DIY: 2018 – Hamish MacPherson: We Robot

We will transform ourselves into an interconnected cyborg entity

Deadline for applications: 5pm, Mon 18 June
This DIY is supported by Artsadmin

Project summary

This is not about optimistic or positivisitic possibilities of Artificial Intelligence or transhumanism. It is about the reluctant or passive situation many of us find ourselves in, having to configure ourselves around technologies not of our design. A place for reluctant transhumanists and reluctant cyborgs. What if we took a step towards AI as it comes towards us? What if we started learning to submit? Perhaps we already are.

Over two weekends we will use techniques and ideas from robotification/ dollification, choreography, chatbots, hypnosis, roleplay and philosophy to transform ourselves into an amazing interconnection of robodolls, cyborgs and other things. Oscillating between being creators and creations, we will explore what it’s like to be a bodymind alongside other bodyminds and other things. What it’s like to be embodied and disembodied, active and passive.

How to apply

We will be working with qualities of clunkiness and mundanity rather than high technology and so this DIY is not particularly for AI or transhumanism enthusiasts although all these are welcome along with people who don’t care about technology. I’m most interested in the practices and experiences of the group as a whole so that these can be shared across the consciousness. Movement practitioners, philosophers, elders, normies, antagonists, undergraduates, outsiders, bored people – get in touch.

To apply to the DIY please complete the information on the online form. Once you have submitted this, you will be directed to Hanen, a chatbot, who will ask you some further questions about your relationships with technology and non-humans and what kind of cyborg you might want to be. You won't have to give very detailed or prepared answers to Hanen. Your conversation with Hanen will be later read by Hamish. If you are unable to use the chat format please email Hamish for an alternative.

Dates, times and location

Dates: 1, 2, 8 and 9 Sep 2018
Times: 10am-5pm each day
Location: Artsadmin, London

The artist

Hamish MacPherson is a London-based choreographer. He uses performances, workshops, larps, games and other things to create environments for people to think, learn and be together. These structures are often decentralised and self-organising, combining physical activity and conversation and have dealt with themes like somatic citizenship, resentment, care and the future. Hamish’s work somehow reflects his positions as a white European, able-bodied, heterosexual cismale. His interest in robotification/ dollification comes in part from wondering what it might mean for him to become an android or cyborg when such forms are normally used as metaphors for ‘the other’ (often women, people of colour and/or disabled with disabilities). Could a middle-aged-man-bot also be used to consider its place in the current Kyriarchy?

For questions about this DIY, please contact Hamish.