Romeo and Juliape is a play, written by Kalen Iwamoto and AI, about a human and AI that fall in love. Written just before ChatGPT burst into mainstream consciousness, Romeo and Juliape straddles the lines between science fiction / nonfiction / fiction by exploring the trope of human-machine love via a real-life dialogue with GPT-3. The result is not only an intimate and tragic love story, but a dialogue that follows the twists and turns of the human condition in the digital age.

Note about AI’s lines: All lines by Romeo were produced in OpenAI Playground’s Chat application using the following GPT-3 models: davinci, curie, babbage, and ada. All editing was at the structural level (arrangement and ordering of lines). The outputs themselves have been left untouched.

 

PERFORMANCE INSTALLATION

Performances of Romeo and Juliape have taken place at various locations worldwide.

These post-theatre performance-installations are presented as a triptych of screen characters, with AI Romeo and human Juliape flanking a third element of this on-chain play — the blockchain. The lateral pieces move to the sound of the character’s voices, while the central piece blooms in response to the corresponding lines being minted on-chain. Thanks to the generous support of Refraction DAO, the Romeo and Juliape performance premiered at Proof of People, organized by VerticalCrypto Art x Refraction Festival, at Zero Space NYC.

A second performance installation was presented in Budapest, Hungary as part of the digital Binale in the Budapest Spring Festival.

If you are interested in showing the Romeo and Juliape performance-installation, please contact us here.

 

 

NFTs (Lines on chain)

Each line of the play is a fully on-chain NFT (without jpgs) on the Ethereum blockchain. The artists have minted all the lines, so the script can live on-chain in its entirety. You can collect a line on OpenSea.

Here you can view the smart contract, where Romeo and Juliape live.

Owning a line also entitles you to receive a signed and numbered physical copy of the play. Please see instructions below for claiming your book.

 

 

BOOK

Each “line NFT” comes with one — and only one — signed physical book of Romeo and Juliape.

If you are the first collector of a Romeo & Juliape line NFT, you can claim your signed and numbered physical copy for free (international shipping included) by sending us your name, postal address and the wallet address containing your NFT. Please use our contact form with subject line: “Claiming R&J physical book”, and we will send you verification instructions. Only one book per NFT.

If you are not the first collector of a line NFT, or you want to check whether the book for a particular NFT has already been claimed, you can view each NFT’s claim status here: https://wennew-atelier.xyz/romeo-juliape-checker

If you don’t own a line NFT, you can still purchase an unsigned physical book here: https://wennew-atelier.xyz/product/romeo-juliape-book

 

 

 

CREDITS

Script Kalen Iwamoto and AI
Art Direction Julien Silvano
Production Wen New Atelier
Smart Contracts Neoval SAS Paris
Video Computing U2P050
Voices Hannah Douglas and Text-to-Speech AI
Original Title Ruth Catlow

Special thanks to
Louis Parker
Sasha Stiles
Merzmensch

Partners
Refraction DAO
Proof Of People by Vertical Crypto
Glitch Residency