Mariella Otto and Gabriele de Seta

Friday, 26 September 2025, at 15:00–16:00
Diviner [A] + [B] by Mariella Otto & Gabriele de Seta.
Screening (ca. 20 min), followed by an artist talk, Q&A and book launch.

The title Diviner spans several new works by visual artist Mariella Otto, where Diviner [A] / [B] – a book and a video work – have been realised in collaboration with researcher Gabriele de Seta (ITA/NO), in 2025.    

Focusing on the processes of evolution and manipulation, in both a breed of speckled chicken and machine learning; the two works highlight relationships between religious, scientific and technological narratives – placing those in proximity to nature and animism. Diviner [B] comprise footage of two Plymouth Rock hens, as well as generated imagery and archival material. Internalising questions on authenticity, the record, automation and the duplicate; the audiovisual further speculate on affinities between artificial intelligence and fortune telling. By considering language, code and entropy; the black-and-white is elaborated as a visual symptom of human interference, where the video point to fragile relationships between reality and fiction; attempting a ‘break-down’ of deterministic and systematic aspects of the binary model.

The book [A] is both a prompt for- and a documentation of [B]. Including theoretical texts by both Otto and de Seta, the publication further explores the prompt and the divination as formats; including writings which have been realised by the chickens, examples of Claude E. Shannon's language entropies, as well as inputs and outputs generated throughout the process. The project has been funded by The Swedish Arts Grants Committee.            

Mariella Otto (SE) lives and works in Malmö. She received her BFA from The Bergen Academy of Art & Design (2016) and her MFA from Malmö Art Academy (2019). The shuffling of images, objects and narratives make out an important part of Ottos practice, where archive findings, historic events and literature recompose in bindings with own material; often using video, sound, text and sculptural elements in formats of installation. Her work has been shown at Malmö Konsthall, Gothenburg International Biennial, Hangar Cia (Lisbon), Skissernas Museum (Lund), Splab Gallery (Aarhus), Bloc Projects (Sheffield), amongst other places. Previous residencies include Air 351 (Cascais), Hangar Cia (Lisbon) and Land 404 (Jämjö).

Visit Mariella Otto's artist page - mariellaotto.com

Gabriele de Seta (ITA) is a researcher at the University of Bergen, where he leads the ALGOFOLK project (“Algorithmic folklore: The mutual shaping of vernacular creativity and automation”), he holds a PhD in Sociology from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan. His research work, grounded on ethnographic engagement across multiple sites, focuses on digital media practices and vernacular creativity in Chinese-speaking areas. He is also interested in experimental music, Internet art, and collaborative intersections between anthropology and art practice. 

Read more about Gabriele de Seta - paranom.asia