Elisa Abatsis

FEATHER is an immersive multimedia installation that reimagines the structure of an Ancient Egyptian burial tomb as a site of technological reflection. Conceived in response to the proliferation of AI chatbots released last year, the work centers on a life-sized mummy assembled from wires, circuitry, and computer components. Encircling the figure, walls are inscribed with hieroglyphic translations of AI-generated utterances—fragments that range from humorous to unsettling. Together, these inscriptions form a contemporary codex that parallels ancient systems of recording knowledge with the algorithmic logic of machine intelligence.

The installation draws on the Egyptian belief that the heart, preserved after death, bore the record of a person’s deeds and was weighed against a feather in the judgment of the afterlife. The title, Feather, refers to this ritual act of moral calibration—a test of balance between truth and impurity. If the heart proved heavier than the feather, it was devoured by Ammit, the crocodile deity, and the soul was condemned to darkness.

Through this lens, FEATHER meditates on the convergence of ancient metaphysics and digital rationality. The precision of the weighing ritual mirrors the logic of code—each a system that seeks to render judgment through data, syntax, and rule. Yet the work also gestures toward what escapes such systems: the unquantifiable, the emotive, the disobedient pulse that resists measurement.

A dual-screen projection animates this dialogue, juxtaposing images of the constructed mummy with sequences of computer code and AI chatbot interactions. The resulting interplay between body and algorithm invites viewers to consider whether, across time and technology, there remains a shared mystery at the core of being—something that refuses to be computed.

On July 27, 2024, Elisa enacted a ritual of cremation for the Mummy—a performative gesture marking a transformation from destruction to peace. Carrying the figure from the gallery to the CAI Beach, she placed it at the center of a linen cloth laid in a circular form upon the sand. The fire was lit from within the Mummy, its inner circuitry becoming the first to ignite. As the flames rose, Elisa recited Spell 81A: “For Being Transformed into a Lotus” from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, an incantation believed to guide the soul’s metamorphosis into a lotus flower. Moving in slow procession around the burning figure, she carried a jar of incense, allowing the smoke to mingle with the air on the water. When the fire subsided, Elisa gathered the ashes and fragments of charred material, returning them to the Mummy’s original resting place within the gallery—completing the cycle of offering, destruction, and rebirth.

The multimedia projections featured in the installation are realized in collaboration with CAI artist-in-residence filmmaker Bohan Chen.