Text about Manifest «0 g» by MigrArt/DACZ (Deniz Damla Uz & Niştiman Erdede)

Artificial intelligence (AI) generated a prose poem for Deniz Damla Uz and Niştiman Erdede from DACZ/MigrArt, reflecting the mental state of a person pushed to their limits. The text weaves names of medicines and their dosages into a delirious language, resembling a trip where abysses open up during pauses for breath. With this work, Uz and Erdede aim to address the effects of capitalism on the psyche – the pharmaceutical industry profits at the expense of those dependent on diagnoses and medication. While not endorsing conspiracy theories, the artists seek to underscore the historical reality that mental illness has often been used to marginalise and mistreat individuals. In alignment with the dehumanising qualities of machinery, Uz and Erdede used AI to create a poem that erases the subject while presenting it in multiple languages to engage with a variety of perspectives. As a manifesto, «0 g» does not seek to anesthetise but rather spur activism and equality while embracing neurodiversity.

MigrArt / DACZ (Deniz Damla Uz & Niştiman Erdede) is a Zurich-based association founded by people who had to seek refuge and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) artists. MigrArt activities are created with community involvement, based on the firm conviction that art plays a vital role in connecting and empowering people from diverse backgrounds, identities and affiliations, particularly those living on the margins. The Decolonial Art Collective Zurich is a long-term project by the association MigrArt, initiated by Niştiman Erdede. It offers space, network, resources and programs for refugee artists and cultural practitioners in Zurich and elsewhere to pursue their own artistic activities, network with the cultural scene, and find space and time to build a creative arch from their origins to the present.