Robots and Avatars

Thats right, I've been to ANOTHER exhibition recently as well!
This time at the FACT up on Wood Street to see 'Robots and Avatars'. An interactive exhibition, all the pieces encourage the viewer to get involved and explore our own presence in the digital world - how we represent ourselves and how this could evolve in the future (this is how I took it to be anyhows...)

Alastair Eilbeck and James Bailey - MeYouAndUs

Probably my favourite pieces were by Alastair Eilbeck and James Bailey, situated on the first floor of the gallery/cinema place. Entitled 'MeYouAndUs', these were a series of three artworks which enticed the viewer to act/pose in front of an unseen camera, and their actions would then be displayed on large screens but partially distorted. Such as, your recorded image being sped up and repeated several times creating a strange sort of drug-like fantasy (and making me jump up and down like a loon - I have decided I want one in my millionaire's mansion when I eventually get round to buying it).

Karina Smigla-Bobinski - ADA

There was an interesting piece called 'ADA', created by artist Karina Smigla-Bobinski, in which there was a large inflated ball with a number of pieces of charcoal (I think) attached all over it. Viewers were then asked to throw the ball around the white, bare room in which it was placed, consequently producing a large array of marks all over the room. I'm not sure what this has to do with a digital presence, but it sure looked like fun! (Unfortunately I was not allowed to play with it when I was at FACT due to the ball having a puncture :( Oh well - I could still appreciate the idea of it!)

Michael Takeo Magruder - Visions of Our Communal Dreams

This installation was pretty snazzy, as it involved multiple interactive spaces set up throughout the gallery. I think the main premise of the piece was to guide an avatar through a rather tranquil/eerie island (reminded me of the game Myst - which I played ever so briefly a long while back)), and other viewers within the gallery could watch the progress of the avatar through the various interactive portals set up about the place. I'm afraid I didn't fully understand the whole piece - I think it could have worked better if the whole gallery had been set up for this one piece of work, and then I could have felt more immersed in the experience and may have come away with a deeper understanding of it. But STILL, I liked the piece anyhows!

Lawrence Malstaf - Compass

Unfortunately this piece was Out of Order when we arrived at the gallery (I think we came on a bad day for FACT :s), but there was a large video demonstrating this large gizmo; which a person wore around their waist. The machine would then control which direction the person walked in. What was interesting was you could either let the machine guide you through an invisble map (programmed into it) or you could fight against it! It looked super cool - although if it had been working I think I may have been a bit too scared to wear the gadget myself - you don't know where itcould take you!

Matthieu Cherubini - Rep.licants.org.

And finally, here was a strange program which you could install into either your Facebook or Twitter account, and let it do the socialising for you! By inputting your likes and dislikes (and various other bits of data) the program will try to be you - by posting up anything it finds on the internet that matches up with the data you entered earlier! Scary stuff, but even more frightening was that it could even have a conversation with your friends (or attempt to, I think your friends may be weirded out by the new way you talk - as obviously it can't replicate how you communicate with other; although soon, who knows?) I'm afraid I just couldn't trust my accounts to the little robots, but if you're intrigued and would like a little robot to take over your Twitter or Facebook account, you can download the little critter here: Rep.licants.org

If you would like to see the website for this exhibition you can take a gander at these places:
FACT website
Robots and Avatars website

The Robots and Avatars exhibition will be residing in FACT until 27th May, and its definitely worth a look!