In this contemporary retelling of the myth of Medusa, Elaine Hoey trains an artificial intelligence (AI) model with multiple narratives surrounding the ancient tale.
Combining classical literature, academic text, fiction and personal writings, the AI shapes new narratives that question violence towards women and the negative representation of the ‘monstrous’ female body. This work evokes the spirit of both living and dead feminists philosophers and writers, such as Donna Haraway, Octivia Butler, Hannah Arendt, Helene Cixous, Gloria Steinem and Judith Butler by sampling speech, accent, tone, timbre and combing their voices, via AI, to create a powerful single narrator calling out across the ages.
Over the centuries the female body has been a battlefield of diverging ideologies, biopolitical control, values and violence. It is seen as reproductive, sexual, as property, a place of purity, as Eve and the Virgin Mary. Ultimately the monstrous feminine can be reclaimed as a site to challenge patriarchal power, subvert traditional ideals of the female form and amplify voices to highlight systemic gender violence within society.
Running time: 7 minutes 10 seconds
Elaine Hoey
Bone of What Absent Thing
Elaine Hoey
Bone of What Absent Thing
Elaine Hoey
Elaine Hoey works mainly in creating interactive based installations, appropriating contemporary digital art practices and aesthetics to explore the politics of digital humanity and our evolving relationship with the screen. She describes her process as ‘experimental’ and is interested in exploring digitally native and new forms of art. Her work often addresses and critiques themes arising from identity, place and the biopolitical body. She works through a wide variety of mediums such as, virtual reality, artificial intelligent systems, programming, video, installation and live remote cyber performance.
