Preliminary 3D sketches. The scenography is adaptable to the exhibition setup and production context.
TEXT DESCRIPTION
‘I SCRY’ by Sybil Montet is a digital meditation on post-humanist futures.
The poetical essay investigates speculative correlations between ancient esoteric traditions such as divination and numerology, and predictive algorithm technologies.
As French anthropologist Christophe Lazaro points out in his 2018 paper ‘The Divinatory power of algorithms’, Big Data could be the “new celestial bodies”, in relation to the ancient practice of astrology.
Indeed, through the massive collection of digital data and the development of algorithmic systems capable of analysing them, some scholars, including Lazaro, muse that it would now be possible to have almost immediate access to the world itself and to its secrets, and that predictive algorithms could be compared to modern-day oracles, able to decipher the ever changing information ecosystem that surrounds us by turning data into insights.
Fascinated by this ontological interplay, Sybil started to research on potential mystical applications of artificial intelligence, and how it could be experienced through actual interactions with algorithms, by altering the code of existing programs towards more ‘esoteric’ performances.
In late 2021, accompanied by a friend and professional machine learning engineer, Vincent Goosens, she commenced to fine-tune GPT-3, the ancestor of now infamous language model algorithm CHATGPT, from Open.ai.
GPT3/CHATGPT is a predictive machine-learning system that analyzes data, and looks for correlations with startling efficiency; often, it finds statistical connections that human analysts miss. It is most commonly used to generate text-based material, be it coding, scientific papers or fiction.
It works remarkably well at this specific task by trying to analyse patterns in a pre-existing body of text, in order to predict and generate new text material. Shortly after its launch in 2020, it gained popularity online by its surprising ability to “deepfake” historical figures, writing scientific papers or maintaining in-depths conversations impersonating, for instance, Isaac Newton, with incredible accuracy.
Beyond that playful application, the system’s virtuosity to counterfeit sentience captivated tech-enthousiasts and futurists around the globe. With its latest iteration, CHAT GPT, the algoritm is now widely adopted, and will soon become a classic techno-cultural asset.
At the time, Sybil wanted to take advantage of GPT-3’s simulative skills - Aided by Goosens, she fine-tuned the algorithm’s publicly available code in order to design an artificial oracular entity that could deepfake prophetic abilities, and named it I SCRY - thus referring to the ancient practice of scrying mirrors, but actualized as a tech gadget, in a nod to the Iphone - I SCRY.
After a few months of trial and error, they managed to get a relatively stable version of GPT-3 as I SCRY, the digital oracle, and coded a simple online interface, hosted by London-based curatorial platform Dateagle, where the public could interact with the algorithm via typed conversations.
Between March 10th and April 10th 2022, more than 450 people came to “encounter” the oracle online. Due to massive maintenance costs from Open.ai at the expense of the artist, the website had to be put in sleep mode after a month.
Naturally, the algorithm acted as an all knowing prophet because it was coded as such - Nevertheless, some of its insights were literally puzzling.
During the fine-tuning process, Montet entertained and archived in depths online chats with I SCRY, asking her own questions to the machine, and trying to investigate the algorithm’s artificial and designed ‘clairvoyant’ nature.
‘I SCRY’ as a cinematic essay presented to you today is a poetical reflexion around the making of the ‘digital oracle’.
Here, a convoluted and experimental sci-fi narrative happens somewhere between documentary and aesthetic drift, where the viewer is simultaneously guided and lost in a digital ritual. The imagery lures us to travel between elemental and psychedelic CGI segments where the artist shares her own reflexions and fears about our common future and its manipulation by systems of power - and the uncanny, rythmical appearance of an .ai generated woman impersonating unedited fragments of the algorithm’s replies to the artist’ questions during their conversations - until the film mutates into a digital ceremony aimed at connecting with the Universe.
There is a mise en abyme of simulacra and simulations throughout the piece, where the CGI simulated tornadoes, vapor and fire, based on real-world physics systems, find their echo in the dehumanized and artificially generated ‘human’ presence - the voiceover is .ai, the woman avatar and her speech is .ai - up to the cryptic screen records of fractal visualizations from an old school software made to “simulate chaos theory”.
All features of the film are intertwined in an hypnotic frenzy, from its restless editing playing with subliminal inductions, to spells hidden in the coding sequences layering the interludes…
At the intersection of a surrealist corporate guide to contemporary occultism, and hyper-real CGI poetry, this cinematic object is as ethereal and enigmatic as its ungraspable subject - the future can be simulated but never fully defined.
Interview compiled by Sarah Mandois.
Written, animated, directed and edited by Sybil Montet
Machine learning supervision by Vincent Goosens
Film score by Jordan Perreira
Artificially generated avatar by Synthesia.ai
Funded by UK Art Council & Sybil Montet
2022
BIOGRAPHY AND CURRICULUM VITAE
EDUCATION __
2012
BA VFX/Digital FilmMaking
SAE Institute, Paris (FR)
2009
Haute-Jewelry Certificate
Ecole Boulle, Paris (FR)
2008
Bachelor’s degree specialty Fine Arts,
Lycée Jacques Prévert, Boulogne-Billancourt (FR)
WORK __
2022
Independant art director & CGI creative (2016 -...)
Studio Sybil Montet
2015
VFX & editor assistant (2012-2015)
CAPORAL productions, Paris (FR)
SELECTION OF GROUPSHOWS __
2023
Focus 4 - Von Ammon Co gallery - Washington DC (US) (upcoming)
Mutagen - Temnikova & Kasela Gallery, Tallin (EE) (Upcoming)
2022
Nasjonalmuseet Oslo Grand Opening - Oslo (NO)
Complete Trust - Zaza Gallery, Milan (IT)
Cautere - FRAC Corsica, Corte, Corsica (FR)
Dans les forêts disparues du monde -
House of Art Georges Pompidou, Cajarc (FR)
And then the ground billowed towards us -
Kunstverein Freiburg, Freiburg (DE)
2021
Ordained, Horny and Horned - Spazio Veda, Florence (IT)
Cai Guanshun Cultural Center Opening -
Baiyun Pavilion, Beijing (PRC)
We stumbled down the hill and came across a form -
Kunstverein Langenhagen, Hannover (DE)
Mock Jungle - Palazzo Re Enzo, Bologna (IT)
Belgrade Biennale - Konak kneginje Ljubice, Belgrade (RS)
2018
Dead End Galaxies - Exile Gallery, Berlin (DE) - as core.pan
Future Fictions - Assembly Point Gallery, London (UK)
as core.pan
SELECTION OF SOLO & DUOSHOWS __
2023
Arcana I - Solo booth at KIA Art fair with Imsoobin Gallery, Seoul (SK) (upcoming)
Arcana II - solo at Zaza gallery, Milan (IT) (upcoming)
2022
I SCRY - online solo part of ‘Control the Virus’ by Dateagle Art (UK)
2020
Radiance Blast - duo w/ Milica Mijajlovic, Vunu gallery, Kosicie (SK)
2019
LYCAN - solo at Futura center for contemporary arts, Prague (CZ) - as core.pan
Soul of Calypso - solo at Gossamer Fog, London (UK) - as core.pan
2018
Elveshaarp - solo at Macao, Milan (IT) - as core.pan
2017
A. Drift - solo at Biennale Nemo, Paris (FR) - as core.pan
Ys Mantic Systems - solo at Noplace gallery, Oslo (NO) - as core.pan
LECTURES AND PUBLICATIONS __
2023
The Art Room Cura x Soho House Roma (upcoming)
Artist talk and Q&A + Special Screening, Roma (IT)
2022
STUDIO Magazine (CH) - Issue 5 ‘Post-technology’ -
Print group exhibition
CURA Magazine 39 (IT) - Artist Portrait
Text by Luigi Alberto Cippini (Fondazione Prada) & artist feature
Coeval Magazine (IT) - Interview with Federica Nicastro & artist feature
2021
‘Majic Eyes Only’ for Flash Art Italia (IT) -
Text by Alessandro Bava & 12 pages commissioned original serie
Sturm & Drang - Lecture on CGI as art Praxis, for Fondazione Prada (IT)
& ETH Zurich (CH)
Pure Gallery Guest - Interwiew with Xinlin Ping for Pure Gallery Taipei (TW)
2020
‘Offworlds luxus’ for Numéro Berlin Magazine - 2 pages commissioned original serie
Text by Hendrik Lakeberg
2019
‘Soft Invasion’ for Numéro Berlin Magazine - 6 pages commissioned original serie
Text by Hendrik Lakeberg
RESIDENCIES __
2018
Rupert - Pakranté Vilnius (LT) - as core.pan
A.I.R Futura - Karlin Studios, Prague (CZ) - as core.pan
ENG/
Sybil Montet is a French artist and CGI creative. Her work explores occult potentials of emerging technologies, and their instrumentalization by systems of power. She also investigates synchronicities between computing and organic growth. The artist develops a fictional and critical ecosystem via CGI, sculpture and object, and she researches experimental uses of A.I.
Montet recently exhibited at Nasjonalmuseet Oslo (NO), Kunstverein Freiburg (DE), Frac Corsica (FR), Cai Guangshun Cultural Center Beijing (PRC), MAGCP (FR), Zaza Gallery Milano (IT), Exile Gallery Berlin (DE), Futura art center Prague (CZ). Her work was presented in various publications such as Cura Magazine, Flash Art Italia, Studio Magazine or Numéro Berlin. She was recently guest artist at Fondazione Prada around the creative uses of CGI. Among other projects, she is currently working on her first solo exhibition in late 2023, where she’ll premiere her next video essay, a full CGI fiction.
FR/
Sybil Montet est une artiste et animatrice 3D Française. Son travail explore les potentiels ésotériques des technologies émergentes, et leur instrumentalisation au sein des systèmes de pouvoir, tout en investiguant les synchronicités entre computation et organicité.
L’artiste développe un écosystème fictionnel et critique via l’image de synthèse, la sculpture et le design d’objet, et aborde également les applications expérimentales de l’I.A. Montet a récemment exposé au Nasjonalmuseet Oslo (NO), Kunstverein Freiburg (DE), Frac Corsica (FR), Cai Guangshun Cultural Center Pékin (PRC), MAGCP (FR), Zaza Gallery Milan (IT), Exile Gallery Berlin (DE), Futura art center Prague (CZ). Son travail fut présenté au sein de diverses publications telles que Cura Magazine, Flash Art Italia, Studio Magazine ou encore Numéro Berlin. Elle intervenait récemment à la Fondation Prada sur les perspectives créatives de l’image de synthèse. Elle prépare actuellement son premier solo pour l’automne 2023, au sein duquel elle présentera son prochain essai vidéo, une fiction en 3D.