The project is rooted in the artist’s "Paperwork" series—a performance-based, long-form generative AI collection of digital paper sculptures carved from emotional responses to Caballero’s poetry. Throughout 2023, Caballero performed her verses globally, inviting members of the audience to write one-word reactions to what they heard on paper slips. Thus a library of 100 words was born, representing the diverse emotional landscapes that poetry can evoke. However, one audience member submitted not just a word, but a small sculpture—an origami swan. At that moment the idea was born to generate the compositions that became "Paperwork"—connecting personal experiences to universal themes with the use of AI.
Harnessing the power of poetry to “make way for truths and messages” (M. Blanchot), Caballero turns the medium of solitude into the message of multitudes, linking strangers by the means of words and technology.
In a culminating performance in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Caballero displayed these 100 words, handwritten. Attendees were invited to pick a word that resonated with their own experience, creating moments of shared connection through poetry. Then, collectors received a corresponding digital sculpture that looked like an origami, elevating the paper itself from a simple vessel to the medium.
Poetry has a complicated history with its visual representations, some arguing that it is downright impossible to accurately depict the myriad of meanings embedded in a verse, since each reader has their own emotional response to it. The scepticism prevailed even with the emergence of many AI tools for poetic visualisation, proving that it is not a question of the message, but rather the means. By introducing the social aspect into poetry, Ana María Caballero “cracked the code” for poetic embodiment, crafting a beautiful and pluralist representation of her spoken word.
Her new project "Ultrasonido" is a dynamic evolution of the "Paperwork" series. It is a socially engaged experiment, but now, running in the real time, that transforms Caballero's original poetry into new forms of comprehension through collective intelligence and AI.
For "Ultrasonido", Caballero recorded herself reading a selection of her poems in both English and Spanish, displayed as a recording. After listening to the poems, the visitors are invited to write down their responses in one or two words. Then, these responses are fed into the pre-trained AI algorithm that gradually shapes the digital sculpture inspired by Gaudí's architectural elements—crucial for Barcelona's vibrant art landscape, which Load Gallery is proud to belong to.
Incorporating AI into her social poetic experiment, Caballero raises an important inquiry into trans-human viewership, placing AI in the roles of a listener, contributor, and artist alongside humans.
At the end of the show, the final sculpture will be created, available to acquire as an edition of three. One sculpture will be donated to a local institution. In addition, Caballero will record a video, reading the final collection of audience-contributed words, concluding the social experiment and once again crafting a moment of unity through poetry.
Ana María Caballero is a multidisciplinary literary artist whose accolades include being the first woman to win Colombia’s José Manuel Arango National Poetry Prize and the first living poet to sell a poem at Sotheby’s. In the latest edition of the Lumen Prize, three of her projects were finalists—an unprecedented achievement. Caballero is a passionate advocate for contemporary poetry, participating in educational events worldwide.
She is the co-founder of the VERSEverse gallery, dedicated to reinstating poetry at the forefront of artistic expression in the digital age. Thanks to the initiative, poetry transcends the traditional page, taking on new forms such as performances, visual art, and AI-generated sculptures, like "Ultrasonido".
You can view and participate in the creation of the sculpture at the Fine Print exhibition that runs from September 19 to October 26 at the Load Gallery in Barcelona. While Ana María Caballero will be present only during the opening, the visitors are welcome to experience and contribute to this evolving artwork throughout its duration.