Grace State Machines is a twenty-seven-minute stage performance starring a human and a machine actor. The performance explores the relationship between these two very different bodies. The machine consists of an abstract shape with sections, making it capable of moving in complex ways.
The machine and the human are linked via a motion capture system, and biofeedback sensors. This works as follows; the movements of the human performer are monitored, after which that information is transposed to the machine performer. The machine can then respond to the human’s movements. This link works both ways, meaning that the machine sometimes moves on its own, inducing a response from the human. Through this process of connection and intimate dialogue, the two actors eventually blend into a single organism, where flesh, bones, wires and tubes become a whole individual body.
The artwork questions our notions of physical perception, body expression and personal identity. It addresses kinesthesis not as an internal proprioceptive mechanism, but as a potential exterior phenomenon that is actualized through the robotic extension of the body.
Credits
Concept and Design: Bill Vorn
Choreographer and Performer; Emma Waltraud Howes
Programming: Jonathan Villeneuve
Robots used
An abstract shape with sections, making it capable of moving in complex ways. The machine has a motion capture system, and biofeedback sensors, making it able to react to the movements of a human.
