semantic failure by Sasha Kojjio – generative artwork that employs text of an endless essay as a visual tool to expose the inability of logics and linguistics to convey certain feelings and emotional states. The artwork overwhelms the viewer with large amount of textual data to the point when the meaning behind the words loses any sense, and the artwork speak visually through flickering arrays of glyphs.

NON SEMANTIC // personal exhibition, 2023

In this work artist explores the visual side of text arrays and based on his own experience when the language environment around is constantly changing.

«The idea of semantic failure installation was born after 1.5 year of immigration and 2 months of intensive travelling. When you came in a new country – all signs and inscriptions are in a language unknown to you and for couple of weeks you just can’t figure out what’s all that mean. After that you begin to build in your head connections of meanings and certain visual combinations of glyphs. The language and alphabet of new country is still absolutely unknown for you, but only on these visual connections you begin to understand what's going on».

«Initially, I wanted to build this work on the endless cycle of artificial intelligence text. To achieve the visual effect I need, in the current technological realities I would have to generate the entire text in advance and show the already generated one. In this format, the meaning of using artificial intelligence disappears. Therefore, as an array of text for the installation, I took the essay «The Meaning of Life, According to Science» by Chris Ferrie. When installation presentation starts the retelling of the essay begins each time from a random place».

Sasha Kojjio in his practice creates works that generates in real time, he also works a lot with recursive function. semantic failure installation is based on text and the text recursively tries to find the foundations and connections in itself. But when installation appears in front of the viewer – new level of perception creates. Glyphs are not anymore a symbols, they became a form. And logic and semantic fails in front of sensory and feelings.

Semantic failure - is an endless essay, which explores the impossibility of accurately translate feelings and emotions through logical and linguistic tools.

Algorithm created by Sasha Kojjio looks for correlations between text characters and makes this connection visible. Lines appear on the screen as a neural connections, thoughts, that are formed when we read text and look images.

In his installations, Sasha consistently works with the dilemma of what is primary? – a word or an image, and with each next his work he convinces the viewer that feelings have more volume and value than symbols.

The semantic failure begins with pure semantics, when the installation retells the essay in words, trying to convey the meaning in words. It searches for meaning in a logical way.

«I believe that when we begin to deconstruct, we lose the overall picture and the meaning is blurred. We find the meanings of the individual elements. And a work of art is a whole. A unique cocktail of technique, object, place, time, and viewer perception. And in the process of splitting it into parts, we lose the basic essence».

So, after a certain time, the installation «understands» that it is useless to analyze and look for correlations and patterns and begins to influence the viewer with a pure visual. But even in this visual impact, every used element still remains his logically place.

From the viewer’s point – in the beginning, the words and letters sparkles in the dark as a stars or flashes of minds. Then neuro-connections borns and grows into a concentrated net of lines, that afterwards transform into the incomprehensible mass of signs.

The last part is an uncontrolled organic generative algorithm. At this stage, everything happens so fast and rapidly that the viewer can no longer follow the logic, and just enjoys the picture. The flows of letters run in front of you as a flow of water or volcanic lava. Like you running through a big tunnel of meanings that you should just feel.

This is the final scene of the installation, after which it returns to the beginning.

This is the path that an installation takes from trying to tell a story to trying to show it. «From complete structure to organic chaos. Chaos as the highest degree of order».