Optimization Culture Comes for Grief
An older Korean man named Mr. Lee, dressed in a blazer and slacks, clutches the arms of his chair and leans toward his wife. 'Sweetheart, it's me,' he says. 'It's been a long time.'
'I never expected this would happen to me,' she replies through tears. 'I'm so happy right now.'
Mr. Lee is dead. His widow is speaking to an A.I.-powered likeness of him projected onto a wall.
'Please, never forget that I'm always with you,' the projection says. 'Stay healthy until we meet again.'
This conversation was filmed as part of a promotional campaign for Re;memory, an artificial intelligence tool created by the Korean start-up DeepBrain AI, which offers professional-grade studio and green-screen recording (as well as relatively inexpensive ways of self-recording) to create lifelike representations of the dead.
It's part of a growing market of A.I. products that promise users an experience that closely approximates the impossible: communicating and even "reuniting' with the deceased. Some of the representations — like those offered by HereAfter AI and StoryFile, which also frames its services as being of historical value — can be programmed with the person's memories and voices to produce realistic holograms or chatbots with which family members or others can converse.
The desire to bridge life and death is innately human. For millenniums, religion and mysticism have offered pathways for this — blurring the lines of logic in favor of the belief in eternal life.
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Los Angeles Times
a day ago
- Los Angeles Times
Korean American artist reflects on her parents' immigrant experience in Tustin gallery exhibit
When Korean American artist Wendy Park was growing up in Southern California in the 1980s and '90s, the Compton Fashion Center swap meet was her playground. 'I grew up with immigrant parents from Korea and we worked in the swap meets all over L.A. We did Norwalk, Palmdale, Paramount and Compton was a place that I remember vividly,' said Park. 'I remember it being such a beautiful, colorful place.' Park's early life at the swap meet and her parents' immigrant experience are at the center of her third solo exhibition at Various Small Fires OC gallery in Tustin. Titled 'Of Our Own,' Park's paintings explore artifacts and rituals of daily life as an immigrant and the objects that can connect a current home to one left behind. In the exhibition, the large doubled paneled work, ''90s Compton Swap Meet' captures an uncharacteristically quiet moment at the swap meet, void of both customers and vendors. A carousel of sunglasses for sale with hand mirrors tied to the display sits along side a jungle of plants, some hanging and others potted in plastic pink swans. A broom, trash bag and metal hand truck lean against the brick wall, evidence of the work being done, next to a stall that sells baby strollers and battery-operated toy puppies that bark and flip. 'My mom was telling me how this really was a place of community,' said Park. 'It used to be a Sears building and a Korean man bought it and made all these little stalls and inside there were more kiosks and stalls. It was a place where Korean immigrants who don't have access to starting a business could come and work.' Swap meets themselves tend to be place of community for immigrant populations. They are places where they hear their own language spoken and purchase products and ingredients specific to their needs. 'This is painted from a woman's perspective of that era,' Park said of the work. 'It was a place of opportunity for Korean immigrants.' The subject matter is an incredibly timely one, given the countless raids made by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement across the nation in recent weeks with immigrant marketplaces and hubs like Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet, MacArthur Park and downtown Santa Ana targeted locally. 'Immigrants are the most hardworking people. They leave their families, they leave everything they know to come and start a new life. It is tragic that they finally get here, overcome their struggles and maybe live a good life and then get taken away,' Park said about the current climate. 'It is heartbreaking to see. It is an unfair situation and done poorly.' Park received a BFA from Otis College of Art & Design and spent 13 years in Disney animation. The bright colors that inform her work draw on that experience while also reflecting her point of view as a child, how colorful and alive the world seemed to her then. She references both American pop and Korean folk art in her work and makes newspaper kiosks, coin laundry carts and pots of Tiger Balm worthy of investigation. In 'Charms Cash' wads of dollar bills are tightly rubber-banded and stored in a can used to hold hard candy. 'It's really difficult for immigrants to trust the banking systems,' said Park. 'They are afraid of how much information they have to give or what might happen. My parents would hide money in the house or store it at the swap meet in candy containers like this.' Park's father sold plants at the swap meet and she got in the habit of hiding things in the plastic swan pots popular in the era, which are present in 'Go Swan' alongside an open can of beer and lit cigarette over a Korean board game. Some pieces are also historic documentation of sites that might otherwise be lost to fleeting memory. 'Western and 5th' depicts Korean market signage that no longer exists, but Park recalled visiting the center as child with her grandmother and aunts. The memory was unearthed with the help of an old photo of the 1992 L.A. riots. The concept for the '90's Compton Swap Meet' piece is an idea Park said she has carried in her mind for a while and its completion was made possible partly by oral history shared by her mother. When the two of them couldn't agree on the coloring of the building facade of the Compton swap meet, Park used a hip hop music video for reference. 'My mom members it as a brick-colored storefront but I was telling her I remember it like a rainbow,' said Park. 'I was watching a Tupac music video and it showed it with these colors in it.' Her memories helped Park piece together a more accurate representation of the place she and her family spent long days. Hours at the swap meet were so demanding in fact, that the family often couldn't get to church on Sundays. 'There was actually a room inside the Compton swap meet where they would all have fellowship and pray and have Bible study on Sunday,' said Park. The religious community found at the Compton Fashion Center is depicted in the wooden crucifix featured in the work. While Park remembers the swap meet fondly, she admits her mother has expressed a desire for her talented daughter to choose a more pleasing subject to paint. 'She is like, 'you can paint anything in the world, why are you painting the swap meet?'' said Park. But while her mother sees the family's tenure at the swap meet as a time she would just as soon forget, Park said the memories give her a sense of pride and reminds her how hard her parents worked to create a better life. 'For me, it is so admirable,' said Park. Mostly, Park hopes her art will encourage people to keep an open mind about others who might be living with fear for themselves or their loved ones as ICE raids continue. Park said now is the time immigrant families like need their community more than ever. 'The biggest thing is empathy; have an open heart and protect those who need it right now,' said Park. 'A lot of people are afraid to go out and get groceries, or do simple things.' Wendy Park's solo exhibition 'Of Our Own' is on view through July 19 at VSF OC, 119 N. Prospect Ave., Tustin. The gallery is open to the public Wednesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Los Angeles Times
2 days ago
- Los Angeles Times
Why this author wrote about creative women as they aged: ‘They made much of less'
In this week's newsletter, we have a chat with Susan Gubar, whose new book, 'Grand Finales: The Creative Longevity of Women Artists,' profiles seven creators who found a second wind in their advancing years. We also look at recent releases reviewed in The Times. And a local bookseller tells us what's selling right now. Seventeen years ago, Susan Gubar was handed a death sentence. A distinguished professor emerita of English and women's studies at Indiana University and the co-author (with Sandra M. Gilbert) of 1979's 'The Madwoman in the Attic,' a groundbreaking work of feminist literary theory, Gubar in 2008 was staring down a terminal cancer diagnosis. A clinical trial involving an experimental drug prolonged her life and gave her the impetus to tackle a new project about seven artists — George Eliot, Colette, Georgia O'Keeffe, Isak Dinesen, Marianne Moore, Louise Bourgeois, Mary Lou Williams, Gwendolyn Brooks and Katherine Dunham — who entered a new phase of creative ferment and productivity as they grew older. I talked to Gubar about her new book, the myth of old age and the persistent stereotypes attached to female artists who may be perceived as having outlived their usefulness as creators. (Please note: The Times may earn a commission through links to whose fees support independent bookstores.) Can you talk about how the book came about? In 2008, I was told that I had 3-5 years to live with late-stage ovarian cancer. The standard treatment was ineffectual. But then in 2012, my oncologist encouraged me to enroll in a clinical trial that was experimenting with a new drug. After nine years in the trial, she then urged me to take 'a drug holiday' since long-term use of the medication could cause leukemia. I am still on that holiday. An unanticipated old age made me appreciate the wonderful gifts longevity can bestow. In researching your subjects, what do they all share in common? All of my subjects are artists who experienced the losses of aging. They needed canes and wheelchairs and helpers while they suffered the pains of various diseases and regimens. One coped with blindness, another with deafness and still others with the loss of intimates. Yet in the face of such deficits, they used their art to exhibit their audacity, mojo, chutzpah, bravado. They're exemplars of Geezer Machismo. All of your subjects are women, who have a much tougher time in terms of earning respect and attention as they age. Can you speak to the obstacles they had to overcome as they reinvented themselves as artists in their advanced years? The stereotypical old lady is invisible or risible, but we know that many elderly women thrive. My old ladies did not approach their life stories as prime-and-decline narratives. Instead they reinvented themselves. In part, they managed to do this by changing their objectives as artists. They moved from the stage to the page or from elite to popular forms. Some of them underwent religious or political conversions that energized their last years. They fully understood the losses of old age, but they did not settle for less. Instead, they made much of less. What's interesting about these artists is that — contrary, I must admit, to what I thought would have been the case — these women were supported by men who became their benefactors, and helped them to negotiate their careers. Quite a few of the women that I write about were helped by much younger men in their lives, who became facilitators. This is true for George Eliot, Colette, Georgia O'Keeffe, Louise Bourgeoise, Mary Lou Williams and others. Williams, the great jazz pianist, was helped by a Jesuit named Father O'Brien, who helped her get control of her copyrights. Georgia O'Keeffe, in contrast, has been championed by photographer Alfred Stieglitz, but she had to leave him in her midlife to establish her autonomy late in life. He was very controlling, even though he definitely established her reputation. She was aided in her later years by a man young enough to be her grandson. You are an octogenarian, and writing a book isn't easy, as you know. Where do you find the inspiration and the strength to keep going as a creator? What keeps me going is what kept my subjects flourishing in their seventies, eighties or nineties. Any sort of creative activity involves expression, which is a great antidote to depression. It may take the form of sculpting, painting, playing an instrument, teaching a dance routine, making a quilt or a garden, establishing a park or a prize, you name it. Without my two current writing projects, I'd be lost. Even (or maybe especially) in our dismal political climate, ongoing creative projects make each day an adventure. Heather Scott Partington reviews 'Fox,' Joyce Carol Oates' mystery novel about a murdered pedophile. 'Fox has the bones of a potboiler but is supported by the sinew of the author's elegant structure and syntax,' writes Partington . Leigh Haber weighs in on Jess Walter's book 'So Far Gone,' calling the author a 'slyly adept social critic [who has] clearly invested his protagonist with all of the outrage and heartbreak he himself feels about the dark course our world has taken.' Daniel Felsenthal thinks Geoff Dyer's memoir 'Homework' is somewhat meandering, yet 'bursts with working-class pride, a fond and mournful belief in the possibility of the British welfare state.' And Paula L. Woods talked to five mystery writers about the inspirations for their new books. This week, we're talking about hot books with Nat Eastman, the manager of Chevalier's Books on Larchmont Boulevard in Hollywood, the oldest independent bookstore in Los Angeles. What books are selling in the store right now? We've been moving Percival Everett's 'James' and Ocean Vuong's 'The Emperor of Gladness' hand over fist. Thanks to BookTok, Asako Yuzuki's 'Butter' has become a mainstay on our bestseller list. We also had the honor of hosting Bryan Byrdlong for a reading from his debut poetry collection 'Strange Flowers,' and we've been handselling it right and left ever since. What are your perennial sellers? Kaya Doi's series of picture books, 'Chirri and Chirra,' is a smash hit around here. Joan Didion and bell hooks are reliable customer favorites as well. As an indie shop, though, we love the deeper cuts too — whether that's 'Água Viva,' literally any Yoko Ogawa work or something from our zine collection. Are you seeing more young people buying books? Despite all the reports about declining literacy rates among young folk, our children's section makes up a quarter of our sales. We really try to carve out a space for the next generation of readers with programs like storytime, a middle-grade book club and summer-reading punch cards. To us, messy shelves are annoying everywhere except the kids' section!
Business Insider
2 days ago
- Business Insider
Viral AI 'cheating' startup Cluely lands $15 million led by Andreessen Horowitz
Cluely, the San Francisco startup that promised to help people "cheat on everything," just nabbed $15 million in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz, its founder announced Friday on X. Cluely launched earlier this year as a tool to help software engineers cheat on their job interviews, among other use cases. Chungin "Roy" Lee, Cluely's CEO and cofounder, went viral after he was suspended by Columbia University over an early version of the tool. Cluely has since removed references to cheating on job interviews from its website. It still positions itself as an "undetectable" AI that sees its users' screens and feeds them answers in real time. With the cash, Lee plans to go all in on marketing. His main goal is for Cluely to reach 1 billion views across all platforms, he told BI. "We'll do pretty much whatever it takes to do that," he said. Cluely is certainly no stranger to marketing. When it launched earlier this year, it posted a tongue-in-cheek video of Lee trying to use Cluely to impress a woman on a date. (The attempt, one might add, was unsuccessful.) Cluely has also announced plans to hire 50 "growth interns" who must post at least four TikToks a day. Andreessen Horowitz partner Bryan Kim said that Lee is a "founder with the boldness to rethink what's possible." "We backed Roy early because he brings a rare mix of vision and fearlessness," Kim said in a statement provided to BI. Cluely's original backers, Abstract Ventures and Susa Ventures—who previously helped raise $5.3 million—are also participating in the new round, Lee told Business Insider.
