Motheroid

a multi-channel video installation with binaural sound

in collaboration with sound artist Edoardo Micheli

“Motheroid directly deals with the themes of hybridization and symbiosis between human and artificial that underlies contemporary technological utopia. The symbiosis of human beings with technology is becoming more and more profound as is the will of human power to recreate new organisms, new human beings and, at the end, a new world and a new nature through it. We considered the voice as a fascinating exemplary case of that and of what could be the dangerous descent into a transhuman dystopia no longer in our control. The voice has always been regarded as the most distinctively human and deeply embodied thing. However, artificial voice production technology is making very rapid progress, as evidenced by the sophistication of vocal "deep-fakes." In our work we therefore start from the observation of how a big part of our actual symbiotic imaginary and the resulting speech synthesis technologies are still heavily based on patriarchal and colonial relations of domination and power. Thus, our goal with Motheroid was attempt an alternative aesthetic dimension and an alternative vocal sound design in which a possible future technology would try to humbly listen to the voice of nature and not simply to dominate and shape it.”

artist statement by Edoardo Micheli