Residency of Sutanuka Jashu, hosted by Yaga Gathering in partnership with Urban Festival UIT & Expanded Publishing Fest
Artist Sutanuka Jashu developed and presented the installation "Echoes of Rebellion: Myths and Machines" during the EFFEA Residency at the leading festival Yaga Gathering, in partnership with the Urban Festival UIT and the Expanded Publishing Fest. The project draws from Lithuanian cultural heritage, specifically the Užgavėnės festival, and weaves it together with modern AI technology to explore the cyclical nature of history. Inspired by Mark Twain's quote "History may not repeat, but it rhymes", the installation reimagines historical narratives as a black box — a space where recurring socio-political events mirror past patterns, often through the hidden workings of technology.
History belongs to the winners. But to whom does the future belong? Currently, economic and political positions of power exercise the main control over it. The rapid surge in AI development seeks to arrive at the utopian singularity where artificial general intelligence becomes the default operational mode of society. The smart city paradigm is an urban reflection and enabler of this transformation that fills the living environments with IoT devices, feeding data to algorithms. The main motivation here is economic gain. What futures does it promote, what does it keep hidden? While the main body of AI-related research is corporate, critically investigating this question with artistic practices is a tactic to pave a road to a future that is diverse and nuanced.
The residency focus on Smart Cities and AI provided a fertile ground for Sutanuka's intensive research into the interplay between history, culture, and technology. Sutanuka's approach used AI to delve into socio-political and ecological narratives across four centuries of Lithuanian history. By blending real-time AI interaction with analogue technologies, the installation invites participants to experience history dynamically. Raspberry Pi-controlled analogue TV screens display AI-driven narratives that respond to participant inputs, creating a personalised storytelling experience.
The time at the Yaga Gathering was pivotal for Sutanuka, allowing her to refine both the technical and conceptual aspects of her project. Collaborating with local experts and testing various iterations with festival participants led to the creation of a multi-sensory experience where users could choose characters representing key historical moments, each shaping their own narrative. The installation was open to the public from 11 to 15 July, with a special live performance by Sutanuka on 13 July, where she presented the full potential of the immersive installation. The performance offered profound insights into historical patterns and the potential of AI to contribute to ecological and cultural regeneration.
This residency not only advanced the technical aspects of the project but also engaged with deep-rooted cultural traditions, elevating the Užgavėnės festival to a speculative futuristic platform where myth meets machine.
