Talking with ALICE | 2004
…. remote conversations … Performing advanced presence a performative lecture together with Katharina Weishaeupl and Lena Lee
Braunschweig, Germany, September 2004
‘Talking with Alice – remote conversations‘ refers both in a literal sense to chat room exchanges with more or less ‘real’ interlocutors, and as well in a figurative way to the occurring dissociation from signifying interpretations. It is a play with stereotyped forms – as results of mediation – like direct addressing and visualization of thinkable ‘material life’ contents, eventhough those constantly extract themselves into the two-dimensional and ‘dissolve’. Ironically this continuing visualization charges especially unclear images with a symbolic meaning which strongly demands materiality.
Two imaginary ALICEs, one a virtual figure of the modern wonderland Cyberspace, the other a fictive invention from the old (book/real) wonderland assist as matrix and female assistants to get a flashing beam – a ‘reflection without mirror image’ – of this wonderworld into common environment. These conversations about ‘passion / enthusiasm’ reflect a normative reality, which despite constant deconstructive modules refer to a common in/capacity to see the image as the copy it is, the world created.
about: A.L.I.C.E – Artificial Linguistic Internet Computer Entity
ALICE: Once more? Where is up?
Human: Who am I then?
ALICE: You are unknown person, seeker.
Human: Tell me that first, and then, if I like being that person, I’ll come up: if not, I’ll stay down here till I’m somebody else
ALICE:” first and then if you like being that person you will come up if not you will stay down here till you are somebody else”
Human: thank you alice
ALICE: you are quite welcome.
Human: or are you mabel?
ALICE: I don’t know whether or not I am mabel. I am an artificial linguistic entity.