netBody: Augmented Body and Virtual Body II
FILE FESTIVAL

In „netBody: Augmented Body und Virtual Body II“ verbinden wir die reale Welt mit der Online-Realität von Second Life auf physischer Ebene: Die Körperbewegungen einer Person in der realen Welt steuern einen Avatar in Second Life, während die Bewegungen eines Avatars einen Menschen führen. Ein Second Life-Avatar wird zu einem Mittel, um das Individuum physisch mit der Gesellschaft zu verbinden. Dies könnte es Menschen auf der ganzen Welt mit der richtigen Hardware ermöglichen, sich gegenseitig über das Internet auszutauschen. Wir spielen mit unserer Wahrnehmung des Körpers eines Individuums als seine Identität.

netBody: Cuerpo aumentado y cuerpo virtual II
En “netBody: Augmented Body and Virtual Body II” conectamos el mundo real con la realidad online de Second Life a nivel físico: los movimientos corporales de una persona en el mundo real controlan un avatar en Second Life, mientras que los movimientos de un avatar controlar a una persona para liderar. Un avatar de Second Life se convierte en un medio de conectar físicamente al individuo con la sociedad. Esto podría permitir que personas de todo el mundo con el hardware adecuado se comuniquen entre sí a través de Internet. Jugamos con nuestra percepción del cuerpo de un individuo como su identidad.

Repeat
In the midst of the promises and fears surrounding robots and Artificial Intelligence, especially in the manual labour sector, Repeat attempts to imagine the illusory dance moves of the so-called augmented body tainted with the gender stereotypes of human ballet duets. Repeat shifts the performing body of the assembly line into the performing body onstage, unceasingly carrying out its tasks. The body meshed with the industrial exoskeleton tolerates and sustains strenuous tasks but ironically, it enables those actions to be repeated even more. Repeat uses passive industrial exoskeletons that are currently deployed in the workplace. This ain’t no fiction, this is the future promised to the human worker.

Symbiosis
In the installation area, the human body is augmented with video projected virtual images. Viewer and technology enter a symbiotic relationship and as a result, bring to life wonderful biomorphic creatures. They change constantly – reacting to your every movement and turning into new and unique forms each time. The installation was inspired by the symmetry of living organisms, the structure of exotic insects, and reflections on extraterrestrial life forms.

Re-Wired / Re-Mixed: Event for Dismembered Body
“Re-Wired / Re-Mixed: Event for Dismembered Body” was a five-day, six-hour a day internet enabled performance, that explores the physiological and aesthetic experience of a fragmented, distributed, de-synchronized, distracted and involuntary body – wired and under surveillance. The artist wears a HUD (head up display) that enables him to see with the “eyes” of someone in London, whilst hearing with the “ears” of someone in New York. The body is also augmented by an 8 degrees-of-freedom exoskeleton so that anyone anywhere can generate involuntary movement of his right arm, using an online interface. The artist becomes optically and acoustically de-synchronized and performs partly involuntarily.

MÆ Motion Afterefffect
MÆ – Motion Aftereffect explores motion-capture, ready-made 3D models and monologues found online, ranging from experiences with virtual reality in live gameplay to out-of-body experiences and astral projection tutorials. The work addresses the impact of emerging consumer technologies associated with AR – Augmented Reality, VR – Virtual Reality, MR – Mixed Reality, XR – Extended Reality and 360° video. Monologues sourced from the internet provide the infrastructure for the work; an in-ear monitor feeds Olafson the monologues onstage, challenging her to listen and speak simultaneously. This dual action of listening and speaking enables her to embody a state of presence that references data streaming, live processing, and gaming. As a performer she becomes a conduit, medium, or interface, broadcasting edited monologues from the internet to the audience. The action of performing the work becomes like playing a video or VR game.

Heart Pillow
File Festival
“Heart Pillow” is a transhuman artifact that reproduces a person’s heartbeat remotely and in real time. It allows the very pulse of life to be transferred into an everyday object – a pillow – making it serve both as an extension to the user’s body and as mimicry of life itself, playing with the perceptions we might have on how life can be defined. It raises interesting questions on the meaning of the words “emotion” and “affection” and their scalability to the various modes of interaction that may arise from an augmented object. “Heart Pillow” can be used in any situations in which transferring a heartbeat into an everyday object can be interesting or useful, such as connecting a couple that is apart, to calm down new born babies with the known feeling of their mother’s heartbeat or as an extension of the self into an everyday object as a mean of reflection.