The exhibition consists of a series of portraits inspired by pop-cultural cinema of the 20th and 21th century which dealt with the subject of artificial intelligence. Portrayed protagonists – machines ask serious questions about the meaning of life, crack ironic jokes, ask for emotional reciprocation – constantly aware of their otherness. The artist is fascinated by the contrast between the emotional content of these words and the fact that they’re uttered by machines. Their words could have been said by anyone – if we only had a chance to meet our creator.

Marta Szulc is asking questions which tackle the subject of transhumanism, a movement supportive of development of science and new technologies (such as nanotechnology, biotechnology or artificial intelligence) for the purpose of improving human physical and intellectual condition. In a fantasy of transgressing biological limits or of creating artificial life or consciousness without God’s contribution, the eternal human dream of controlling life and death is coming true. An idea of creating a machine copy of ourselves, fully subject to the will of its creators, is probably doomed to fail. Such a conscious being could quickly achieve abilities superior to human ones or establish to us goals and values which we wouldn’t be able to understand. The subject of artificial intelligence is raising many questions about its further development and sbout consequences which humanity cannot predict.

Katarzyna Krysiak