THE MODELS. IL FASCINO DELLA VERITA’ :: WORLWIDE DEBUT EVENT BY DMSTFCTN @ TECNOPOLO BOLOGNA

The Models is an interactive audiovisual installation, developed by the London-based duo dmstfctn during their artistic residency at the Tecnopolo in Bologna. The installation, curated by Sineglossa, will make its international debut on February 7th at the Tecnopolo in Bologna, where it will remain on display until February 9th, 2025.

The Models comes from a challenge posed by Sineglossa on the subject of fake news, which is being reignited these days with the statements made by Meta, which intends to eliminate fact-checking from its platforms. Is it possible to fight conspiracy theories with the wonder created by artists? The challenge is inspired by the thesis, contained in Wu Ming’s book Q di complotto, that these fantasies spread because human beings tend to be more passionate about awe-inspiring stories than scientific texts or reports. From this, dmstfctn decided to combine wonder and truth through an installation that, by recovering the cultural heritage of the Museums of the Emilia-Romagna Region, brings to the stage digital masks animated by 3D engines, capable of improvising an endless array of theatrical sketches in the style of the Commedia dell’Arte. Guiding them are artificial intelligence models fine-tuned by the artists using the Leonardo Supercomputer – models that, with texts inspired by classical archetypes, give life to characters who confabulate, invent truths, repeat voices or make banal mistakes. Characters that exhibit the Large Language Models’ tendency to display behaviours that are at times deceitful and adversarial, and other times all too friendly or subservient. The masks, equipped with a voice thanks to text-to-audio technology, react to the input of the audience, who through their smartphones will have the opportunity to interact with the work by introducing scenic objects depicting superstitions and conspiracy theories to stimulate and guide the improvisation.