Artists Statement
The Metabody assemblage is an animated mapping of the territory of the human-machine interface: the avatar/golem; the robot or automaton (recently cyborg, now symborg) through the ages; and the body as performance installation site connected to other bodies and sites around the world. It encompasses the body as alternative interface using a vocabulary of gestural and performative twitches needed to establish a bodily dialogue with a representation in symbolic space. The ROM comprises three main sections: the Stelarc archive; the human-machine historical section; and various simulations (hypercells) of ideas explicated elsewhere. The components exist as a colony or loose assemblage of cells, some of which will integrate into a larger multicellular whole at a later date; some which extend the cyborg’s organomechanic role by virtue of digital appendages or layers (pro)creating the symbiological organism — the symborg; or react in a connective soup of humans across time and space; or linger in an unresolved phase state, as submerged ideas of an emergent humanity and humaneutics. A technology-induced symbiological body plays tangent to various prosthetic or bodily add-on potentialities and strategies and tends toward inclusion in a growing set of options: the melding of some aspects of organic, web and internet sensorial spaces; interactive anthropomorphic digital symbols; software simulations; attachable hardware augmentations and other interconnected humans via local and remotely distributed computer systems. ccp.org.au/exhibitions/all/metabody-from-cyborg-to-symborg
- Jeffrey Cook (AU) is a writer, independent film producer and artist who was the Station Manager for the Community Channel Cable TV Trial in Centennial Park Sydney in 1993 and is an ex-Vice President of Metro Television. He had a Bachelor of Arts (Commuinication) from the University of Technology- Sydney and is currently undertaking a Masters in Arts Theory at College Of Fine Arts, UNSW. He has produced short films and animations, has published several books and many essays on the future, media, telecommunications and digital arts, and is a digital artist and producer, working primarily on the web.
- Sam de Silva (AU) is a programmer and digital artist who is interested in the domain of online art. He has a solid background in computer technology and has been involved in the production of hardware devices and software applications. Recently he ha s produced a number of video clips using 3D animation and digital editing. He is very familiar with interactive authoring environments and has been involved with severaI online and offline projects. He is a computer science graduate from the University of New South Wales and is currently enrolled in the Master of Art program at the College of Fine Arts in Sydney.
- Gary Zebington (AU) has worked in the field of interactive digital media since 1990. His artwork and programming have featured in a diverse range of corporate and cultural projects, including large-scale interactive internet-body performances, cable television, outdoor digital gallery installations, websites, and public presentations. He holds a postgraduate degree in design computing from the University of Sydney.
Jeffrey Cook, Sam de Silva & Gary Zebington are collectively known as Merlin