Voting at the intersection of art and technology

“A/I Voted” 2024

As a subversive act of digital art, in 2024, Couper explored the space of disenfranchisement and democracy and performed “A/I Voted” in the largest theatre allowed—a single voting booth. Instead of abstaining performatively as some US voters do, Couper collaborated with ChatGPT to channel another entity’s preferences in a national election—becoming a voting vessel. “A/I Voted” explores algorithms, the importance of choice, gerrymandering, voter fraud, election interference, “The AI Agency of the Year”, the role of misinformation, and the intersection of artificial intelligence with everyday decisions.

To repeat this temporal installation, follow these steps.

1 Register to vote

2 Do no research whatsoever about the election

3 When you get to the polls, ask your AI agent who to vote for

4 Faithfully make the selections they ask you to

5 Submit your ballot

Cowriting: insipidity

From a series of poems that I’ve cowritten with Google’s OpenAI GPT-2 language model. My words are bolded.

The marble felt like a pollack

except it was smooth to the touch

and I'd just spilt coffee over it

on the high plateau

and you had to use a spoon

to eat it

and the plate of desserts was filled with

incredible mouth-feel pillows of sponge

that probably could never

be correctly used to its full capacity

to pick up a dollop of jam

or a handful of lemonade

(it tasted like a light rain)

because it was so sticky,

I couldn't reach the bottom of the spoon

to squish it down like a queen's tiara

when I tried

(I really tried)

but I don’t understand tastelessness. 

Cowriting: Canopy

From a series of poems that I’ve cowritten with Google’s OpenAI GPT-2 language model. My words are bolded.

Canopy

On the day of my birth.

This battle in vain is now over.

This long night shall be recalled.

This agitation out of East & West

Rejoices the Sons of Horus.

Some obscurity still lingers on the hour.

For the days are passing with great rapidity

For those Men who aspire for the sky

Praise the aged Adept Ra.

Drifting in the Western time;

Drifting in the Western time

It is as though the skies had opened.

The Blind are not troubled by their images,

Or by their dreams, their visions.

So look on these endless and advancing days

As a mountain that moves in the clear blue sky

Cowriting: The Waiting

From a series of poems that I’ve cowritten with Google’s OpenAI GPT-2 language model.My words are bolded.

The Waiting

What now the gods have torn asunder

we feel beating in our heaving chests

and hear on the wings of the thunder

the rumblings of a wild storm

that is nigh yet not close by:

our hearts beat as they drift

it is a shrill cry

in fear lest we catch the beam

of that many a giant's foe

which ere we are armed yet looks wild

of a thousand wide battles

which from their splendour stillness are put away:

so on the dead husks of the battle

we await

Cowriting: The Depths

From a series of poems that I’ve cowritten with Google’s OpenAI GPT-2 language model. My words are bolded.

The Depths 

The sun shuddered into the ocean depths

Not quenched but burned.

From water, cackling water,

A rat erupted.

And we were just kids again

Fearless and naive

Young lovers and beloved.

Aunt Oona painted in the palm trees

White, wise and scared.

She locked herself in her room

Letting everyone know she is dead.

Four young orphan boys were sitting around a picnic table.

One boy asked the other who he was and who his father was.

"Dad?" he asked in confusion.

"No you're my son," he said.

The boy was stunned.

"Who are you?”

Cowriting: Night Dram

From a series of poems that I’ve cowritten with Google’s OpenAI GPT-2 language model that’s designed to predict the next word in a given sequence. My words are bolded.

Night Dram

He poured himself a dram

It was now beyond his land

He saw a twig in the bush

And listened to the wind blow,

From the rustling corn the sparrows fluttered.

"God bless you sir, thank you."

He burst into a passion of laughter

His stomach grew warm

He ate his bread up and drank his wine.

No wonder you should hate

The shapely old man

Who made a cup of toasted sandwich

For his supper.

You might find little missus.

A white pussy cat

A little thing with a horrible hoarse voice

Who kept on swearing to herself

She looked through him as though

She'd seen it all before .

Creative imbalance. Create balance.

Too many of us live in a state of Creative Hypocapnia — that physical state where O2 and CO2 are out of balance because of hyperventilation. Creatively, it occurs when we’ve taken in too much inspiration and have not done what is natural to us — create in response. We’ve over-breathed, we’re over-inspired. Responding to inspiration with admiration is natural. For us, responding to inspiration with creation is imperative. When breathing, our lungs force us to exhale, but we must choose to exhale creatively.

With the fire hydrant of information that we have access to, it’s almost impossible not to be in creative imbalance. We’re surrounded by stimulus, connected to digital archives of every piece of art recorded; an endless stream of inspiration at our fingertips. But in choosing to endlessly connect we never push ourselves into the uncomfortable place of having to create. Creating for the sake of creation — creating in response. We choose the easy route — to seek inspiration and catch the latest round of award-winning work when those people are choosing to exhale, to create.

The best piece of advice I’ve received about building a regular meditation practice is to take one mindful breath daily. One breath. The same can be said for your creative life; surely inhale, seek out inspiration, but you also must exhale. Not daily, but weekly? Monthly? Breathe out and strengthen your creative diaphragm. Over time you’ll bring your creative input, and creative output into balance.

On buying booze

I use the term booze indiscriminately — affectionately — to describe anything with alcohol. There are many liquid options besides water and my favorites contain alcohol. I always say I’ll drink anything once and many things twice. Liquid science fascinates me; I’m writing this, drinking a vermouth bianco, and thinking about the friend who sold it to me. He happens to know the producer. As with many bottles, this particular vermouth came to me on his strong recommendation. This is how I learned the value of knowing the right place to buy booze

Having a place to buy booze is important. Familiarizing yourself with the layout, selection, and nuance of a store is invaluable. You’ll find yourself making decisions on your own terms, which is a great feeling. If you’re getting angsty in the aisle there’s a good chance you’re in an unfamiliar place and that leads to giving/opening bad bottles. There’s a lot of booze out there to dig through; not all of it is good. There are plenty of times when I walk out of a store with a bottle of something new and can only hope that it will be good, both subjectively and of objectively. If you’re floating in and out of your local package store with the same bottle in hand every time you leave; you’re doing yourself a disservice. It’s great to have favorites, but you should also be venturing out. You don’t know everything — likely the salesperson doesn’t either — but you should give yourself the chance to at least learn that. Have a friend you can trade bottles with if you don’t like something that was recommended to you. That way you both end up knowing a bit more about your preferences and what is available. Never judge a beverage store by anything more than what is on the shelf and what the prices are. If you have a great guy who knows his stuff making the purchasing decisions you will have no problem finding something awesome to try. The friend I referred to earlier worked at Kroger, a chain grocery store on the east coast. Prior to this job he owned a well established importing company in Chicago, and he also happens to be Italian. You better believe that he could bring in great wine at an incredible price. He’s a believer in small producers, organic wines, and authenticity. That combination makes for great drinking.

If you need help, ask for it. Patronize the same stores and approach them from an informed perspective. If you have a general idea what you want, do some research on the category and find a few leads. If someone asks what you’re looking for you’ll have an idea. If they don’t have the bottle or can you are looking for, chances are good they’ll recommend something similar. One of my favorite questions to ask a sales rep is: “Do you guys have anything interesting that’s not on the shelf yet?” This question is a great way to get invited to small tastings or sometimes to be able to buy rarer alcohol that may be in a back room. Developing a relationship with someone where you buy your spirits is a great move. Over time they will pick up on your preferences or even know when to offer you something that might open your horizons. If you don’t yet ‘have a guy’ casual conversations can lead to a new favorite beverage or at least an experience. It’s a win-win because you both benefit from this interaction

Only True Coffee Lovers Drink Decaf

There is a pop-up going on right now by Swiss Water in New York. They offer caffeine free coffee in a variety of ways: cold brew, espresso and filter. They are providing community education about the Swiss Water process and coffee in general. Lastly, per their Facebook page they have

“Art by local NY-based artists including Dasic Fernández, David Pullman, Musketon, and Joe Doucet will be donated in support of Grounds for Health — a sustainable healthcare provider for women and families in coffee-growing communities.”

So they have partnered with local artists and are in some way supporting a healthcare initiative in coffee growing countries with this pop-up. Which, by the way, only runs 6 days.Awesome right? I think so too.

Although since learning about the pop-up few days ago, I’ve seen more than a few condescending articles (not to mention the comments/tweets) about the event, which really is probably just animosity for decaf coffee in general or at least a well rounded sense of not actually understanding.Which is a shame, since people who drink decaf coffee are the ones who drink coffee because they love it. 

An article in The Washington Post picked up the discussion and talked it over sufficiently. They never really say which side of the fence they are on. Though, since the article was timestamped at 3:57am I think it’s safe to say there was caffeinated coffee involved.

I won’t delve to deeply into comments and tweets other than saying that these individuals who protested loudly and said all sorts of funny things really just wanted to say something - wanted to be part of the action. We humans do that; we follow, and sometimes do so loudly and unnecessarily.

The outlets however are missing the greater story. The Washington Post, Eater, Jezebel, Quartz, Gothamist all jumped on the bandwagon to talk about how New Yorkers would never be swayed into drinking decaf; if not specifically, then they at least paraded a slew of tweets from people who were happy to form their opinions for them. Some also missed it with the images they included. A stock photo showing what appears to be a dirty Faema Emblema, a photo from a Blue Bottle siphon setup. Both showing the very thing that the pop-up isn’t; dirty, hip and caffeinated. A great description for much of the coffee scene that we see today.

The story that was right below their noses (especially if they took the time to attend a cupping) was the educational aspect; not just about coffee, but about health and community. The Swiss Water process was introduced in the late 1980’s as an alternate to more traditional decaffeination methods. Though it wasn’t the first water based decaffeination process, it is recognized as being the first one to do so without chemicals. Swiss Water has recently updated their website and information and if you drink decaf coffee, it’s a great site to check out to get a better idea of what you are drinking.

Coffee education is sparse in general. It’s not that it’s not available. It’s simply not pursued. A chance to drop into a pop-up for some free coffee and free coffee education should be loudly applauded.

I’m not in the know on the marketing efforts of Swiss Water but this strikes me as a wonderfully executed educational experience for the consumer. Despite the underwhelming reaction by some bloggers and tweets; their goal of educating people, at least getting people to think about the process of decaffeination hopefully shows to be a resounding success. I know that whoever is watching over their analytics account is sufficiently pleased with the results. I would hope so at least.

Health education is admirable at every level. I was not aware of Grounds for Health and after skimming their website, they seem to be on an amazing mission. One that will impact countless lives in coffee producing countries. We all talk about paying a decent price for coffee, but when you can go above and beyond and have impact in the coffee communities at a deeper level; that is the story my dear Jezebel.

Community focused initiatives should be encouraged and lauded. Taking a space and transforming it - even briefly - into an attractive space with purpose is no easy task and considering what the space may become. One would think that Gothamist would praise the street art installation and support of NY based artists.

The best decaf I’ve ever had has been sourced and roasted by Durham based Counter Culture Coffee, and of course, was Swiss Water processed. If you’re in the need of some, you can find their great coffee here.

To be clear I consume coffee in it’s caffeinated form, I’m just resoundingly in support of Swiss Water’s well executed pop-up. It’s marketing with purpose, the positive attention that they receive from this is well deserved.

Advertising in the Age of Mixed Reality

I am fascinated by technology and its benefits. Tech news is typically the first news I see in my day. Advertising is my industry and I drop this technology news into my sphere. We’re in what feels like an incredible slipstream of movement towards everyday Mixed Reality and I think we’re in for a wild ride. I’m increasingly interested in where the two intersect.

Mixed Reality, if you are unfamiliar with the idea, is a lot like Augmented Reality. That is, the digital overlay of information onto your physical world; ranging from a speedometer on a car windshield to an app that uses your phone camera to display information about a given physical space. Virtual reality is separate, an immersive experience that completely occupies the users senses: in essence VR transports you to another place (a remarkable feat.) MR is a step beyond the immersion — it takes you further into the world you already inhabit. It is in its fledgling stages now, but we’ll see it go far beyond its current form. MR will integrate many inputs into a seamless experience that frees our senses. No more eyes down on a device, no more holding a device. If the goal of technology is to allow us to do more, give us more, to enable us as a species, then this is the natural progression.

One day Google Glass will be viewed as the bag phones that we saw in the early 90s. No slight or fault, simply the precursor to what we now use and interact with everyday — we owe quite a bit to the devices that test our societal tolerances to where technology is allowed to go. Technology advances at a surprising rate and we will see this stream of MR devices becoming smaller and smaller allowing us to digitally interface with our physical world with no interference.

Now let’s imagine the implications of this new reality on the advertising world. Our minds may leap to dystopian images of virtual signage covering every inch of our field of view — our inclination based on pop-up ads and the insistence of advertisers to invade our personal spheres every day. However, before we go down that path let’s consider: when was the last time you actually saw a pop-up ad? When was the last time you sought to see an ad? When was the last time you used an ad-blocker? I bet your answers to those questions were more and more recent. If it’s been months since you saw a pop-up ad (maybe years) It’s likely been weeks since you sought to view an ad and only days (maybe minutes) since you employed an ad-blocker.

These tendencies will not suddenly decrease as we enter into another age. Following a temporary adaptation to the environment, we will likely see ad-blocking increased. Following the streamlining of our ad experiences we will see increased participation with adverts. This MR experience will allow you to not only see an ad but to interact with it. Imagine shopping for makeup and seeing a YouTube influencer standing patiently beside your favorite makeup line and all you have to do is digitally engage with this person to see a tutorial with some of your favorite products. A digital how-to without having to access a second screen. Imagine a digital wardrobe overlay so you could virtually try on outfits while simply looking at yourself. Imagine a Tanqueray branded in-home tutorial about how to mix a Martini. All adding benefit, all in your MR experience, all ads.

In this world where ad-blockers and MR co-exist winning campaigns will be the big ideas. Great advertising is about big ideas, creativity, and compelling stories. That’s the dream — that someone looks at your ad and chooses to engage with it. It will be easier, of course, to have real interaction with the adverts. These ads will in part resemble interacting with a chat bot or NPC on a video game and more advanced versions will be like interacting with Comedy Central star Jay Pharoah in a Pepsi Spire machine.

Instead of billboards in our physical sphere, we’ll see billboards in our digital sphere — so much easier to change, update and segment. Engagement will be trackable, etc. Imagine a world where your lenses to your prescription glasses, your prescription contacts or a simple contact-like lens allowed a digital interface to be super-imposed on your physical world. When you looked around, you could receive information from your environment. You could interact with your environment like it was a physical interface. There are some years before we arrive at this mixed reality as reality, but we are headed there.

If you’re looking for a glimpse at the possibilities, look no further than Florida based Magic Leap. That’s what this is all about; the possibilities.