The performance disarming II continues Emanuel Gollob’s Disarming series with a performative improvisation scenario involving a dancer and a separate robotic arm.

In the performance, the independent industrial robotic arm ReBel continuously tries to learn how to move forward from the status quo in the human-robot-environment relationship based on stereo listening and torque feedback. A dancer, experienced in contact improvisation, puts himself in the robot’s situation and bodily imagines how he would re-learn the body and new movements, relying solely on acoustic and haptic attention shaping a hierarchically balanced performance in which both rely heavily on sound and movement, while bringing their unique bodily knowledge. Together, they create a moment of performative improvisation.

In a world with increasingly complex layers of technology we lack a logical understanding of the sensitivity of emerging human-robot relationships and how algorithms might conceptualise the world differently.

Performer: Javier Olivares

Activity carried out in the framework of the residency programme of the European Media Art Platform at the WRO Art Center with the support of the Creative Europe Culture Programme of the European Union. The work Disarming II of the exhibition Millennials has been made possible thanks to the support of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Public Service and Sport and the support of the Department of Culture, Europe and Sport of the State of Styria.