Dead Wood
This project is inspired by the murder of hitchBOT in Philadelphia. From the articles that state this accident as a murder, not vandalism, Dead Wood questions empathy and anthropomorphism. In the era of AI, both threat and understanding towards different entities are anthropomorphized. Humanity, as potential and current cyborgs, Dead Wood advocates the expansion of empathy. The empathy towards non-human, robotic, or artificial beings will mirror the empathy towards humanity.
The show has two pieces. An interactive video game with an installed controller and a kinetic sculpture. In the game, the audience can see the “hands”, representing humanity and chimera entities on the field. What the audience can do is destroy them and see the pixelized particles of the objects. More the player kills objects, more the world is glitched, and they will see Laozi’s quote: “The usefulness of a pot comes from its emptiness.”
The kinetic installation is a servo-powered tree shape sculpture with 3D printed chimeras from the game piece. With the quote of the game, it represents the arbitrariness of anthropomorphism.
System
Unity3D + Xbox controller as input
Arduino, Motorshield and Servos + 3D printed sculptures
Role
Concept, Programming, Art, Installation
Credit
Sanglim Han: 3D modeling
Ji Yun Hwang: Music
Featured at DMA Solo Show
April 11-13, 2017
