"->forside

How did you get the idea for Zoe, and what kind of thoughts did you feel during the process of getting the work accomplished?
At the beginning there was a question: What happens if there exists a group of smart objects which interacts with each other and with a person or a group of persons? In the back of my head there was also the idea of creating some kind of swarmlike behaviour. For sure the first idea and the vision which emerges in my vision is changing with every step of the process on the way to finishing projects. In this case the robots of zoe exist in different states, so the piece generally is open and always unfinished. I have made around 15 different evolutionary steps of zoe and thinking about lifeforms in nature and evolution generally, there is no end in evolution.

Why have you chosen to use many similarly robots in your work Zoe, and are they all been programmed to conduct the same behavior?
Generally each of the robots is individual. They seem to be similar, but as humans, where the basic principle is always the same (there are two legs, hands, a face, a nose...) but each person in detail is different. So it is at Zoe. I didn't make clones, by having a plan where I have all the parts produced and than fit them together, but also here I tried a evolutionary approach. After having finished the first, I took the measurments from that and created from this the next one and so on. So there is more a parental heredity instead of cloning.

So each robot is individual, in the way of the body, so because there is not much intelligence embedded in the "brain" a lot of behavioral "intelligence" is embodied. So each robot is similar but at the same time they are all individual, in form and function.

How did you experience the visitors' reaction to Zoe when it was a part of the Pixelache2011, Festival of Electronic Art and Subcultures in Helsinki, Finland, March 2011?

Because i am very interested in the situation what happens when a group of robots interacts with a group of persons, I tried to "form" the reactions as much as possible. It was very important to construct a positive feeling towards the robots to invite to interaction. At the same time I liked to create smiles. Generally at the beginning the reaction is most of the time to touch the robots with the feet, or let them touch the feet. after realizing that those robots cannot harm anybody, except themselves the visitors get nearer to the robots and start touching them and playing around with them.

 

Sometimes one of the group tries to evade and explores the surrounding of exhibition spaces. In Helsinki, on the Island there was the Ocean, with all the wishfulness embedded.

I think there will be another fotoseries in Prague, especially because there is also the theme of urbanity. So having a walk with some robots into the city can be very interesting and funny and new points of view on different locations can emerge.

Links
Homepage:
http://niki.xarch.at/wordpress/

Niki Passath: Presentation:
/english/vive-les-robots!-interviews/niki-passath

Niki Passath: Zoe (II):
/english/vive-les-robots!-cases/enter-datapolis-5th-artscitech-biennale-prague/niki-passath-zoe-%28ii%29

Similar case stories:
RoboLift
The Robotinity Exhibition at Ars Electronica Center
Futur En Seine: Follow the Robots

[source: Vive Les Robots!]