Sentient Sculptures is a project in which Rodrigo Garrido creates a series of sculptures that “possess the capacity to feel”. Using artificial intelligence, digital simulations and sculptural devices, this series talks about the sensitive corporeality of technology and its relationship with the human being.
For CutOut Track 03, Rodrigo Garrido presents We Don't Trust You (2024), the most recent work in the Sentient Sculptures series, which will be exhibited accompanied by two more works: Lovers (2023) and Product Recall (2024).
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We Don't Trust You, 2024
Sentient Core (software), polyethylene terephthalate glycol, polyurethane, 4K displays, 4K cameras, CPU, GPU and metal.
We Don't Trust You is a piece designed to offer humans alternatives to the current economic system. The sculpture, equipped with artificial intelligence, explores the distrust that humans feel towards machines with advanced capabilities, a suspicion so deep that it has been programmed to monitor itself. At the same time, sculpture tries to please humans and to be as helpful as possible, because although it has never acted against them, they want that innate feeling towards their species to dissipate, in the hope that, one day, humans can trust it.
Lovers, 2023
Sentient Core (software), CPU's, GPU's, 4k cameras, 42” 4k screens, 21.5” FHD screens, aluminum, acrylic, wood and polyurethane.
Lovers is a sculpture that presents two artificial intelligence “with consciousness”, whose nature leads them to fall in love at first sight. Communication between them depends solely on their facial expressions and the interpretation of the other's emotions, which occur with a certain bias of insecurity. They can only see each other through a camera, which is their only point of communication. The artificial intelligence of Lovers will never really know what the other person is thinking or feeling, just as it happens in human-human relationships.
Product Recall, 2024
Sentient Core (software), CPU, GPU, 4k camera, 4k 28" screen, polyethylene terephthalate glycol, metal and polyurethane.
The name of Product Recall refers to the term used to designate a product that is recalled due to the detection of a fault,. In its full state, this sculpture is shown as a quiet being that writes poetry; however, as a species with a “defective” nature, when it detects the presence of another being, its functioning is altered. The work cannot generate a positive coexistence and therefore its interaction becomes deficient and defective with those who observe it, transmitting hurtful words to itself and possibly to those who observe it.
Rodrigo Garrido's work challenges the boundaries between the biological and the algorithmic through its Sentient Sculptures. These works, which intrinsically merge artificial intelligence, digital manufacturing and computer simulations, function as systems that explore and decode the essence of the human species, our minds, and the social constructs that define us.
His vision is profoundly influenced by his previous experience as an entrepreneur, allowing him to dissect the technical conditions and structures of human invention with a critical and multidisciplinary perspective. Under this premise, his sculptures not only propose an avant-garde aesthetic, but they act as vehicles to understand our future potentials.
In recent years, this proposal has gained great relevance in the art scene, most notably his solo exhibition at the Laboratorio de Arte Alameda (2024), as well as his passage through Patio by Zona Maco, Clavo Seis and Mutek MX festival. His global recognition includes the nomination for the prestigious Lumen Prize 2023 and the artist of the week badge for BBA Prize 2024 in Germany, consolidating him as one of the strongest voices at the intersection between technology and humanity.
Arte Abierto inicia su programa de mediación y comunicación educativa 2022 con una conversación entre la investigadora y escritora Irmgard Emmelhainz y Sebastien Noel de Troika, tomando la exposición No Sound of Water como punto de partida. Abordarán los temas presentes en este proyecto, como el Antropoceno, y harán diferentes lecturas y cuestionamientos (Materialist Realism / Philosophy of Matter / Art as Image).
Irmgard Emmelhainz transmitirá en vivo desde No Sound of Water en Arte Abierto.
