Location
Stephen McLaughlin GalleryStart date
2019-04-03End date
2019-04-27Material type
art originalLanguage
engNotes
Exhibited at Stephen Mclaughlin gallery, the work is also the subject of Bodies of Knowledge Conference paper at Deakin of the same name. It is the first work of 2 others made during 2019, using the same method. Subsequent works have been presented at Linz Ars Electonica 40th Anniversary Festival in 2019 in a curated program by Lubi Thomas and at GAC/Deakin Symposium. The work has been made with support from the Australia Council for the Arts and Arts Electronica Australia and is in part the subject of a book chapter for a forthcoming publication by Palgrave MacMillan.Research statement
Intent
‘Ghost in the Machine’ asks the question: what is at stake when Artificial Intelligence defines us? I reference Felix Stalder’s cultural analysis and the term ‘the digital condition’ to support the ideas researched in this and subsequent works.
Using a pre-programmed autonomous drone camera in consultation with AI specialists, the methodology is to improvise performances entwining technologies into each other. By programming the drone to respond to movement sensors on the dancers, each take resulted in something that could not have been predicted. The drone was not controlled by humans during each take, an important feature in the work, that forefronts a symbiotic relationship between humans and technology. The conditions I set up are a framework from which improvisation and new knowledge can develop.
I edited recordings taken over a week, keeping the research question central when making choices of what to include. Drone footage, ‘locked off camera’ and ‘point of view’ video is source material. Additional material includes an original audio track, composed from the shoot, online and electronic music. The final work sought to reveal awkward moments between humans, each other and the autonomous drone considering it as an actor. By juxtaposing feelings imbued by dancer’s improvised movements with abstracted shadow forms on location, the editing process itself continues exploring the central research question, in this and subsequent works.
Outcomes
A curated exhibition titled ‘Parallel Universe’ @ Stephen McLaughlin Gallery; review by Peter Hill
‘Bodies of Knowledge’ public presentation
‘Drone Warfare and post 9/11 Culture’, published by Palgrave MacMillan, 2020
The editor identified that much has been written about drones in war however very little about the drone within culture.Publication classification
JR2 Recorded/Rendered Creative Works - PerformanceScale
NTRO MinorExtent
1 x mp4 file
3 x images (video stills and installaton view)Editor/Contributor(s)
Spear FEvent
Paralell Universe. Exhibition (2019 : Melbourne, Victoria)Publisher
Stephen McLaughlin GalleryPlace of publication
Melbourne, Vic.
