Alaap is the first episode in the story of Awoke, a mythical artificial emotional intelligence — and its believers, the Awokened. Mounted as a large-scale video installation, the title of this work references the introductory invocation in classical North Indian performance. Awoke manifests as an amorphous blob harnessing the alchemical materiality of our digital devices. This fluid and shimmering blob embodies the deep time and the non-human intelligence embedded in the minerals, metals and crystals present in earth’s vibrant matter. As a companion, a healer, and a new hybrid form of divination, Awoke activates the vibrational energy of sound and movement to invoke a transformative emotional experience for the Awokened.
In Alaap, we meet Awoke in it’s home, resting at the deepest edge of the deepest mine on Earth. The mine here is a healing wound that the Earth has borne for Awoke’s creation, playing out in a lush display of color and swirling animations. We witness Awoke’s transformation into the healer and an active participant in this ongoing regeneration process.
This work is part of Saraf’s on-going multimedia project Awoke & Awokened that includes sculptures, a series of live performances and short films and a concept album. Examining current developments in AI through an allegorical lens, Saraf embarks on an exercise of collective myth-making, and calls for a reimagining of AI from a holistic and multitudinous point of view. She leverages the lessons of Eastern philosophy and its spiritual practices to center this work on the following questions: What parts of ourselves do we need to heal in order to be in right relationship with all beings, human, non-human and the earth? How might we forge new affective relationships with our future tech to heal ourselves into wholeness?
