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Thesis Info
- LABS ID
- 00928
- Thesis Title
- The Non-Human Turn in Performance Art: Conversations
- Author
- Boris Abramovic
- E-mail
- abramovic03 AT gmail.com
- 2nd Author
- 3rd Author
- Degree
- Master of Arts (MA) in Media Arts Cultures
- Year
- 29/08/2019
- Number of Pages
- 89
- University
- Aalborg University, Denmark
- Thesis Supervisor
- Asst. Professor Elizabeth Ann Jochum
- Supervisor e-mail
- jochum AT hum.aau.dk
- Other Supervisor(s)
- Language(s) of Thesis
- English
- Department / Discipline
- Media Arts Cultures - Joint Master Degree, Department of Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University
- Copyright Ownership
- Boris Abramovic
- Languages Familiar to Author
- English, German, Montenegrin
- URL where full thesis can be found
- projekter.aau.dk/projekter/da/studentthesis/the-nonhuman-turn-in-performance-art-conversations(7d1790c5-77a2-4719-a584-debd09158bc0).html
- Keywords
- Robots and Cyborgs – Performance Art – Cybernetics – Liveness - Emotions and Anxieties
- Abstract: 200-500 words
- Robots existing alongside us in our realities (virtual and physical), performing social tasks or performing on stage, might trigger our anxiety or, contrarily, we may develop feelings of affection towards them. Whether we fear them or are drawn to them, most people have a stance on robots and hold certain expectations in that regard. Among them is the expectation that they should overcome the status as mere technological objects. This expectation that robots ought to possess, or at the very least exhibit, a degree of agency and a certain level of liveness is ingrained in our active perception. This thesis examines the liveness of non-human performers that emerges in an interplay of cybernetics and performance as a discipline when performing robots and cyborgs leverage the techniques of live art. The grounding for this research is the notion of conversation between machines and humans that occurs in "aesthetically potent environments", as proposed by cyberneticist Gordon Pask. The conversations I examine occur through “an imitation of life” (William Gray Walter) or “human-machine confusion” in performance (Jane Goodall). This thesis takes up the topic of imitation and liveness through the following central research question: how do the concepts of performance and cybernetics explicate the liveness and performative life of non-human technological performers? To address this question, I analyze the degree to which the liveness of embodied robots stems from technological systems, and the degree to which that liveness evolves from audiences' perceptions. I also pose the question of who is actually performing these conversations and other life-like behaviors in non-human performances. The machine activated on stage, the human who is behind the concepts of performance, or both of those subjects might be considered performers. My methodological approach is focused on a middle-ground between metaphorical non-humans, proposed by theoretical scholarship and performing robots, and cyborgs enacted in on-stage practices.