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Robot Girl in a world without death

Adam Geczy
Eyeline 83
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All works of art and art in general are mysterious. This has long frustrated the theory of art. That works of art say something while withholding it in the same breath are the terms of its mystery which is that quality that exists beneath speech. It is apish and clownish. Once one is within the work of art in the sense of embracing it, it is not to be seen.
Theodor W. Adorno1

Humanity’s relationship with artificial bodies is as old as civilisation itself. Dolls and bodily replicas were used as toys, as early role models for deportment and behavior, and for imagining social organisation. A major turning point in this relationship occurred with the birth of the modern subject, where René Descartes (1596–1650) famously compared the body to a machine. Advances in mechanics brought about automata that were able to replicate human movements with charm and grace, prompting much speculation as to whether machines could indeed supersede humans in action and in thought. The romantic dramatist Heinrich von Kleist’s dialogue ‘On Marionette Theatre’ (1810) is one famous instance of this, where he provocatively suggests that the movements of dancing puppets are more graceful than those of humans, because they are unencumbered by the all-to-human trait of self-consciousness. More recently, with the development of sophisticated robotics, automated systems, interactive technology and artificial intelligence, debate increases as to whether the prophesies of so many science fiction films will indeed take place. We are now decisively in the age of the post-human and the anthropocene (a planet clearly altered by human intervention). Justene Williams’s motley robotic alter-egos therefore give us a great deal to contemplate. They not only perpetuate the robotic... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline

Justene Williams, No Mind (A performance in three parts), 2015.

Justene Williams, No Mind (A performance in three parts), 2015. Single channel HD video, 17:45min. Courtesy the artist and Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney. 

Justene Williams, In advance of a broken wing, 2014. Still from 2 channel HD video installation. Courtesy the artist and Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney.

Justene Williams, In advance of a broken wing, 2014. Still from 2 channel HD video installation. Courtesy the artist and Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney.