Until I wasn’t.
A remarkable new installation by artists John Sanborn and Ionee Waterhouse opened on May 25 in Castelbuono, Sicily, and runs until August 30. While both artists have a long practice of collaborations, this is the first time they’ve worked together. It provides another opportunity for discussing the ways in which AI finds its way into the art world. Their installation, Heaven + Earth, does not rely on generative AI but rather on existing elements prompted by the artists. More than two years in the making, the exhibition is curated by Laura Barreca, director of the Museo Civico di Castelbuono; the work was ‘designed on commission of the Museum for the historical context of the medieval castle of the Ventimigli. Heaven+Earth brings into dialogue cultural heritage, digital technologies and human heritage.‘ Dialogue was very much a distinct feature of the project, between artists, members of the scientific committee assembled for the show and for the accompanying catalogue, between curators then curator, and lastly between the catalogue’s editors. A sinuous undertaking that will see the volume published in September 2026.
I am credited as co-editor of the latter. I contributed an essay and an interview with the artists; I read the shorter contributions by committee members, which arrived shortly before all needed to be sent to the publisher. A process that was more about clearing the way than risking interfering with the promise made: delivering a show and a book. A promise bound to the sacred, a theme John Sanborn has explored in a number of works. I will comment further on this singular experience once the catalogue is published. It introduced me to the work of Ionee Waterhouse, and confirmed that John Sanborn has yet again subverted the technology in order to have it reveal to itself what it had not dreamed capable of doing. A 21st century entreprise looking at the 18th century. Now comes the time to deal with the 21st.
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