We have been living with robots for longer than we realize. Consider smart fridges and the smart thermostat. Technology continually offers us ways to externalize – cooking, language, agriculture, machines, computers and robots – to increase our chances of survival. However, by designing new technological environments we also influence ourselves. The development of robots challenges us to think about who we want to be, which needs we have and how we would like to share.
The symbiosis of humans and robots is perhaps the ultimate form of love. How will this (be)coming together of man and machine occur? What will we win or lose? What human characteristics need to be preserved for the coming generations? Will we continue to morph ourselves into our own pets or become loving cyborgs? How can humans and robots feel recognized and valued in the process?
Download the PDF for more information.
Apply for CALL FOR CYBORGS mail to info@robotlove.nl
Who can participate?
Creators, designers, artists, dancers, fans of robots, engineers, futurists, startups and students can all participate. Everybody who wonders what the future will bring and what opportunities and risks lie ahead for a new post-human race. Prosthetics and sensory applications will play their part, but also uploading your brain and sharing intelligence with a super A.I. will become possible. Or think of 3d-printed robotic limbs, DIY-surgery, workshops for happy cyborgs, active digital citizenship. What does all this mean for us and what are the ethical dimensions?
What is the aim?
The ROBOT LOVE manifestation takes place in the autumn of 2018 in Eindhoven at the Campina Melkfabriek and other venues. In collaboration with DDW and Park Theater a Cyborg Catwalk will be organized where everything is permitted and anything possible. The winners of the Call for Cyborgs will participate with a vanguard of brain-controlled exoskeletons, robotic limbs, transgenders, sensory applications and cyborg cou- tures. Our merging with robots might radically change our perspective on normality.
To what end?
ROBOT LOVE issues a call for cyborgs to collect innovative proposals and plans that challenge us in a thought-provoking way to think about the symbiosis of man and machine. What will this symbiosis look like and what does it mean? Is the combination of biological and synthetic intelligence possible or desirable? Will we enter a world in which there is space for many forms of life? Will there be racial segregation in which some consider themselves superhuman, while ‘ordinary’ people no longer matter? How are new technologies deployable and wearable so that everyone can participate?
The winners
- Win € 1.000 to develop their idea into a prototype
- Will be coached by ROBOT LOVE, Baltan artists in residence and MAD Emergent Art.
- Participate in the Cyborg Catwalk during ROBOT LOVE/DDW18
