The Sleight of the Machine
Film
Description
“The Sleight of the Machine” offers a meditation on illusion, technology, and the shifting nature of perception. This AI-generated short film transforms the simple gestures of magic into an eerie allegory for our algorithmically mediated reality, blurring the line between traditional sleight-of-hand and computational trickery. Both mesmerizing and disquieting, the film distills the existential tensions of our time: the seduction of technology, the erosion of truth, and the uncanny beauty of a world where reality is no longer a fixed construct but a performance. The film provocatively asks: are we passive spectators, entranced by the spectacle? Or are we, perhaps, complicit assistants—feeding the machine with our data and enabling its deceptions? Ultimately, the film becomes a self-reflective spectacle, questioning how this new medium is received while simultaneously examining both its power and its limitations.
Year Created: 2025
Country: Greece
Medium: Film
Duration: 9 min 42 sec
* The work is presented within the framework of the European Digital Deal project, co-funded by the European Union’s “Creative Europe” program.
Credits
Part of
About the artists
Image 1 / 4
Photo: Courtesy of the artist, Maria Mavropoulou
The Sleight of the Machine
Image 2 / 4
Photo: Courtesy of the artist, Maria Mavropoulou
The Sleight of the Machine
Image 3 / 4
Photo: Courtesy of the artist, Maria Mavropoulou
The Sleight of the Machine
Image 4 / 4
Photo: Courtesy of the artist, Maria Mavropoulou
The Sleight of the Machine
Sponsors/Partners
Within the framework of
Co-funded by the European Union
