Jennifer Rubell turns texting anxiety into an AI artwork at Meredith Rosen Gallery
In New York, Jennifer Rubell has transformed one of the most ordinary acts of modern life into the subject of a conceptual artwork. Her new AI app, Attune, is being presented as part of her current exhibition at Meredith Rosen Gallery, where the show runs through June 26.
Attune is designed to read a draft text message, identify what is not landing, and rewrite it in the user’s own voice. Rubell says the app can flag habits she describes as “flashing,” “momifying,” and “toe dipping” — terms for the ways people reveal vulnerability, hide behind independence, or ask for permission before stating a need. The goal, she says, is to help users soften their language without weakening their position.
That distinction matters to Rubell, who sees Attune as a deliberate counterpoint to the kind of AI that flatters users by echoing what they want to hear. “I see a lot of value in subverting that,” she said, describing the app as a way to use AI for clarity rather than affirmation. She added that the project is meant to help people become “better,” not merely more agreeable.
Rubell developed the diagnoses through her own analysis and feedback from beta testers, many of whom wanted to preserve a degree of softness in their messages. For her, that impulse is not trivial. She argues that the labor of careful communication is often dismissed as decorative, especially when it is associated with women, even though it shapes relationships, negotiations, and professional exchanges alike.
The app is also being offered as a commercial product, with a monthly subscription price of $12.99. Rubell describes it as a tool for “people who are sensitive to words” and for those who spend real time and emotional energy on the messages they send.
The exhibition itself folds that idea into a broader visual field: beach balls stamped with the word “baller,” a painting with a QR code offering a one-month free trial, and a young man leaning against the wall on his phone, which Rubell calls a “readymade portrait of our time.” You can text him, she notes, but he may not answer.
In Rubell’s hands, Attune becomes both a practical interface and a conceptual mirror. It suggests that the language of texting — hesitant, coded, and often overthought — is now rich enough to be treated as material for art.
JenniferRubell Attune ContemporaryArt AIArt MeredithRosenGallery NewYorkArt
