What is the essence of being human?
How can a machine understand nonverbal language, such as gesture? According to Merleau Ponty: “flesh” is a “midway between the spatio-temporal individual and the idea, a sort of incarnate principle,” which can be embodied with technology. As an experiment, this performance will show how we communicate with each other within the context of seeing and being seen. We are able to be a subject and an object at the same time. When we don’t share a common language, how can we communicate? Like a mirror neuron system, in ancient times, they started to watch and copy their reaction.
During the performance, the dancers store their own gestural expressions in the garment. Gestural codes express the body movement, and each piece of the garment expresses the nerve fibers that record our body language in our cells. By embodying each other’s gestural codes, the garment allows us to explore how a machine learns our body gestures. And through the performance, the audience can witness non-verbal communication from the dancers, expressing the body language which is imprinted on our cells.
Credits:
Dancer: Bere Arias
Composer: Victor Taboada
