[ISEA2019] Artists Statement: Shin Wonbaek & Hong Hyuns (LOVOT LAB) – BUDDHA I + STAND I + The monument of robot ethics

Artists Statement

BUDDHA I: Cam, customized software, servo motor, stainless steel, wireless LED controller, 3D   printed PLA, 50x50x70 cm.                                                                                                                   STAND I: Concrete, customized software, customized T8 LED tube, wireless LED controller,   11x11x133(cm). Interactive light connected with BUDDHA I.                                                                 The monument of robot ethics: Customized software, LED controller, LED strip, infinity mirror,   steal, 40x40x220 cm.

With A.I being a huge societal issue, efforts to define and create a standard of robot ethics and A.I ethics are seen worldwide. In 2007, for the first time globally, South Korea attempted to enact the Robot Ethics Charter to establish the ethical and technical limitation the robot industry or the robot itself should aim for, responsibilities of the robot manufacturer, and morals involving the creation, destruction, and usage of robots. However, only its draft was announced without its formulation. Currently, where there is massive development in A.I, which functions as the robot’s brain, the contents of the unestablished charter poses many implications for us.
“BUDDHA I sits In front of The monument of robot ethics”
Robot in Buddha figure is surrounded by white fluorescent light that creates futuristic atmosphere. Seated on the pyramid-shaped structure, this artificial intelligence robot explores on the participants. The robot observes the participant’s face through machine learning, accumulating data and analyzing one’s face. Participants will hear a corresponding message as a result of the analysis. Artificial intelligence, a major issue in the new industrial revolution, called the Fourth Industrial Revolution, is not a distant future as media art has been created through various expression since the 1960s and faster along with the development of technology. This new technology is expected to change the quality and pattern of life as it is introduced and replaced in various areas of society. Even artificial intelligence robot can predict one’s fate and fortune tell on the future. In addition, it aims to expand the category of recognition of artificial intelligence by expressing in an artistic and philosophical way and as a being that is more favorable than a human being based on the modified theory of the Uncanny Valley by Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori.

  • LOVOT LAB (South Korea) is a media art collective formed by Shin Wonbaek, whose major concern is electricity and other invisible energy forms, and Hong Hyuns, who explores the theme of machines and life, using electronic circuits and computer programming. As LOVOT LAB team, they employ electronic apparatus and digital technology to create installations, often consisting of a geometrical array of LED pipe lights, that touch on a variety of themes. Some of their works interact with the audience and show how human facial expressions and bodily movements can be translated into ones and zeroes, or more specifically, what it means to see human activities expressed in binary code.  lovot.co   youtube.com/c/lovotlab