I/O / Intuitive Object
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StoreFrontLab transforms into I/O Intuitive/Object, a project by artists Michael Mersereau and Yoann Resmond (MMYR). The space is occupied by an electronic swarm of light and sound made from current and recycled technologies. Visitors initiate a unique sensorial experience of cryptic and haunting transmissions while information feedback grows organically throughout its three week duration. Carrying out chain reactions of information and physical responses, I/O is beauty and fear mirrored back in physical form.
Opening Reception
Friday, January 8, 6-8:30pm
Panel Discussion
Tuesday, January 12, 6-8pm
The Uncanny Valley
MMYR + SFL Curator Jacob Palmer
A discussion with panelists Michael Mersereau, Yoann Resmond and Jacob Palmer exploring the fuzzy distinction between the inanimate object and the biological, responsive being.
Film Screening: Fem-Bot-Film-Bot Thursday, January 21, 6–8pm
StoreFrontLab curator Jacob Palmer presents an evening of short films that explore both the seduction and fear of artificial intelligence, robotics and their position within the human psyche. Plus the 2012 cult hit mockumentary, Computer Chess.
Closing Reception + Performance
Friday, January 29, 6-10pm
Bio Digital Interface number 10
by MMYR
Bio Digital Interface number 10 is a live interactive programmed performance between one machine and two people. With an opening sound piece by Michael Gendreau.
“Search back into your own vision—think back to the mind that thinks. Who is it?”
THE UNCANNY VALLEY*
What is life?
Science cannot tell us. Since the time of Aristotle, philosophers and scientists have struggled and failed to produce a precise, universally accepted definition of life. Modern textbooks have identified characteristics that supposedly distinguish the living from the inanimate -- self-organization, growth, reproduction and evolution. There are numerous exceptions, however, of both living things that lack some of the ostensibly distinctive features of life and inanimate things that have properties of the living.
Crystals, for example, are highly organized; they grow; and they faithfully replicate their structures, but we do not think of them as alive. Similarly, certain computer programs known as “digital organisms” can swarm, reproduce, mate and evolve, but ushering such software through the gates of the kingdom of life makes many people uncomfortable.
Can we intuit the capacity for a certain consciousness -- a privilege reserved for humans -- to an expanding body of electronics? At what point does a copy machine or a smartphone cross the hallowed threshold into the world of a perceptive, living being? If a machine "watches", is it truly "seeing"? Are we revealing more about ourselves than we realize?
Join us for a discussion with the artists Michael Mersereau and Yoann Resmond and panelists Andrew Warner(Technical Production & Public Communication Lead at The Long Now Foundation) and Jacob Palmer(StoreFrontLab Curator) as we explore the fuzzy distinction between the inanimate object and the biological, responsive being.
*The Uncanny Valley describes the phenomenon whereby a computer-generated figure or humanoid robot bears a near-identical resemblance to a human being, and thus arousing a sense of unease or revulsion in the person viewing it.
