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Nadja Verena Marcin is the selected Artist-in-Residence of the European Media Art Platform 2022 at Onassis Stegi. Each of the 15 selected media artists and artist groups will participate in an international, fully funded two-month residency with one of the 15 EMAP partners, culminating in several group exhibitions over the next three years. During her residency in Athens, she will further develop and present her project #SOPHYGRAY, a feminist audio bot. Created in response to the pandemic, when global households increasingly relied on subservient digital assistants like Alexa and Siri, the audio bot challenges the gendered associations of such technology. By integrating groundbreaking excerpts from feminist thinkers like bell hooks, Donna Haraway, Silvia Federici, Audre Lorde, and Anna L. Tsing, the project humorously subverts stereotypical expectations.
Visitors to the immersive installation can engage with #SOPHYGRAY through small talk on topics like art, identity, and feminism. In the process, the bot replaces typical gender-specific ideas with philosophical concepts, sparking unusual and thought-provoking conversations. While its language remains limited, #SOPHYGRAY learns and evolves through each interaction, offering a critical and witty examination of the ideological implications of female voices in virtual assistants. With the question, “What would it look like to rewire the modus operandi of all service apps?” the project explores new possibilities for rethinking how technology intersects with gender, identity, and power.