L.O.V.E. Art
November 2020
ONLINE EXHIBITION
Courtney Askey
Secret Meeting at Hercy B Enterprises
Sound, poster & website
2019 - 2020
“Here, in a seed, is a cyborg: A bleeding girl, dragging a knife through the sand. / An imaginary girl who dreams of becoming trash. / Can machines think / come here let me show you / ask me again” Franny Choi, Soft Science, 2019
Courtney Askey is a cross-disciplinary artist, curator, writer, and musician based in Leicester. Her work explores internet culture, technology, identity, and the self.
Hercy B is an ongoing internet-based project consisting of a website, videos, digital photographs and text.
The project centres around fictional AI company, Hercy B Enterprises, and its latest innovation, Hercy B (The Lovelace Test 2.0 Model).
introduces the fictional corporation in its fledgling stage. The website borrows from corporate aesthetics and language that is laden with buzzwords to create a familiar setting recognisable from real world business directories and works of science fiction. acts as a stage that will host an online performance; a world in which the character of Hercy B (The Lovelace Test 2.0 Model) develops agency.
Hercy B is a cyborg for sale. She is in her Beta stage of software development. She is a blank canvas for you to choose her purpose. Her form is the human woman and she passed the tests to prove she’s intelligent. She’s a poet. Hercy B is about to
announce their latest product but she has been operating in her Alpha stages and she has been learning. Soon, she will be unveiled as the latest advancement in technology that everybody needs to acquire.
The work asks the viewer to question the role of the corporation and its use of the female body. Hercy B is touch, is a service, a product, performer of labour, an intimacy aid to be used. What does it mean for an AI in the shape of a woman to fill in the gaps? And who benefits when we invite this kind of mythical technology into our homes?
The development of Hercy B is rooted in research into algorithmic bias and the lack of equality in technological advancement. The character Hercy B is a summation of my experiences and observations as an “online” woman in 2020 who is navigating the art world as an artist. She is a creator who is testing the limits of her own agency and abilities.
Courtney Askey is a cross-disciplinary artist, writer, filmmaker, curator and musician based in Leicester. Her work explores internet culture, technology, identity, and the self.