Gabrielle de Vietri

Gabrielle de Vietri

IMA at Ksubi

16 June–26 July 201216 Jun–26 Jul 2012

Melbourne artist Gabrielle de Vietri combed the Internet in search of CAPTCHAs, those meaningless passwords we type in to prove we are human. She collected dozens of them and wrote stories with them, which she presents as videos. We hear the artist read her tales as the corresponding CAPTCHAs are projected. CAPTCHA has four chapters, including an account of a journey to Medarkma and a steamy love story, with Desmodowe hankering for his beloved Siseelley. If you didn’t know that CAPTCHAs were used, you could easily imagine that the stories were written in jargon or using foreign-language terms. De Vietri’s CAPTCHA reveals how context, intonation, and background music can prompt us to read meaning into meaningless words.

The Institute of Modern Art acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land upon which the IMA now stands, the Jagera, Yuggera, Yugarapul, and Turrbal people. We offer our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the first artists of this country. In the spirit of allyship, the IMA will continue to work with First Nations people to celebrate, support, and present their immense past, present, and future contribution to artistic practice and cultural expression.

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