2023
Verborragia is a poetic experiment with language. It interchanges 12,490 verbs extracted from Houaiss, the most comprehensive of Portuguese language dictionaries. This exhaustive set of verbs was then conjugated in its 6 verb tenses of the Indicative mode. This poem machine is dedicated to producing all the variations from the recombination of these verbs into a simple structure that synthesizes the relationship between any two subjects: Eu te, você me. The final number borders on the astronomical figure of 1 billion variations. We live in a time when algorithmic text production is trivialized by the popularization of Artificial Intelligences. These AIs are trained and process huge databases to produce a unique and limited output text. Here, we are interested in the opposite path, in crossing in the opposite direction, taking steps back to go further: This machine poem creates almost infinite combinations from a finite and limited number of elements. Its purpose is to excite the lexicon of the Portuguese language, to enunciate all that can be said about a relationship. The verborrhagic machine poem has already been started and will work tirelessly for the next two hundred and ninety-seven years. When its purpose is achieved everything will have been said about the relationship. Then the words will have to change their meanings. Or, meanings will have to change words. We will be watching!
Rafael Frazão and Tiago F. Pimentel
Brazil
Rafael Frazão is a visual artist and videomaker, using experimental video and new media to address issues related to cosmopolitics and the philosophy of image. In his recent trajectory, he has exhibited in spaces such as MACBa, Arts Santa Mònica and Casa Encendida. Tiago F. Pimentel comes from the social sciences with a degree in cyberdefense, is a dilettante anthropologist, network researcher, hacker, programmer, activist in defense of the free internet, data artisan and naif digital artist.