ART Habens Byron Rich of physicality , you seem to suggest the necessity of going beyond symbolic strategies to examinate the relationship between reality and perception , but that we should focus on the medium itself in order to understand the way it offers a translation of reality . Do you agree with this analysis ? Moreover , I would take this occasion to ask you if in your opinion , personal experience is absolutely indispensable as part of the creative process ? Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience ?
I do agree with your analysis . I think I should start with the genesis of the project . It came about through conversations with my collaborator Alex Derwick ( www . alexderwick . com ) about the ways in which science fiction is an incredible catalyst for the creation and development of new technologies . This is not a new notion by any means . Jules Verne in 2001 : A Space Odyssey outlined staged rockets for space exploration , Start Trek : TNG envisioned something similar to an iPad , but for us it was Robocop and the autonomous drones that patrolled the city . Alex is a film buff like no other , and he began showing me all these different renditions of similar drones in movies
from the mid-late 20 th century . Only now the science has caught up with the fiction and the possibility of “ ethical algorithms ” has begun to be realized .
We wanted to demonstrate how terrifying it is that amateurs , artists in this case , could develop a simple way to make judgment calls on individuals and perceive their threat level and systematically target them . We laid out sketch after sketch , settling on an aesthetic and scale . The final project was much smaller than what we envisioned , but I ’ ll touch on that in a minute .
I met Ian F . Thomas ( www . ianfthomas . com ) a few months later and told him about the idea . He seemed intrigued , and had a unique vision in how to actually accomplish it . He brought with him an immense knowledge of craft , and an enormous capability for refining the aesthetic into something that could be playful , but terrifying . Ian has a very unique perspective . His thoughts are dark and dystopian often , but tempered by a sense of play a wonder . His mind works like no one else I know . He ’ s a grown child with a deep understanding of geopolitics , and critical theory . Somehow he hasn ’ t been weighed down by this often heady knowledge , and it manifests in his work as playful , but often frightening contemplations on contemporary culture .
Alex and Ian really deserve much of the credit for the project . Both share a very unique filter for societal trends and translate them into unexpectedly playful forms with dark subtexts is really remarkable . If I had done this project alone I think it would have been too overt a gesture , imposing and generally quite bleak . Their fun-loving-in-the-face-of-terrible-odds personalities elevated the project .
We set out to build APS out of metal , and make it look as militarized as possible , while having a sense of playfulness . We were to present it at ISEA 2014 in Dubai , but then we started to get a series of emails trying to persuade us to limit the militaristic-vibe that we were going for to be more respectful of the culture in the UAE . We debated on whether we were sacrificing artistic integrity is we catered to their desires , ultimately deciding that the discussion that would be possible by pandering to our hosts was ultimately interesting in and of itself , so APS in its current form was born . We programmed it to track skin color . At ISEA it was targeting people with lighter skin tones . I think the meaning is pretty obvious given the context .
The project was intended to kind of hit you over the head with its message , and give you room to find more nuance if you wanted to search it out . The piece became a terrifying game . People wanted to interact with it , and see how the piece “ felt ” about them . Some
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