𝙙𝙞𝙨𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 III

disarming III, is a 25-minute work of improvisational performative moments involving Wibke Storkan, the detached robotic arm ReBel and the audience of a medical robotics conference, among others.

Based on stereophonic listening and torque feedback, the detached robotic arm continuously learns & unlearns how to move its machinic body and interact with its surroundings throughout the performance while balancing exploration with the sound of resistance.

Wibke Storkan, a dancer bodily experienced in improvisational dance with human and unanimated non-human co-performers, was asked to improvise a contact dance together with the learning robotic arm ReBel while being especially attentive to intra-acting in a non-hierarchical manner despite her modality and semantic differences.

My role in it was to create a setting in which the learning is stretched and inefficient, opening a space to observe one’s own projections and the multiplicity of relationships emerging and transforming between oneself, the robotic arm, the human performers, the surroundings, and others.

Core team
Emanuel Gollob – research, concept & production
Wibke Storkan – dancer, performer

Advice and support
Emmanuel Witzthum – curatorial mentoring
Creative Robotics – robotic hardware support

Hardware | igus ReBel | PC | gym mattress
Software | Reinforcement Learning | vvvv gamma

Acknowledgments | This work was realized in part within the framework of the European Media Art Platform residency program at WRO Art Center with the support of the Creative Europe Culture Programme of the European Union.  | Premiered embedded in the ZEISS Innovation Hub @ KIT Creative Residence Program

Duration | 25 Minutes

References excerpt

Barad, Karen. Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning. Duke University Press Books; Second Printing edition (July 1, 2007)

Penny, Simon. Making Sense: Cognition, Computing, Art, and Embodiment. The MIT Press (2019)

Riskin, Jessica. Genesis Redux: Essays in the History and Philosophy of Artificial Life. University of Chicago Press (2007)

Slager, Henk. The Pleasure of Research. Hatje Cantz Verlag (2015)