Comfortable and Alive

2014, HD video, stereo, 3:22 loop; 6-channel installation or 6-track application

Comfortable and Alive is a hypnotic induction ritual available through machine translation in 6 languages. Relinquish control in a user friendly future.

Languages other than English (original) in this work are machine-translated and left with all mistakes, exactly as the machine delivered them using diplomatic translation software as at 2014. Translation is a function androids will have, and we're all familiar with the human interpretation needed to try to make sense of much machine-translated text. It’s a joint task; yet another kind of loop (complete with misunderstandings) between human and machine.

Screenings/Exhibitions
The Female is Future, Gallery Hashimoto, Tokyo 2018
Possible Futures, Simultan Festival, Romania 2017
Alter, Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland 2016
Beyond Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, UNSW Galleries, Sydney 2015
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Credits
Light and camera: Campbell Drummond 
Music: Lindsay Webb 
Florist: Fjura 
Robot: Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories
Permissions: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan, + Creative Robotics Lab, National Institute for Experimental Arts, UNSW Art & Design, Australia 

Links
Watch video
​Watch machine translations