disarming is a performative exploration of the relation between detached robot arms, artificial environments, and human observers, as well as a search for potential future roles of robotics & AI in our society. A learning and unlearning of locomotions in postanthropocentric environments and times. The work playfully explores the ambiguity of disarming as a process of physical detachment and emotional attachment.
Locomotion can be seen as a primal (post-birth) instinct and ultimate act of independence. A robotic limb, somehow detached from a human-constructed technological body, tries to find concepts for advancing movements even though it initially wasn’t made for locomotion – vulnerable yet determined. Parallel to a familiar dystopian plot of technological autonomy and the feelings going with it, witnessing these first clumsy tries may awaken compassion or even a certain emotional bond.
disarming paints a picture of a multi-layered narrative of technology as a convoluted species and potential valuable mediator in a multi-species world. An ecological system of intertwined digital and physical realms with parallel learning/unlearning on different levels. A relational world with and between independence and still connectedness.
disarming is planned as three possible variations:
- Intra-active Performance (of an AI-driven robotic arm & a human performer)
- Intra-active Installation (continuously learning)
- Intra-active Video Installation