fantastic little splash (Valeriia Malchenko & Oleksandr Hants)
Info about the residency
1. September 2025 - 31. October 2025Project ATOL: Ljubljana, Slovenia
About the artists
fantastic little splash is a collective comprised of journalist/artist Lera Malchenko and artist/director Oleksandr Hants. fantastic little splash combines art practice and media studies to research collective imagination and emotions appropriation in technosocial systems. Group works with videos, texts and interactive game-based tools. Established in 2016 in Ukraine, their projects have been exhibited at events including transmediale, post.MoMA, Plokta TV, Ars Electronica, Liste Art Fair Basel, Construction festival VI x CYNETART, KISFF, and Docudays, among others. fantastic little splash – participants of the transmediale x Pro Helvetia Residency 2022, and the Cité internationale des arts residency 2023.About the project
Infocry is the chorus machine for inauthentic actors' voices. With its help, you can listen to malicious narratives from different countries. These narratives were gathered, analyzed, and grouped. Then we found voices for the categorized threats and placed them all in one location. With the Infocry chorus machine, you are always aware of how you can be engaged.The audio available through the device features commentary from inauthentic actors on social media -- commonly referred to as Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior (CIB). These actors, often labeled as "social bots" or simply "bots," are not always automated. Frequently, they are paid individuals who post identical or slightly altered messages under the guise of personal opinion.
To gather these comments, we used Osavul, an AI-powered software that analyzes vast amounts of text data, grouping similar comments together. This process allows for the identification of patterns among seemingly independent statements, revealing coordinated narratives across different users and publications.
Infocry draws inspiration from the Greek chorus concept, an essential element of ancient Greek tragedy, which influenced modern democracy and political equality principles. Today, although online voices often appear to represent "the people," it is crucial to recognize that some emotional expressions stem from inauthentic actors, raising questions about their motives and impacts.
Within the DATAS residency, we aim to continue researching the voices of inauthentic actors who seek to polarize societies and radicalize political processes, particularly in Slovenia. In collaboration with PROJECT ATOL, we plan to work with the local community to capture the tone of voice and tactics of inauthentic actors in Slovenia and to further develop the chorus machine prototype.