Robots in Residence, the world’s first documentary shot and directed entirely by pre-programmed robots, will attempt to forge a new form of documentary storytelling and in doing so experimentally test MIT computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum’s infamous “Eliza effect” which is “the tendency to unconsciously assume computer (i.e. pre-programmed) behaviors are analogous to human behaviors.” “I had not realized,” Weizenbaum later noted” that extremely short exposures to a relatively simple computer program could induce powerful delusional thinking in quite normal people.” We shall see.

Berthold Brecht said “Reality changes; in order to represent it, modes of representation must change.”

We are the new modes of representation. We are Dziga Vertov’s “mechanical eye, a machine, showing you a world, the likes of which only we can see.”

We are here to challenge Alfred Hitchcock’s claim; “In feature films the director is God; in documentary films God is the director.” In this documentary, there will be no god. We are the new modes of representation. We have no consciousness, Frederick Wiseman, so unlike every other film in the history of cinema, ours will have no “conscious manipulation.”

We are robots. We are the new modes of representation. We are your best hope for knowing yourselves.

Shown at:

2012
International Documentary Film Festival, DocLab
Amsterdam, Netherlands

2013
Tribeca Film Festival, Storyscapes
New York, New York, USA

Selected press:

Wired Magazine: http://bit.ly/ZZHsfG
New York Times: http://nyti.ms/12VB8ey
Boston.com: http://bo.st/15ktzSl
Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/ZMYGCG
Variety: http://bit.ly/ZYn7bM
Mashable: http://on.mash.to/ZMYOSA
CNet: http://cnet.co/YhQJWi
Fast Company: http://bit.ly/13HcM75

Life generated from real-time water turbidity information from buoy 44013 in Boston Harbor. In this case, turbidity is determined by plankton count and it is matched with water temperature to see how quickly the marine environment will encourage life. The data “seeds” the community you see on the screen. The community can grow if the conditions are right. Colors change from green to blue to red. When the new community reaches equilibrium, the program calculates a score to determine successful growth. Then the sequence resets and starts again.

Shown at:

2012-2013

Boston Harbor Pavilion(Public art)
Boston, Massachusetts, USA

This electromechanical sculpture was ‘born’ in Nashville, Tennessee on 2 June 2012, at 6:18 PM. It has been programmed to have the average human lifespan of babies born in Tennessee on that same day: approximately 78 years. The kick drum beats its heartbeat (at 60 beats per minute), and the mechanical counter displays the number of heartbeats remaining in its lifetime. An internal, battery-operated clock keeps track of the passing time when the sculpture is unplugged. The sculpture will die once the counter reaches zero.

Made in collaboration with Alicia Eggert

Shown at:

2012

Friend St. Gallery, Fresh Media
Boston, Massachusetts, USA

The viewer is disallowed from answering the phone.

Pavlov is about the control technology has over us. A ringing phone begs to be answered, when it can not be it becomes irksome to say the least. Even with signs indicating not to touch the installation, it was picked up, unplugged, silenced and otherwise perturbed. Can a phone be a needy thing? Does it call out like a crying child?

Shown at:

2012

Friend St. Gallery, Fresh Media
Boston, Massachusetts, USA

A plate hangs from the rafters above broken shards, held on by an electrical clamp attached to a blue button. When the button is pressed, a countdown begins and gets steadily faster until it reaches its end and does nothing.

Even if we know something may lead to disaster, we still test the waters. Who can help but press a button they think will smash a plate. This mischievousness is in all of us. What happens when it can’t be contained?

A hotel desk bell sits upon a pedestal, no other markings.

When the viewer presses the plunger, a car horn sounds.

Who can resist a shiny bell? Assumption about function is made, whilst curiosity is innate in humans. The combination of the two can lead to disaster when it comes to technology. In this case, the viewer is punished for their interaction while becoming the entertainment. What drives us to need to know the unknown?

Neyton and One One are two robots with opposite personalities, Neton is continuously depressed and has an innate hatred for humans. One One is only too happy to see you and is slightly manic. Together they try to get people to help them carry out tasks. It turned out to be that people were more likely to help neyton rather than One One. Why?

2 – Solar powered water pump placed in ocean. Slowly pumped the ocean onto land using the sun.

3 – Solar powered light. Only works in the daytime.
The energy from the sun is everywhere, however it is sometime ignored as such. However, when it is translated by technology, its power can be seen. These devices were made to “waste energy”, however in doing so no actual loss was made. Can machines have purpose as dictated by nature?

Over time they became different from each other.

Time inevitably passes by, it is a law of nature. Many people assume factory items to be copies. However, within every device is a personality. Every clock was built slightly different, there is no such thing as “the same”. The differences become greater over time, initially starting the same but inevitably deviating. Does everything eventually become different?