Artificial Agency - a public performance
Join us on November 2 for a public-facing, interactive performance lecture Artificial Agency – SOUR GUMMIES DON'T CRY. Created by Mengna Da with live music by Chienn Tai, the work is part of #NYCPITPOPUP (NYC Public Interest Technology Pop-up).
Show times:
3:00-3:30pm
5:30-6:30pm (with post-performance discussion with Katherine Helen Fisher)
It's also the day of NYC Marathon so plan transportation ahead of time :)
Location:
Oculus World Trade Center
NYC PIT POP-UP
Shop #53 (next to M.A.C. Cosmetics), Main Floor C2, in the South Concourse.
For a video instruction: https://nycpitpopup.org/find-us/
There will be other artworks and tech demos in the same space throughout the day. For more info, check out https://nycpitpopup.org/.
Project description:
Where is our agency in the age of algorithms? During this live, interactive performance lecture by Mengna Da, the audience can control the artist's body via a custom web app on their phones. As the artist executes the commands in real time, she will simultaneously give a talk on agency in the contexts of data surveillance, body politics, digital labor, and AI. How is the illusion of agency used as a means of digital (self-)colonization? Facing the challenges of algorithmic control and AI, how can we reclaim our agency?
As the performance unfolds with composed and live music by Chienn Tai, the artist begins to share labor and agency with the avatars as well as the audience, creating a system that challenges traditional HCI (Human-Computer Interaction). It is also a social experiment that questions who holds power – is it the artist, the audience, or an interconnected system that generates a more collective and fluid type of agency through ongoing interactions?