How can we learn to live with or control artificial limbs that we are not born with, and could this enhance or diminish our functional abilities? And how about our cognitive abilities and senses?
‘Rei’ is an antenna-like robotic appendage, that substituts one sensory ability—such as vision— with a novel capacity in the form of a limb-like antenna. Consisting of jointed segments breaching into 3 distinct sections, the antenna-like mechanical limbs act as performers with their own agency, interacting with their human partners without being controlled externally. While these robotic-interfaces subtract the function from the body by blocking the wearer’s sight, they provide additional spatial and navigation skills, through subsequent learning and coordination between human and the appendage. Presented as a live performance, it created a tense bodily experience between human and maschine.
‘Rei’ is part of Eingeweide performance by Marco Donnarumma and Margherita Pevere, and is made in collaboration with performer Marco Donnarumma, prof. Prof. Dr. phil. Alberto de Campo (University of the Arts Berlin), Neurorobotics Research Laboratory in Berlin, and the interdisciplinary research lab Baltan in the Netherlands.
Ana Rajcevic – Robotic body-prosthesis
Andrea Familari – Light design, stage production
Claudia Dorfmueller – Production
Christian Schmidts – Robotics CAD modelling, printing and engineering
Marco Donnarumma – Music, AI robotics-programming, performer
Margherita Pevere – Wearable biofilm, performer
Manuel Vason, Giovanni de Angelis, Giada Spera, Cosimo Trimboli – Photography
Neurorobotics Research Laboratory, Beuth Hochschule – Scientific partner
Protopixel – Light technology
Eingeweide was commissioned by CTM Festival (DE) and realised in the context of the Graduiertenschule, Berlin University of the Arts.