Installing Fortune Tellers at the MoCA - a-n The Artists Information Company

Monday 19th — Wednesday 21st of September 2016

The MoCA Museum is situated at the hearth of the leafy and busy public park of People Square. I have arrived at the museum in the early morning and after a quick coffee I met with Shirley Zhu, who looks after the production of the show and Weiwei Wang, the curator.

Together we went to visit the space of the Pavilion; this is an external structure, positioned right at the entrance of the park and overlooking one of the busiest corners of People’s Square.
The walls had already been painted in white, as agreed via mail a few weeks ago; while in London, I used a floorplan the museum provided me with, in order to decide where to position the piece and to decide the final measurements of the artwork. Being in the physical space, as it often happens, makes things look a bit different, so I have spent some time, understanding where things will go and how to position the artworks so that I can easily access mains and connect to the audio system, which at the moment is hidden inside a cupboard near a secondary entrance to the Pavilion.

In the meantime all the necessary data has been sent.

My special thanks go to Yaron Golgher and Dmitry Negisnky from I Know First, and to Wanjawa Barack Wamkaya and Githiari Lawrence Muchemi from the University of Nairobi.

They have very kindly accepted to provide the forecast of the index of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, covering for the days of exhibition, which will run from the 21st of September up until the 11th of October.

I Know First is renowned for using their proprietary algorithm, which applies artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques to recognize relationships and patterns in the historical market data.

Wanjawa Barack Wamkaya and Githiari Lawrence Muchemi, have used their model built on an Artificial Neural Network.

Their help is vital to the functioning of the artwork.

Fortune Telling will make use of the provided data, in order to direct the choir of Chinese singers, using the voices that were pre-recorded and synthesized in London.

Fabio Lattanzi Antinori

My practice encompasses sculpture, print, sound, poetry and interactive installations and it attempts to provide an understanding of the process by which notions of belief and the perception of reality are being shaped and shared between the world of corporate systems and the individual. More recently, my artistic research has focused on the world and language of the International Finance, as after all, as Neil MacGregor once defined it, the whole financial system depends on voluntary acts of faith. It is precisely this fictional aspect of money, the co-operational act of agreeing on its value and its consequent moral obligations that derive from such a shared view of reality that drives my interest and artistic production. I incorporate elements of the invisible yet pervasive domain of digital technology and responsive materials in my works, in order to manifest that which is otherwise intangible; coded surfaces and data informed structured so become a tool of investigation of the constant act of negotiation that goes behind the system of information we call tangible reality. My process is often collaborative and research based. From collaborating with RCA graduates in developing an innovative sensor based technology, to working with English and Chinese opera singers to create interactive artworks with a strong choral vocal component, to commissioning data analysts, scientists and a financial astrologer to forecast the value of International Finance markets, to working with an economist and explore ways to re-imagine the market driven society through language and poetry. Selected solo shows comprehend the MoCA Shanghai (2016), Ryder Projects (London, 2016), Museum für angewandte Kunst, (Vienna 2013); selected group shows comprehend the National Museum of Science and Technology (Milan, 2017), the Holon Museum (2017), the Galerie Für Gegenwartskunst (Freiburg 2017), the Odessa Biennale (August 2017), the participation in the Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art (Hangzhou, September 2016), the Kaunas Biennale, (2015), PiArtworks Gallery (London 2015), the Guest Projects (London, 2015), New York University (2015), the Museum of Contemporary Cuts (on-line, 2015), the Watermans Arts Centre (London, 2015 and 2014), the V&A London (London, 2014), the Contemporary Art Terminal (Shenzen, 2013) the Open Data Institute (London, 2012). Public collections that have acquired my work include the V&A (London), the Villa Lagarina Civic Museum (Rovereto) and the Crespina Civic Museum (Pisa); private collections include the Open Data Institute (London) and various private collections in Trento, Milan, London and Rome.

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