I AM NOT A ROBOT is a large-scale, interactive 3D-Sound installation that engages visitors in the acoustic narrative of the birth and awakening of an artificial being.
Our Role Own Artwork // Comissioned Futurium gGmbHv // Light Sculpture schnellebuntebilder // 3D-Sound Mixing, Performance Z-Achse // Year 2018
By creating sounds in a playful environment, visitors took on the role of humans controlling machines until a staged entity finally comes to life. Eventually the visitors lose their active role and become witnesses of the birth of a new entity. This transformation symbolises the emergence of artificial intelligent systems that are trained by data of human behaviour.
The narrative is based on the idea that machine systems - analogous to life forms - continually differentiate, develop and thus attain a consciousness at some point. With humans as the driving force behind this development, the visitor becomes part of the acoustic narrative through their participation in the 3D sound installation. In the sonic staging, the entity „learns“ through and „reacts“ to the visitors.
Since the body of a living being first and foremost enables existence, the scenographic approach was to incorporate all the hardware used in the sound installation to form the “body” of the entity. The walk-in central stage, where the interfaces for interaction take place is the core of the installation.
The stage with its industrial look represents the operative centre, the entity‘s brain. This metaphor is accentuated by the light strings, that lead from the central of the stage to each of the 24loudspeakers in a nerve-like manner.