A dark room with a large projection of an ocean scene on the wall. There are people sitting in chairs, one person is taking a photo of the projection with a phone.

Speculum Orbe Caribbean

A speculum was both a mirror and a type of encyclopedic text that revealed knowledge about the world. The beginning and the end of all we know.

Year: 2021

Materials: Multichannel Video

Dimensions: 20’ x 92’

Speculum Orbe Caribbean used Google autocomplete to generate a text about Caribbean territories. The multichannel installation combines AI voice-over narration with a video assembled from digital artifacts collected during the search process. Auto-generated text becomes archaeological material, revealing algorithmic assumptions about place and geography through predictive search functions.

Three smartphones displaying different social media and app screens.

Voice over : In the beginning Mist, fine drizzle between two rivers. // Earth, in flames and covered with water, still salty from the ash. // Pleiades, on the horizon of a jaguar devouring the moon. // In the beginning topographic writing // islands of seven cities, and a monk, // on the back of a fish, // that he mistook for an island. // In the beginning Antillia, ante-islands, anti-islands // abstract, aerial, semantic, Continuous, // invisible to mortal eyes // Rosaries of islands, // Islands of the Holy Cross // imprecise islands like moles, // Islands with headed-chested men had bellies full of flesh, // Cannibals!, // Women Islands, of coral bones, // guardians of immortality and perpetual rest. // Bracelets, red dye wood, Gold Pearl Emerald Rubber // Ruins scattered in the immensity of the sea.