Meet your creator (2012)

A live theatrical performance / kinetic light sculpture with quadrotor drones, LEDs, motorized mirrors and moving head spotlights dancing in a joyous robo-ballet celebration of techno-spirituality. Exploring semi-autonomous, computer programmed UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) as a means to deflect and divert light and create floating light sculptures dancing to music. Machines which are traditionally purveyors of surveillance and oppression; are artistically re-purposed to be purveyors of music, dance, joy, celebration and creativity.

The performance explores the boundaries of anthropomorphism in abstract light forms, using the programmable quadrotors to breath life into hovering, morphing, quivering networks of light. It is this abstract virtuoso being of light, contorting and morphing, playing a bizarre musical instrument not yet invented, that is the star of the show. The ultimate goal of this anthropomorphic study is to establish an emotional connection between audience and this abstract light being carried by the machines. Can the audience feel empathy towards what was originally weapons of remote warfare?

Modern day drones were conceptually born in post-apocalyptic, post-singularity science fiction, and manifested themselves in the real-world as weapons of remote warfare. Particularly gaining notoriety during the Obama administration, they are now seeping into the mainstream as consumer devices are released and embraced by hobbyists and DIY enthusiasts. Their role in this performance is an artistic subversion of their original purpose. We concentrate on the key feature of these flying robots: the ability to follow trajectories in space without being bound to external fixed supports – programmable vertices in space, the floating cornerstones of a kinetic light sculpture. Thus the vehicles are in fact not the stars of the show. They are the puppet masters operating in the dark, that carry the light, synchronized and choreographed to a bespoke score by Oneohtrix Point Never.

Individually the machines are incredibly precise at following trajectories, but already have their own character in the way they move and orient themselves. Once swarmed together, the laws of physics and aerodynamics become more prominent. The dirty wind from one affects the other, and causes a chain reaction of autonomous self-corrections and self-alignments rippling through the swarm as they struggle to align to the trajectories designed for them by us humans. This autonomous behaviour is amplified as we use mirrors to bounce light off the machines. A tiny change in orientation is magnified as the beam of light diverges more and more from its desired position. Their own character becomes stronger and shines through with so much flavour that the resulting performance is in fact not exactly how we choreographed it, but is the machine’s interpretation of our choreography. We embrace this performative interpretation and thus the final piece is in fact a collaboration between us humans and the machines. Our role has become ‘guidance’ to the machines as opposed to absolute control.

In the broadest sense, this piece continues the theme of exploring the relationship between form, movement and sound. A well established area of artistic research dating back to artists such as Norman McLaren, John Whitney, Kandinsky.

A Marshmallow Laser Feast project. An arts x emerging technologies studio I co-founded in 2011 (and left in 2014 to pursue a PhD in AI).