Dongpo dream machine: notes towards an exhibition

ABSTRACT

This article presents a concept for an imagined exhibition relating to the work of Su Shi (1037–1101), also known as Su Dongpo. A renowned poet and calligrapher from China's Song Dynasty, Su Shi stands out as one of the pivotal figures in traditional Chinese literature; credited with penning many of China's iconic poems that remain part of the educational curriculum in China today. The proposed project is situated within the historical sites of Hainan, an island where Su Shi was exiled near the end of his life. Taking a contemporary approach to heritage, the exhibition concept draws upon recent developments in artificial intelligence large language models, with the aim of enabling visitors to generate and explore ‘lost’ poems of Su Shi.

KEYWORDS:

• Artificial intelligence
• exhibition
• generative poetry
• Hainan
• Su Shi

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Qiuyu Jin

Qiuyu Jin is an assistant professor at Nihon University College of Art. She holds a BA from Nihon University College of Art and an MA from the Department of Arts Studies and Curatorial Practices at the Graduate School of Global Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts, where she is currently pursuing her doctoral research. In 2016, she was an exchange student at JGU Kunsthochschule Mainz and she was also part of the team of Echigo Tsumari Triennale, Tokyo Biennial and Oku-noto Triennale. She curated the exhibition Not in this Image (Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts Taipei, 2020), Sense Island 2022 (Sawushima, Yokosuka). She is also the director of the experimental image forum non-syntax.

Sunil Manghani

Sunil Manghani is Professor of Theory, Practice & Critique at Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton (UK). He is Co-Editor of Journal of Visual Art Practice, and Managing Editor of Theory, Culture & Society. His books include Image Studies (2013), Zero Degree Seeing (2019), India’s Biennale Effect (2016) and Farewell to Visual Studies (2015). He curated Barthes/Burgin at the John Hansard Gallery (2016), along with Building an Art Biennale (2018) and Itinerant Objects (2019) at Tate Exchange, Tate Modern.