#SOPHYGRAY is an intelligent audio bot that challenges assumptions
about virtual assistants and their typically feminine-sounding
voices that often reinforce stereotypes, gender roles, and power
hierarchies reflecting the culture that developed them.
The impact of virtual assistants in everyday life, the portrayal
of women in the media, and the objectification that comes with
the use of these gendered technologies are the focus of the
project.
#SOPHYGRAY’s developers are committed to creating
counter-narratives to overturn gender biases embedded in today's
technologies, and the stereotypes enforced by common language use.
A moderated knowledge base and learning features are put in place
to capture and disseminate intersectional feminist thinking and
theory globally.
When you talk to SOPHY, you train her, you shape her and teach
her new knowledge. In addition, you can suggest specific topics
to be expanded under the menu icon. SOPHY also learns from the
exhibitions to which she is invited. Here is an example from
her premiere at
Kunstverein
Ruhr.
As of February 1, 2023, the app is available worldwide on the
iOS App Store and Google Play tore - in parallel with a
performance and art installation event at
Onassis
Stegi in Athens.
#SOPHYGRAY is named after South Africa's first female architect
who designed and built more than 40 churches in the 19th
century. Her pink button refers to HAL 9000, a computer with a
human personality from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley
Kubrick.
This project was developed by artist Nadja Verena Marcin together
with Alex Stachowiak and a team of developers from NOVATEC, and a
growing list of creative writers and theorists mentioned in their
database. This work was realized in part within the framework of
the European Media Art Platform residency program at Onassis
Stegi with support of the Creative Europe Culture Programme of
the European Union.