Artist Statement

Screening, Nuit Blanche at le Point Éphémère,  June 3

Dasha Ilina is a selected ISEA2023 artist

Let Me Fix You explores the relationship between humans and robots in the context of care work. The film highlights the irreplaceability of human workers in providing emotional interaction, physical touch, and avoiding alienation and isolation in patients.

Let Me Fix You is an ASMR video, similar to the many others that appear on Youtube specializing in “robot repair”. However, Let Me Fix You does take an unfamiliar turn: instead of going into the details of what will be replaced in the viewer’s imaginary robotic body, the mechanic notices something strange which leads her to realize that the care robot she is meant to repair is not really broken but has become conscious of its inability to provide proper care for his owner because he is simply not human.
The project discusses the ethics and the feminization of care work, as well as the questions around the place of robotics in the field of elderly care. While some robot care workers are considered to be quite “intelligent,” studies have shown that what elderly patients need most in their everyday life is human interaction. Human workers are essential when it comes to avoiding emotional alienation, physical isolation and lack of physical touch, and this installation highlights that issue.

Script excerpt:
*take out clipboard and check it*
Good thing there’s no critical damage, I can proceed to the standard check.
*noting things on the clipboard*
What about your sympathy emulator. It looks a little outdated, what model is this? TC180.. well that’s strange, no wonder the owner was unhappy with your behavior, your emulator is not compatible with your software at all.
Alright, I need to check your conversation logs.
*getting the logs* *scrolling through them*
My god, you’ve had no ability to pretend to sympathize with your owner whatsoever. How could this even be?
*looking through the logs* *look through clipboard*
Source: https://dashailina.com/LMFY/index.html

• Dasha Ilina is a Russian techno-critical artist based in Paris, France. Through the employment of low-tech and DIY approaches, her work questions the desire to incorporate modern technology into our daily lives by highlighting the implications of actually doing so. Her practice engages the public in order to facilitate a space for the development of critical thought regarding social imperatives for care of oneself and others, privacy in the digital age, and the reflexive contemporary urge to turn to technology for answers. She is the founder of the Center for Technological Pain, a project that proposes DIY solutions to health problems caused by digital technologies for which she has received an Honorary Mention at Ars Electronica. https://dashailina.com/info.php