“The usual nexus” is set in an experimental laboratory situation in a not too far away future. It conjures up a scenario where human beings serve their own creation – Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Humans’ aim to overcome their deficiencies, such as imprecision, fallibility and time-inefficiency, is likely to result in the replacement of human labour by blue-and-white collar machines.
While science fiction scenarios very often involve an active conflict between human and machine, who see each other as threat, „The usual nexus“ depicts a scenario where humans comply with the control of AI over human society.
As the performance is an obvious low-fi setup of a fake-intelligent commander that is in fact written by the artists themselves, it raises the question why the artists put themselves in this situation, and more generally speaking, why we create at all. What are our roles as humans and how do we feel within the system created by ourselves? Will we be enslaved by machines, that we in the first place created or has AI the potential to save us from ourselves and enable us to pursue deeper self-reflection and a more human life?
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Technical description
„The usual nexus“ is a fictional experimental theatre and a series of interactive sound installations. All sounds and visuals are generated in real time using an interactive system consisting of light sensor, light and shadow, motors, modular synthesizer, random generators, objects, 2 performers and live radio.
Total duration: 30 minutes
Some photos from the performance in Taipei Contemporary Art Center (Photo credit: Yi Yang Yeng) and Ming Contemporary Art Museum Shanghai (Photo credit: McaM)
Presentations and performances in 2018, 2019 & 2020
Taipei Contemporary Art Center
Figya Art Space Osaka
Chef-d’œuvre Osaka
Nomart Gallery Osaka
Environment Zero-Gauge Art space Osaka
A Sound A Noise Tainan
Little Play Taichung
Otooto Space Tokyo
Tokyo Okappachan House
Space Eauuu Kobe
Anoxia Tokyo
Koganecho Residency – Art Center, Yokohama
Polygon Art Space, Horanggasy Creative Studio, Gwangju, Korea
WATMM, Seoul, Korea
Dotolim, Seoul, Korea
Hanoi New Music Festival, Vietnam
Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music, Bangkok, Thailand
Mai Space, Chiang Mai, Thailand
The Factory Contemporary Arts Center, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Design and Art Museum, at Urban Oasis Art Space, Hangzhou, China
Ming Contemporary Art Museum, Shanghai, China
403 Art Center, Red chair theater, Wuhan, China
The usual nexus is featured in the virtual artist GALLERY of #JapanRevisited202x: then–now–after, a platform conceived by the Austrian Cultural Forum Tokyo for artists from Austria to reimagine and revisit their memories, interpretations, and dreams associated with Japan.
#JapanRevisited202x: then–now–after will be available online from September to November 2020.
Cao Thanh Lan 