Workshop Statement
In the Experimental Body Extension Manufacturing Unit (EBEMU) ideas about physical body extensions are explored, and prototypes of ‘Wearable Hybrid Body Augmentations’ partly made from discarded material sources are constructed. EBEMU is run by artists Gazzola & Granjon and is open every day during ISEA2013. Voluntary workers recruited from the local community and from the audience work in collaboration with the artists, contributing ideas for new products and taking part in their DIY construction and presentation. EBEMU critiques the notions of body and machine in an increasingly technologically mediated society and is a thought-provoking, participatory and entertaining experience that opens up a wider debate regarding future technological human extensions, home manufacturing and their repercussions on humanity. ebemu.com
- Paul Gazzola has an interdisciplinary practice spanning over 20 years across arts, architecture, choreography, curation, installation, performance, scenography, video and theory. He was coordinating provocateur for the 2010/11 Splendid Arts Lab and co-curated Return to Sender at Performance Space, Sydney.
paulgazzola.blogspot.com.au - Paul Granjon is a recognised media art and performance artist working with self-made machines. He has worked for the Cardiff School of Art and Design since 1995, where he looks at the co-evolution of humans and machines, and robots in performance. He represented Wales at the Venice Biennale in 2005. Granjon works across robotics, film, installation and performance, giving original performance lectures demonstrating home-made robotic contraptions, accompanied by songs and illustrated reflections in order to comment on the current state of cybernetic technology. zprod.org