The Pirate Girls Say…

BACKGROUND This research proposes that nonhuman agents (chatbots) can be modelled by poetic engagement. Currently conversational machine learning agents are programmed to act only on utilitarian terms (Clark, 2019). Humans ascribing human-like qualities to non-human entities is the cause of abundant misinterpretations and complexity of relations, a transgression exemplary in ‘Tay’ (2016): a chatbot whom on its release by Microsoft cast aspersions on social media. If humans and nonhumans are to communicate, how this could be achieved between such different creatures is yet to be resolved: this is the gap that the work occupies. This work is also in line with the work of Annie Dorsen which explores the intersection between algorithmic art and performance. CONTRIBUTION ‘The Pirate Girls say...’ was a performance net artwork, accessed via a captive portal Wi-Fi featuring oceanic paraphernalia. The audience received an email that was composed as concrete poetry (reminiscent of mail art). They were then encouraged to reply to ‘mutinous sentiments’ and ‘masquerading pirates’ (chatbots). Intervening on knowledge production, this work demonstrates the capacity of performative conversational non-human/human actors, and proposes this as a new genre of performance art. SIGNIFICANCE The work was selected by curator Dr. Jaime Tsai for ‘Caught Stealing,’ a group show at the National Art School Gallery. Mauro-Flude gave artist talk in the public programme. It was presented alongside works by Destiny Deacon, Fiona Hall, Soda_Jerk, Joan Ross and Linda Dement. The exhibition was reviewed in Arts Review, Sydney Morning Herald and Swiss Review art magazine. An earlier iteration was peer reviewed by Unlikely Journal for transdisciplinary enquiry and curated into an exhibition at EastBlok - a key cultural venue in Montreal.