Julieta Aranda - Tools for Infinite Monkeys (Open Machine)

JULIETA ARANDA
Tools for Infinite Monkeys (Open Machine)
Octubre 16 - Noviembre 26, 2014
October 16 - November 26, 2014
Julieta Aranda received a BFA in filmmaking from the School of Visual Arts (2001) and an MFA from Columbia
University (2006), both in New York. Her explorations span installation, video, and print media, with a special interest
in the creation and manipulation of artistic exchange and the subversion of traditional notions of commerce through
art making. Central to Aranda’s practice are her involvement with circulation mechanisms and the idea of a “poetics of
circulation”; her interest on science-fiction, space travel and zones of friction; the possibility of a politicized
subjectivity through the perception and use of time, and the notion of power over the imaginary. As a co-director of
the online platform e-flux together with Anton Vidokle, Julieta Aranda has developed the projects Time/Bank,
Pawnshop, and e-flux video rental, all of which started in the e-flux storefront in New York, and have travelled to
many venues worldwide. In addition to the Guggenheim Museum, Aranda's work has been exhibited internationally, in
venues such as the 8th Berlin Biennale (2014), Witte de With (2013 and 2010), Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Villa
Croce, Genova (2013), ArtPostions, Miami Basel (2012), MACRO Roma (2012) Documenta 13 (2012), N.B.K. (2012),
Gwangju Biennial (2012), Venice Biennial (2011), Istanbul Biennial (2011), Portikus, Frankfurt (2011), New Museum
NY (2010), Kunstverein Arnsberg (2010), MOCA Miami (2009), Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2007), 2nd
Moscow Biennial (2007) MUSAC, Spain (2010 and 2006), and VII Havanna Biennial; amongst many others.
Julieta Aranda CV
1975
Born in Mexico City, Mexico
Lives and works in Berlin and New York.
Education
2006 MFA Columbia University Schol of the Arts, NY
2001 BFA, School of Visual Arts, NY (Filmmaking)
Selected solo exhibitions
2014
If a body meet a body— Galería OMR, Mexico City
Tools for Infinite Monkeys (open machine) — Ignacio Liprandi Art Contemporáneo, Buenos Aires
Video Art at Midnight #56 — Babylon Kino, Berlin
Notes for a time/bank — Vdrome (online)
Untitled — NuMu, Guatemala
2013
The knot is not (the rope) — ABC (Art Berlin Contemporary), Berlin
If a body meet a body — Museo Villa Croce, Genova, Italy
Where there is smoke…. — FPAC, Palermo, Italy
尸Γσ₠§§㏌ —Goethe-Institut Library, New York
2012
I wanted to give it to someone else — ArtPositions, ArtBasel Miami
I wanted to give it to someone else – MACRO, Rome
Between Timid and Timbuktu — Marilia Razuk Gallery, São Paulo, Brasil
Time/Bank — dOCUMENTA 13, Kassel, Germany
e-flux video rental (with Anton Vidokle) – Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Multifamiliar — N.B.K, Berlin
Time/Bank — Stella Foundation, Moscow
Time/Bank — STUK, Leuven, Belgium
2011
E-flux video rental — Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Broken English— Performa, New York City
Necessarily my memory is vague (I do get my dates mixed sometimes) — ArtBo, Bogotá, Colombia
Time/Food— Living as Form: Creative Time, New York
Pawnshop — Thessaloniki Biennial, Greece
You had no ninth of May! — Venice Biennial, Latin American Pavilion
Time/Bank (collaboration with Anton Vidokle) – Portikus, Frankfurt (cat.)
Kopfbau (collaboration with Anton Vidokle) — ArtBasel, Hall 1
Between Timid and Timbuktu – Galeri Niklas Belenius, Stockholm
In Search of Lost Time — El 52 / Galería OMR, Mexico City
The tale of the tiger is longer than the tiger’s tail… – ZonaMACO, Mexico City
2010
Time/Store (collaboration with Anton Vidokle) — e-flux, New York
Time/Bank (collaboration with Anton Vidokle) – 6 th Liverpool Biennial
If you tell the story well, it will not have been a comedy - Kunstverein Arnsberg, Germany
e-flux video rental (with Anton Vidokle) - Fondazione Giuliani, Rome, Italy
All the Memory of the world (we can remember it for you) - New Museum, New York, USA
2009
There will be time, Interval exhibition series, Solomon R. Guggenheim, New York, USA
Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick. 1/9 unosunove, Rome, Italy
Tools for Infinite Monkeys, Polygraphic Triennal, San Juan, Puerto Rico (curated by Jens Hoffman)
Tools for Infinite Monkeys – Slovenia Graphic Triennial, Ljubliana, Slovenia
2008
Publick Occurrences, both Forreign and Domestick.... - Galerie Michael Janssen, Berlin, Germany
Tools for Infinite Monkeys - Fruit & Flower deli, New York, USA
e-flux video rental (with Anton Vidokle) -Festival de Performance, Cali, Colombia
There has been a miscalculation - Solo presentation at Volta Art Fair, Basel, Switzerland
e-flux video rental (with Anton Vidokle) - Fundação Gubenkian / Maumaus, Lisbon, Portugal
You Had No 9th of May! (on the wrong end of time) - Sala Díaz, Austin, Texas, USA
2007
e-flux video rental (with Anton Vidokle) - 9th Lyon Biennial, Lyon, France
e-flux video rental (with Anton Vidokle) - Centre Culturel Suisse de Paris, Paris, France
Pawnshop - e-flux, (collaboration with A. Vidokle and L. Linden), New York, USA
Present Future - Artissima, Tourin, Italy
There has been a miscalculation - Ersta Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden
e-flux video rental (with Anton Vidokle) - Carpenter Center at Harvard, Boston, USA
2006
e-flux
e-flux
e-flux
e-flux
e-flux
video
video
video
video
video
rental
rental
rental
rental
rental
(with
(with
(with
(with
(with
Anton
Anton
Anton
Anton
Anton
Vidokle)
Vidokle)
Vidokle)
Vidokle)
Vidokle)
-
Arthouse, Austin, Texas, USA
1st Biennial of Architecture and Landscape, Canary Islands
PIST, Istanbul, Turkey
Mucsarnok Kunsthalle, Budapest
Extra-City, Antwerp
2005
e-flux
e-flux
e-flux
e-flux
e-flux
video
video
video
video
video
rental
rental
rental
rental
rental
(with
(with
(with
(with
(with
Anton
Anton
Anton
Anton
Anton
Vidokle)
Vidokle)
Vidokle)
Vidokle)
Vidokle)
-
Portikus, Frankfurt, Germany
INSA Art Space, Seoul Art Foundation, Korea
Moore Space, Miami, USA
Manifesta Foundation, Amsterdam,The Netherlands
KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany
2004
e-flux video rental (with Anton Vidokle) - e-flux, New York, USA
2000
Safety Instructions, VII Havana Biennial, Havana Cuba - (Catalogue)
1999
Springs of Action, La Panaderia, Mexico City, Mexico
Medidas de Emergencia, La Panaderia, Mexico City,
Selected group exhibitions
2014
The Reluctant Narrator — Museu Coleção Berardo, Lisbon, Portugal
Islands off the Shore of Asia — Spring – Para/Site, Hong Kong
In __ we trust: Art and Money — CMA (Colombus Museum of art), Ohio, USA
Couplings — Taylor Macklin, Zürich, Switzerland
8 Berlin Biennale — Berlin
Secret Codes — Galeria Luisa Strina, São Paulo, Brazil
7,000,000,000 — Espai d'art contemporani de Castelló, Spain
Ökonomie Der Aufmerksamkeit — Kunsthalle Wien (Museumsquartier), Vienna
BICI (1a Cartagena Biennale) – Cartagena, Colombia
Ir para Volver (12 Biennale of Cuenca) – Cuenca, Ecuador
2013
AKTZ — Kraupa-Tuscany Gallery, Berlin
1:1 — Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana, Slovenia
The Past is Present – MOCAD, (Museum of Contemporary Art) Detroit, USA
Toward a promise of inquiry – Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam
The Possibility of an Island – Import Projects, Berlin
Una Posibilidad De Escape Para Asaltar El Estudio De La Realidad Y Volver A Grabar El Universo
– Espai d'art contemporani de Castelló, Castellon de la Plana, Spain
Draft Urbanism, Biennial of the Americas — Denver, Colorado, USA
AB, a project by Gabriele De Santis — Nomas Foundation, Rome, Italy
The Spirit of Utopia— Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, England
Money After Money — Eye of Gyre, Tokyo
2012
Unsaid/Spoken — Selections from the Ella Fontanal Cisneros and CIFO collections, Miami, FL
El mañana ya estuvo aquí — Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico
No glot… c’lom fliday — Shanghai Biennial (postcard project)
Predicting Memories —Vienna Art Week, Vienna
9th Gwangju Biennial —South Korea
Searching for the Fountain — Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Not Me: Subject to Change — 2012 CIFO Grants & Commissions Program Exhibition, Miami, FL
Ñew York — AMA Art Museum of the Americas, Washington DC
Blind Cut — Marlborough Chelsea Gallery, New York City
2011
Performa 11 — Biennial of new visual art performance, US
Between forever and never — IILA, Istituto Italo-Latino Americano Pavillon, Italy
Animal Kingdom — Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin, Germany
Checklist — Exhibition on print, presented in the 31st issue of Mousse magazine. (pg 119 )
Live Wire — Shedhalle Zürich, Switzerland
Incheon Women Biennial — Incheon, Korea
Istanbul Biennial — Istanbul, Turkey
Based in Berlin — Berlin
There was an old woman who… — Schinkel Pavilion, Berlin
There, I fixed it — Stroom den Haag, The Netherlands
Weltraum / Space: About a Dream — Kunsthalle Wien
Speculative Futures — Bloomberg Art Space, New York City
2010
Chartreuse Jeune — Casa Tabarelli, Bolzano
Bigminis — CAPC, Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux
CGEM: Apuntes sobre la emancipación —MUSAC, León, Spain. (publication only)
Take Me To Your Leader! The Great Escape Into Space — The Museum of Contemporary Art / Museet for samtidskunst,
Oslo
These gifts must always move – Sutton Gallery, Fitzroy, Australia
Avenue of the Americas — LentSpace, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York
Held up by Columns — Renwick Gallery, New York
Not a Place, an Outlook — Governor’s Island, NY
Morality Act VI: Remember Humanity — Witte de With, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Model Kits (Modelos para armar) — MUSAC, Leon, Spain
Gabinete Blanco — La Colección Jumex, Mexico City
2009
Convention, Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA), Miami
Fax, Drawing Center, New York
Paper Exhibition, Artists Space, New York
Impakt festival, Academiegalerie, Utrecht, Netherlands
Autres Mesures, Centre Photographique de la île de France (CPIF)
Geography and Myth, Bard College, New York
Escultura Social: A New Generation of Art from Mexico City, Nasher Museum,
Duke University
Cargo, Autocenter, Berlin
28th Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana
Auszeit, Kunstverein Arnsberg, Germany
Narcotica at Schalter - Basel, Galerie im Regierungsviertel, Berlin
Central Nervous System No.2, Galerie im Regierungsviertel, Berlin
Art Cologne 2009, Cologne, Germany
Video Pyramid, On from here – Final exhibition at Guild & Greyshkul, Guild & Greyshkul, New York
The Forgotten Bar Project, Peter Bergman, Stockholm
2008
Sudden White, Royal College, London
YES, A R Contemporary,, Milan
The Forgotten Bar Project, Studio Maffei, Milan
The Salon of the Revolution, 29th Youth Salon, The House of Artists, Zagreb, Croatia
L’Argent, Le Plateau (Frac île de France) Paris, France
One of these things is not like the other things, Galleria 1/9 unosunove, Rome
The Future as Disruption, The Kitchen, NY
The Forgotten Bar Project, Galerie im Regierungsviertel, Berlin
The End Was Yesterday Part II, Kunstraum Innsbruck, Austria.
Escultura Social: A New Generation of Art from Mexico City, Museo Alameda, San Antonio, Texas
The Hypnotic Show, Silverman Gallery, San Francisco.
The Moonlight Show, Art Brussels
The End Was Yesterday”, Galerie im Regierungsviertel, Berlin
The End Was Yesterday”, Autocenter, Berlin.
Transmediale.08 ‘Conspire’” Berlin
unitednationsplazaMexicoDF”, Mexico City
2007
Escultura Social: A New Generation of Art from Mexico City”, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago – (Cat.)
In Defense of Ardor” Bellwether Gallery, New York
Vilnius is Burning” Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino, Italy.
USA: American Video Art at the beginning of the 3rd Millenium” 2nd Moscow Biennale – (Catalogue)
The Last Piece by John Fare, GB Agency, Paris
The FM Ferry, Experiment Staten Island Ferry, New York
System Error, Palazzo delle Papesse, Siena, Italy – (Catalogue)
2006
Dictionary of War, Muffathalle, Munich, Germany
Dirty Words, Galería Pedro Cera, Lisboa, Portugal
Columbia MFA Thesis exhibiton, New York (Publication)
Trial Ballons, MUSAC Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Castilla y Leon, Castilla, Spain – (Catalogue)
Utopia Station, Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies, Princeton University, New Jersey
Proximamente, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo Carrillo Gil, Mexico City
One-Day Celebration, (Collaborating on Pierre Huyghe’s project) Musee de l’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
Peace Tower, Whitney Biennial (Collaborating on Rirkrit Tiravanija’s project), New York
Slow Burn, Gallery Edward Miterrand, Geneva, Switzerland
An image bank for everyday revolutionary life, REDCAT, Los Angeles
Re-shuffle, Art in General, New York – (Publication)
2005
Co-dependent, The Living Room, Miami Fl
EVR catalogue, Publication release, e-flux projects, New York City
Arts&LEISURE, Publication release, Art In General, New York City
Version 6.0, Version Magazine, Espace Paul Ricard, Paris France
Cardinal Points, PS 122, New York City
IX Baltic Triennial, Contemporary Art Center (CAC), Vilnius, Lithuania – (Catalogue).
IX Baltic Triennial, 33 1/2, Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), London, England
Curated by Francesca Grassi, Greengrassi, London, England.
Espejos invertidos, Instituto Cultural de México en Washington, USA –
(Catalogue)
Methapase, Wallach Gallery, Columbia University, New York City
Panoply”,Naiman Gallery, Columbia University, New York City
Utopia Station, World Social Forum, Porto Alegre, Brazil
2004
The 7 sins, with Anton Vidokle, Moderna Galerija, Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana,
Slovenia – (Catalogue)
Past Perfect, Kantor Gallery, New York City
Post_Marx, rethinking utopian society, with Anton Vidokle, Galería Animal, Santiago de Chile
Video Marathon, Art in General, New York
Creación en movimiento, Centro Nacional de las Artes, México D.F. – (Catalogue)
Localismos, with Anton Vidokle México DF, Centro Histórico
ev+a, Imagine Limerick, with Anton Vidokle, Limerick, Ireland – (Catalogue)
2003
Systematic repertoire of quick reference for students and professionals,
with definitions according to the actual world, Canaia, Mexico City, Mexico
Without You I’m Nothing, with Anton Vidokle, Platform Garanti, Istanbul, Turkey
Now Playing, D’amelio Terras Gallery, New York, USA
2002
Overkill, Heerebaeckerei-Kultur, Berlin, Germany – (Catalogue)
2000
Outer Limits International Film And Video Series, Artists Space, New York, USA
1999
Safety Instructions, Visual Arts Gallery, New York, USA
New Filmmakers 2000, Aldrich Museum Of Contemporary Art, Connecticut, USA
Grants, residencies, and acknowledgements
2013
Civitella Ranieri Residence Program
2012
CIFO production / acquisition Grant — Miami, USA
Novaspace, Zero Gravity Flight Program — Bordeaux (France), Berlin (Germany)
MACRO residence program — Rome, Italy
2009
Jumex book production grant
2007
International Residence Recollets — Paris, France
IASPIS – International Studio Program 2007 —Stockholm, Sweden
Collections
MUSAC – Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Castilla Y Leon
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
ZMK, Center for Art and Media (Karlsruhe, Germany)
Jean-Marie Formigé (Geneva, Switzerland)
Rolf A. & Venck Hoff (Oslo, Norway)
Speranza Carletti (Milano, Italy)
Gregory Papadimitriou (Athens, Greece)
Julia Muggenburg (London, England)
Victor Rodriguez (NY, USA)
Barbara Koerver (Berlin, Germany)
Mariano Pichler (Milan, Italy)
Peter Zimmerman (Köln, Germany)
Colección Fundación Jumex (México)
Fondazione Giuliani (Rome, Italy)
Colección Coppel (México City)
Museo Amparo (Puebla, México)
Ignacio Liprandi (Argentina)
Niklas Belenius (Stockholm, Sweden)
Vista de exhibición / Exhibition view
Tools for infinite Monkeys, 2012
Vinilo / Vinyl applique
Dimensiones variables / Variable dimensions
Edición / Edition: 5 + 1 AP
The Human Authorship Requirement, 2014
Impresión giclée sobre papel Fiba Glass, 2 páginas A4 de texto
(modificaciones de derechos de autor), montadas sobre foamboard
Giclée print on Fiba Glass paper, 2 A4 pages of text (copyright
ammendments) mounted on foamboard
Sin marco / Unframed: 40 x 26.6 cm / 15.7 x 10.4 in
S is for Infinite, 2012
Libro impreso de tapa dura / Hardcover printed book
27.94 x 21.59 cm / 11 x 8.5 in
Edición / Edition: infinito / infinite
A Time Without Events, 2008
1 espejo con S de vinilo aplicada, 1 vidrio espejado con S de vinilo aplicada
1 mirror with silver S vinyl appliqué and 1 one-way mirror with silver S vinyl appliqué
240 x 90 cm c/u, distancia variable entre los espejos
94.4 x 35.4 in (each), variable distance between mirrors
Edición / Edition: 3 + 1AP
Monkey Protocol Suite, 2008
Archivo PDF (5 páginas, escritas por los monos) que se imprimen infinitamente
PDF file (5 pages, written by the monkeys) to be printed endlessly
Requerimientos de la obra: computadora e impresora a elección, tinta negra, papel blanco para imprimir
Requirements for the piece: computer & printer of free choice, black ink, white printing paper
Edición / Edition: 3
Vista de exhibición / Exhibition view
Tools for infinite monkeys, 2012
Máquina de escribir modificada, cuerda de sisal, lápices chinos masticados
Modified typewriter, sisal twine, chewed Chinese pencils
36 x 14.5 x 33 cm / 14.1 x 5.7 x 12.9 in
Edición / Edition: Unique / Única
A level of intention, 2012
Cinco serigrafías enmarcadas / Five framed silk-screened pages
80 x 60 cm c/u / 31.4 x 23.6 in each (sin enmarcar / unframed)
Edición / Edition: 5 + 1 AP
Disponible / Available: 2/5, 3/5, 4/5, 5/5
Has it happened already?, 2012
Serigrafía sobre espejo / Silk-screen on mirror
80 x 60 x 0.5 cm / 31.4 x 23.6 x 0.19 in
Edición / Edition: 10
Disponible / Available: desde / from 3/10 a / to 10/10)
How do you count your monkeys?, 2012
Banderines hechos a mano (papel, cuerda de sisal, gomaespuma, plástico, piedras), pieza de yeso
Hand-made bunting (paper, sisal twine, foam, plastic, rocks), plaster sculpture
Dimensiones variables / Variable dimensions
Edición / Edition: 3 + 1 AP
You could ask the same question about spiders, 2012
Grabación de arena cayendo dentro de un reloj de arena, modificado digitalmente
Digitally manipulated recording of sand falling through hourglass
Audio digital / Digital audio file
Edición / Edition: 3
Julieta Aranda
Tools for Infinite Monkeys (open machine)
Octubre 16 - Noviembre 26, 2014
Jonathan Swift:
“Media docena de monos provistos con máquinas de escribir producirían, en unas cuantas eternidades, todos los libros
en el British Museum”
Jorge Luis Borges:
“Estrictamente hablando, un solo mono inmortal sería suficiente”
Los monos (Elmo, Gum, Heather, Holly, Mistletoe & Rowan):
sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss…
El “Teorema del mono infinito” establece que “un grupo infinito de monos inmortales, acomodando letras al azar por una
cantidad infinita de tiempo, casi seguramente eventualmente producirían un texto dado, por ejemplo las obras
completas de William Shakespeare”.
En este contexto “casi seguramente” es un término matemático con un significado preciso, y el “mono” no es en realidad
un mono, sino una metáfora de un dispositivo abstracto que produce al azar una secuencia de letras ad infinitum. La
probabilidad de un mono tecleando sin errores exactamente el contenido de un libro es tan pequeña, que las
posibilidades de que ocurra durante un período de tiempo de una magnitud similar a la edad del universo son
extremadamente bajas, pero no nulas.
Variantes del teorema incluyen múltiples y hasta infinitos mecanógrafos, y el texto en cuestión varía desde una
biblioteca entera hasta una sola oración. La historia de estas afirmaciones se remonta a “Acerca de la generación y la
corrupción” de Aristóteles y “De natura deorum” de Cícero, pasando por Blaise Pascal y Jonathan Swift, hasta las
iteraciones modernas, que hacen uso de las icónicas máquinas de escribir. A principios del siglo XX, Émile Borel y Arthur
Eddington usaron el teorema para ilustrar las escalas de tiempo implícitas en los fundamentos de la mecánica
estadística.
Hace algunos años, un grupo de científicos en Inglaterra dio una computadora a seis macacos Sulawesi (Elmo, Gum,
Heather, Holly, Mistletoe and Rowan), para probar el teorema. Lo que ocurrió fue que los monos destruyeron la
computadora en un par de semanas, pero durante ese tiempo también lograron producir 5 páginas de texto, que
consistían en gran parte de la letra S.
En principio, los monos han producido un texto infinito, aunque tenga sólo cinco páginas de extensión. Y quiero creer
que ese texto no es cuantificable, ya que acarrea el peso de siglos de imaginar a monos como escribas, recolectando la
historia escrita como no escrita, contenida tanto en las bibliotecas del pasado como en las bibliotecas del futuro. Este
texto no cuantificable registra en su ilegible repetición todas las narrativas críticas e históricas, que correctamente
alineadas se vuelven legibles, y de otra forma permanecen irreconocibles, una acumulación de potencial latente.
Julieta Aranda
Tools for Infinite Monkeys (open machine)
October 16 - November 26, 2014
Jonathan Swift:
"A half-dozen monkeys provided with typewriters would, in a few eternities, produce all the books in the British
Museum."
Jorge Luis Borges:
"Strictly speaking, one immortal monkey would suffice."
The monkeys (Elmo, Gum, Heather, Holly, Mistletoe & Rowan):
sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss……
The “Infinite Monkey Theorem” states that “an infinite group of immortal monkeys, arranging letters at random for an
infinite amount of time, will almost surely produce eventually a given text, such as the complete works of William
Shakespeare.”
In this context, “almost surely” is a mathematical term with a precise meaning, and the “monkey” is not an actual
monkey, but a metaphor for an abstract device that produces a random sequence of letters ad infinitum. The probability
of a monkey exactly typing without mistakes the contents of a book is so tiny, that the chance of it occurring during a
period of time of the order of the age of the universe is extremely low, but not zero.
Variants of the theorem include multiple and even infinite typists, and the target text vary between an entire library and
a single sentence. The history of these statements can be traced back to Aristotle’s On Generation and Corruption and
Cicero’s De natura deorum, through Blaise Pascal and Jonathan Swift, and finally to the modern iterations, that make
use of the iconic typewriters. In the early 20th century, Émile Borel and Arthur Eddington used the theorem to illustrate
the timescales implicit in the foundations of statistical mechanics.
Some years ago, some scientists in England furnished 6 Sulawesi crested macaques (Elmo, Gum, Heather, Holly,
Mistletoe and Rowan) with a computer, to try and prove the theorem. What happened afterwards is that the monkeys
effectively destroyed the computer in a couple of weeks, but during that time they managed to produce 5 pages of text,
consisting largely of the letter S.
In principle, the output of the monkeys is an infinite text, even though it is only 5 pages long. And I want to believe that
this text is non-quantifiable, as it carries all the weight of centuries of imagining monkeys as scribes, collecting history
both written and unwritten, library backward and library forward. This non-quantifiable text registers in its illegible
repetition all the critical historical narratives, that when properly aligned become readable, and otherwise remain
unrecognizable, dormant potentiality.