“Learning to Move, Learning to Play, Learning to Animate: a Multimedia Exploration of the More-than-human Intelligence” by Cheng, Sun, Zhang and Gu
Conference:
Type(s):
Title:
- Learning to Move, Learning to Play, Learning to Animate: a Multimedia Exploration of the More-than-human Intelligence
Session/Category Title:
- The Nature of Reality
Presenter(s)/Author(s):
Moderator(s):
Abstract:
This paper presents Learning to Move, Learning to Play, Learning to Animate, a cross-disciplinary performance that explores the evolving relationships between human, technological, and natural intelligences through an integrated multimedia narrative. The work investigates how human performers, found-object robotics, organic entities, and AI-generated elements interact across layered realities, manifesting a critical response to traditional anthropocentric perspectives. Through a synthesis of electroacoustic soundscapes, bio-feedback mechanisms, and real-time visual generation, we develop a performative environment where shadows serve as liminal spaces between physical and digital presence, while organic robotics derived from natural forms challenge conventional human-machine dichotomies. The performance’s theoretical foundation draws from David Abram’s concept of the “more-than-human world,” reimagining it through contemporary technological mediation. By creating a space where performers, robots, plants, and their synthetic counterparts engage in mutual influence and response, the work offers an embodied exploration of collective intelligence and interspecies communication. This artistic investigation contributes to ongoing dialogues about agency and consciousness in our increasingly hybridized world, suggesting new possibilities for understanding the co-evolution of natural and synthetic entities.
References:
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