College of Ontopoetic Machines Presents: Afflator

http://afflator.ontopoeticmachines.org
Afflator breathes upon the conditions of today's robotic creatures that
are pulled into the muck of mimesis. To have a robot that is spoken
to in natural language, that walks in a bipedal fashion, is the
research that is valorised. Afflator deforms these conditions to
suggest that the robotic form does not need to resemble anything we
have seen before, that the means of engagement with a robot can be
something other than traditional language and movement. Draping
from the gallery ceiling and extending along the floor in a wave of
fabric, afflator unfolds onto contemporary robotics research to suggest
other ethico-political options for engagement with the robotic other.
Extending from afflator is a tube with an attached mask, worn by
the gallery visitor to create a machinic assemblage of human and
creature. Sounds from the visitor's mouth stimulate afflator's
activity; afflator's activity stimulate sounds from the visitor's
mouth. Engaged in the ecstasy of communication, human and afflator
in an assemblage work to deflate the present bubble of functional
robotic design.
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/21735877[/vimeo]