The Performance Arcade 2020

The lab's collaborative work with artist in residence Kate Ladenheim opened in Wellington, NZ at this year's Performance Arcade.  This art installation includes live performance and interactive participation.

This installation is about a femme cyborg who was made to be perfect, uncovering a tension between humans and machines through original sound, choreography, and interaction with a pair of large-scale, robotic, breath-activated angel wings.   A performer wears a pair of breath-activated angel wings and participants can step into the space and activate a separate set of wings mounted on the wall of the container, allowing audience members to step into the world of this cyborg character and examine their relationship to femininity and technology.  This installation is a prototype for a user study about perception of machine movement activated by breath.

“Babyface” by @_peoplemovers  x @The_RAD_Lab with @footnotenzdance performing and sound design by Myles Avery and support from the US Embassy in NZ; Feb. 26 through March 1 on the Wellington Waterfront, exploring the angelic femme spectacle with robots, breath, and the cyborg metaphor.

A view of the installation, which was activated by participants' breath, and wearable machine, which was activated by performers' breath, in motion: IMG_5684