I don't think I am a Cyborg: An Interview with Remy Siu
The below interview was conducted on November 14th by Kevin Ault. The purpose of the interview was to give Siu an opportunity to respond to claims that, like Neil Harbisson, he is a cyborg artist.
Do you feel like digital technology is different than other artistic tools? Do you think that it has dramatically changed artistic practice?
"In the history of art making, tools have been constantly changing how we make art, what forms are available and what we can do."
"The magnitude of computing and the magnitude of computation gives us much more possibility than other tools that have come before. That is not to demote those tools or create a hierarchy, but, I'm saying that computers, to a certain extent, are changing our practice in a way that perhaps could be unprecedented."
"The magnitude of computing and the magnitude of computation gives us much more possibility than other tools that have come before. That is not to demote those tools or create a hierarchy, but, I'm saying that computers, to a certain extent, are changing our practice in a way that perhaps could be unprecedented."
In Foxconn frequency (no.2), part of the construction of the piece is watching Vicky respond to a computer. You have stated that you want the audience to experience the tension between machine and artist. Is this interaction evidence that you are a cyborg artist?
"If we start to use computers, those rules can be offloaded to the computer and the performers can worry about the specific tasks they are doing and make more interesting decisions in the piece."
"I'm not augmenting her senses but I guess I am augmenting the piece itself and how she is behaving inside the piece."
"The whole point to do it was to accent her presence, as a performer, and her humanness as a performer and her fallibility."
"I'm not augmenting her senses but I guess I am augmenting the piece itself and how she is behaving inside the piece."
"The whole point to do it was to accent her presence, as a performer, and her humanness as a performer and her fallibility."
Artist Neil Harbisson is a self-proclaimed cyborg artist. He has modified his body to augment his sensory experience; he was born fully colour blind. To overcome this sensory difference, he has installed a chip into his body so that he hears colours rather than sees them. He now creates both visual and audio representations of these new sensory experiences. Do you believe that this sensory modification has dramatically shifted artistic practice?
"We have always been augmenting our skills. We have been augmenting our skills with a hammer, with a wheel, with bicycles, with cars ... I guess when it comes to the digital stuff, it has become so intimate that it is augmenting our senses now."
"He wouldn't be able to experience these colours if he didn't have this tool. So, that creates new human experience and we can turn new human experiences into new art, but I don't think it is a huge conceptual shift. The way we will approach using these tools, is the same way that we approach any new tool as artists."
"He wouldn't be able to experience these colours if he didn't have this tool. So, that creates new human experience and we can turn new human experiences into new art, but I don't think it is a huge conceptual shift. The way we will approach using these tools, is the same way that we approach any new tool as artists."
Are you able to compare the practice of working with these technical modifications to an artist working with clay?
"The processes are not identical but it's really just about learning and becoming more close and intimate with the material you have."
"I think we are always just trying to take these things that we observe or experience and turn it into something interesting."
"I think we are always just trying to take these things that we observe or experience and turn it into something interesting."
To summarize, you feel that whenever an artist is working with a medium, they explore the limits and possibilities of that medium's physical properties. Each tool an artist chooses to use has a learning curve and the learning is the artistic practice. For these reasons you don't think that sensory modifications have altered the way artists create. Is this accurate?
"Practices have changed, but I think that the learning process and the engagement process with the artist and the tool is still similar"
"Artists are being a bit sensationalist about computers and the use of computers and technology in art ... and ... maybe they shouldn't"
"We can look at how society changed with the printing press when it came to the internet or access to knowledge. There is precedence. To claim that there is no precedence is a bit much."
"Artists are being a bit sensationalist about computers and the use of computers and technology in art ... and ... maybe they shouldn't"
"We can look at how society changed with the printing press when it came to the internet or access to knowledge. There is precedence. To claim that there is no precedence is a bit much."