The three robots due to co-star in Neon Dance’s Prehension Blooms are something of a work in progress. To the untrained eye (mine) they are little more than a daisy chain of plastic sharks’ teeth, a pack of AA batteries and a tangle of wire. All three would fit comfortably inside a large shoe box. They look as though they might need defusing; they don’t (yet) look like key elements in a dance performance.
The project, on the theme of loneliness, began life when dancemaker Adrienne Hart was in Japan as part of the Setouchi Triennial, which seeks to bring art and art lovers to the beautiful but depopulated islands of Japan’s inland sea. “They are really trying to reverse the destiny of some of these locations — young people leaving the towns and going to the major cities,” says Hart. The production, part-funded by the triennial, will be performed in the small coastal town of Tadotsu in November after a UK tour in September and October.
Japan’s ageing population and its enduring fascination with technology have already led to the development of companion robots, but Hart wanted something more original: “There’s a lot of stuff utilising what already exists in the robotics industry and interacting with it, which is . . . interesting,” she says; but a bespoke design offers far more scope.
“I started a conversation with Hemma Philamore from Bristol Robotics Lab,” Hart continues. “How can we create a companion species that will help us connect better to others? These [Prehension robots] have a little camera on board that can detect and read people’s hands. They can also be tele-operated. People who can’t attend a live performance can operate a robot through a very simple Zoom-like scenario. They will perform in sand, so we’ve been looking at different designs inspired by nature and we’ve got a turtle-like design. A sand painting emerges — beautiful patterns. It leaves a trace of itself.”
The three robots will be tracking and following Fukiko Takase and Travis Clausen-Knight. Both dancers are used to sharing a dressing room with machinery, having performed in Wayne McGregor’s +/- Human at London’s Roundhouse in 2017 with a flock of balloons powered by tiny drones. When one of these failed during a performance, Clausen-Knight had to improvise: “It was, like, dying and it wouldn’t re-boot and I had to take it off.” He mimes cradling the dead balloon. “People thought it was part of the performance. It’s the same with this robot: there’s a sentience to it and you start to get very attached to it as if it were a pet.” (He has named his “Leon”.)
The team have yet to decide on a 3D-printed casing, conscious that colour, shape and texture will have a major impact on how the scuttling creatures are perceived. “People react in different ways,” says Philamore. “Some, like Travis, find them cute. Some will be disturbed.”
When I ask how the mix of mammal and machine will match up against, say, my cat riding the robot vacuum cleaner, both Hart and the engineers are united in their belief in the collaboration: “Working with people from different disciplines to create something you couldn’t create alone”.
Touring to Bristol and London, September 28-October 21, neondance.org; setouchi-artfest.jp