section of the catalog).
Finally, the exhibition title alludes to "Memory, Speak," the title of a 1951 memoir by famous modern writer Vladimir Nabokov. The book covers Nabokov's youth in Saint-Peterburg before the 1917 revolution and his subsequent life in Europe after immigration.