Fãl Project
Mohsen Hazrati
Fãl Project (2022 – 2024)
Multimedia installation
Moshen Hazrati’s work explores the linking processes between traditional literatures and digital technologies. Taking inspiration from bibliomancy, a process that uses books to predict the future, the artist uses AI as a divination tool by transferring century-old literatures and cultures into the digital world. In Fãl Project, poetry acts as a bridge between the past and the future, between spirituality and speculation, and between prophecies and new perspectives. Inspired by the Divān of Hafez, a 14th century Persian poet, the installation consists of an AI generating words from a randomly chosen poem by Hafez, which extracts existing poetic data online to generate individual divinations for users based on a random AI principle and then interprets these results to predict their future. In keeping with Iranian tradition where a parakeet usually chooses the verse and the human being fades into the background, the artist strives here too to minimize his own influence on data and the AI.
Mohsen Hazrati (b. 1987 in Shiraz, Iran) is a Berlin-based artist. He graduated with a BA in Graphic Design from Shiraz Art Institute of Higher Education in 2012, minoring in new media and digital art.
His works and research, focused on the intersection of literature and digital technologies, have been presented at conferences and events such as Universität der Künste Berlin, the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart, IAM Weekend Barcelona, EVA London, UCL MAL London, ELO University of Central Florida, TEDx Mollasadra St, and more. He was also awarded the first VR Prize from Deutsche Kredit Bank (DKB) 2024. Mohsen’s art has been exhibited and featured in museums, festivals, and platforms such as CCCB Museum Barcelona, Art Basel Miami, Art Dubai, NFT NYU, ARS Electronica, IMPAKT Festival, HAL Berlin, Grafikenshus Museum, Peer to Space, RadianceVR, Espronceda, Synthesis, Triennale Kleinplastik Fellbach, Transfer Gallery, Enter Art Fair Copenhagen, Next Level Festival Hamburg, and others. He has received residencies and fellowships, including Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart and Rizq Art Initiative in Abu Dhabi.