Every project in lives in and outside of this website: between people and the community around it. What these projects keep exposing is that people who practice any kind of art, professional or otherwise, do so not only as individual expression but as a way of connecting.
Connection will always be the thing that keeps a cycle of expression moving, changing, adapting and growing. No object, experience, or person ever stays the same, and CEREMONY is creating space and projects that emphasize and build capacity for this reality: preserving difference, connecting throughout change, and creating new meaning, collectively.
In March 2024, received a Digital Greenhouse Grant from Canada Council for the Arts to begin answering:
What can we build to allow any person to have a reflective, meaningful interaction with the collective conversations in CEREMONY?
We began building a small language model trained exclusively on the conversation archive. A small, intentional, imperfect model.
In September 2024, hosted its first community meet-up at It’s Ok* Studios sharing thoughts, concerns, and questions about the technological shifts we’re all living through.
Key words from conversations were passed around. People were asked to write what came to mind. In the simplest way, we were exercising what large language models do not have: relational memories, lived experiences, emotions, and humanity.
In October 2024, transformed into a community reflection booth at Prisma Estudio in Lisbon. Participants entered a space where their personal story met the collective narrative and machine learning. Participants walked away with a reflection generated from their interaction with the machine and KT.
Prototype #1, black text is human-prompted and red text is
Reflection Receipts:
In November 2024, at Buinho artist residency in Messejana, Portugal, created the first prototype of a laser-cut flipbook, combining reflections from the interactions in Lisbon.
Visitors were invited to rearrange the prompts and responses, and further participate in re-authoring the material.
Process Pages
Alongside technical milestones, we share behind-the-scenes insights, ethical tensions, and lessons from collaborators in accessibility, foresight, and AI. These pages serve as a transparent, ongoing look into what it means to build slowly and with intention in digital spaces.