Dynamics of a Dog on a Leash
photo_by_Harada_Riku_1.jpg | Credits: Harada Riku
photo_by_Harada_Riku_2.jpg | Credits: Harada Riku
photo_by_Takayuki_Todo_1.jpg | Credits: Takayuki Todo
photo_by_unos_1.jpg | Credits: unos
photo_by_Tadayukai_3.jpg | Credits: Tada(yukai)
photo_by_Takuma_Yamazaki_1.jpg | Credits: Takuma Yamazaki
photo_by_Takuma_Yamazaki_2.jpg | Credits: Takuma Yamazaki
photo_by_Takuma_Yamazaki_3.jpg | Credits: Takuma Yamazaki
This is an installation work that displays an autonomous four-legged robot dog that is about to attack people, bound by a chain in a restricted state. The viewers face the "murderous gaze" of the robot while keeping a safe distance from the robot's attacks. Although it already has sufficient athletic ability and lethal power, this artificial beast is barely under control by a single "chain of ethics". Will it appear as a "living other" to the humans it glares at?
During the presentation, the robot dog seems to attack the humans in front of it and to be struggling to escape from its restraints. It thrashes about on the chain, losing its footing, falling over and slamming hard onto the floor, but then standing up again and refusing to give up. Finally, the robot collapses from overheating and lies down. It appears to be the death of the animal. People watch this from the safe zone beyond the "KEEP OUT" line, as if enjoying the spectacle of a pitiful circus beast show.
In the exhibition, pictures from the story “Lobo, the King of Currumpaw” by Ernest Thompson Seton (1898) were placed before the caption panel, with the intention that people who remembered the story would superimpose the image onto the performance: one robot lying miserably dead, while the other robot is running amok in rage in front of it.
This work sparked controversy on social media, with some accusing the artist of trying to create something harmful to humanity, some blamed him for abusing robots unnecessarily, while many visitors praised the impressive performance.
This work makes us realize that robots' movements and reactions still scratch our empathy nerves, even though they are not alive and actually do not feel pain or hatred, but everything is controlled and artificial. At this moment, we are unable to distinguish between a robot and a real animal, on a cognitive level.
In the coming age of living with robots, will we become hypersensitive to empathic stress, or become numb to it?
This is an installation work that displays an autonomous four-legged robot dog that is about to attack people, bound by a chain in a restricted state. The viewers face the "murderous gaze" of the robot while keeping a safe distance from the robot's attacks. Although it already has sufficient athletic ability and lethal power, this artificial beast is barely under control by a single "chain of ethics". Will it appear as a "living other" to the humans it glares at?
During the presentation, the robot dog seems to attack the humans in front of it and to be struggling to escape from its restraints. It thrashes about on the chain, losing its footing, falling over and slamming hard onto the floor, but then standing up again and refusing to give up. Finally, the robot collapses from overheating and lies down. It appears to be the death of the animal. People watch this from the safe zone beyond the "KEEP OUT" line, as if enjoying the spectacle of a pitiful circus beast show.
In the exhibition, pictures from the story “Lobo, the King of Currumpaw” by Ernest Thompson Seton (1898) were placed before the caption panel, with the intention that people who remembered the story would superimpose the image onto the performance: one robot lying miserably dead, while the other robot is running amok in rage in front of it.
This work sparked controversy on social media, with some accusing the artist of trying to create something harmful to humanity, some blamed him for abusing robots unnecessarily, while many visitors praised the impressive performance.
This work makes us realize that robots' movements and reactions still scratch our empathy nerves, even though they are not alive and actually do not feel pain or hatred, but everything is controlled and artificial. At this moment, we are unable to distinguish between a robot and a real animal, on a cognitive level.
In the coming age of living with robots, will we become hypersensitive to empathic stress, or become numb to it?
Artist: Takayuki Todo
Technical staff: Yuki Koyama, Takeru Saito, Kazuki Karakami
With support from: "Project to Support Emerging Media Arts Creators" by Agency of Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan, (2024).
Takayuki Todo (JP) is a media artist. With the question in mind "How can we make a robot, a non-human object that resembles a human and exists in the same space with us, turn into a living human?", Todo has focused on the representation of "gaze" as a "direction of consciousness focusing" and has been exploring the dynamism of human-robot interaction using self-made robots. His humanoid robot "SEER: Simulative Emotional Expression Robot"(2018) has been highly praised worldwide and attracted attention at the Ars Electronica Festival. For the latest artwork, he decided to use a purchased ready-made robot dog product.
Takayuki Todo (JP) is a media artist. With the question in mind "How can we make a robot, a non-human object that resembles a human and exists in the same space with us, turn into a living human?", Todo has focused on the representation of "gaze" as a "direction of consciousness focusing" and has been exploring the dynamism of human-robot interaction using self-made robots. His humanoid robot "SEER: Simulative Emotional Expression Robot"(2018) has been highly praised worldwide and attracted attention at the Ars Electronica Festival. For the latest artwork, he decided to use a purchased ready-made robot dog product.
In this deceptively simple artwork, we encounter a Boston Dynamics-style 'robot dog', chained but constantly lunging at the audience until it finally overheats and collapses, only to be replaced by its double that is waiting patiently in the background. Its affective potency—the sense of discomfort it evokes—creates a tension that requires us to reflect on the work's many layers of context and meaning: from the military origins of robots and their current use in conflicts in Ukraine and Palestine, to the way in which we project living agency (if only for a split second) onto the machine, to their role as a 'surrogate humanity' that allows for the continued, guilt-free relationship of subjugation. As the artist suggests, the robot dog in this installation is indeed held back by a thin and unreliable ‘chain of ethics’.
In this deceptively simple artwork, we encounter a Boston Dynamics-style 'robot dog', chained but constantly lunging at the audience until it finally overheats and collapses, only to be replaced by its double that is waiting patiently in the background. Its affective potency—the sense of discomfort it evokes—creates a tension that requires us to reflect on the work's many layers of context and meaning: from the military origins of robots and their current use in conflicts in Ukraine and Palestine, to the way in which we project living agency (if only for a split second) onto the machine, to their role as a 'surrogate humanity' that allows for the continued, guilt-free relationship of subjugation. As the artist suggests, the robot dog in this installation is indeed held back by a thin and unreliable ‘chain of ethics’.