https://www.facebook.com/Selfie-Automaton-1590258094620968/
http://www.labiennale.org/it/architettura/mostra/
Ayusaya Puppet Theatre Lab participates in Selfie Automaton project, the Romanian contribution to the 15th Mostra Internazionale di Architettura (Venice, May-November 2016). 45 wood carved puppets in 6 automata - compositions in which the visitor takes the place of the driving force in a conversation with them.
(φωτογραφίες από τη διαδικασία παραγωγής -production Photos)
Κείμενο του Σ. Μαρκόπουλου για τον κατάλογο της έκθεσης
Article by S. Markopoulos for the Catalogue of the exhibition
Mech-anima:
Machines laughing at the human race
(Notes
on the comic relation between puppets and humans)
The millions of things that surround us,
objects which are generally perceived as inanimate, under certain circumstances
come "alive” and we treat them as such, developing a relation with them.
What is the essential characteristic of "life"? Biology provides us
with some criteria (among them are the ability to reproduce, the ability to
grow and the ability to metabolize).
In puppet theatre, the essential
characteristic of "life" is the freedom
of choice and the deliberate action emerging from this freedom. In order to
animate a puppet, the puppeteer must make it seem autonomous, self-feeling,
self-deciding and self-acting: all movements (expressing certain activities or
emotions, thoughts etc.) must seem to emanate from the puppet's own body (or
“soul”): The energy needed for these movements as well as the application of
forces that produce the final action must seem to be inherent to its body and
not supplied externally by the God-Puppeteer.
It is very interesting that in everyday
life we recognize things as "living" not based on the biological
definition of life but on the theatrical one.
We drive our cars and do not perceive
them as living, but in case they suddenly break down when we are in a hurry, we
start speaking to them, pleading them or even beating them in an attempt to
make them change their decision to
stop. We recognize purpose in their behavior, a purpose beyond our control!
A leaf that the soft wind moves
delicately is not perceived as “living”, but in case the wind suddenly blows
harder for a moment and the leaf turns abruptly towards us right at the moment
we had spoiled a cup of coffee on our dress, then we perceive the turn of the
leaf as a clear reproach to our carelessness and thus the leaf as a living,
thinking and criticizing creature. That can prove really scary!
Animism, the belief that all things have
a soul and can potentially act, is deeply rooted in human culture and is still
guiding unconsciously our perception and reactions. Puppet theatre takes
advantage of this. It’s all a matter of signs transmitted to the audience. The
key to puppet theatre is the spectator’s mind. The triangle
“puppeteer-puppet-audience” is usually thought of as: the puppeteer animates/
manipulates the puppet, the puppet animates/ manipulates the audience and the
audience communicates with the puppeteer. The truth is that the puppeteer is
manipulating the audience, the audience animates the puppet and the puppet is
manipulating the puppeteer. Outside theatre, in real life it is very common
that the puppeteer and spectator is the same person (e.g. a child playing alone
with its dolls). Animation techniques are used in many other applications such
as religion, propaganda, education, advertisement, therapy, or even
architecture.
Puppets are a special kind of objects:
they are inanimate devices invented, designed and constructed to provide the
signs that will help make this fakery easier, more lasting and much stronger.
They are a convention making full use of our animistic habits for the sake of
our existential questions, needs and anxieties. Puppets can be thought of as
tools: like the lever extends our arm's strength and the computer extends our
brain's capacities, puppets extend our ability to mock ourselves and/or
communicate theatrically with powers we cannot control otherwise. They are
probably one of the most ancient technological inventions of humans (dating
back at least 25.000 years), suggesting that the needs they serve have been
more important than others in the process of self-development of mankind.
An interesting aspect of puppets’
uncanny service to human self-awareness, is their tragic-comical effect which
derives from their dead and yet so alive nature. Simplifying Henry Bergson's
theory, the “comic” is produced every time a living creature “loses its life”
and turns into a mechanical one (laughter is the social criticism against this
“fatal” mistake/ carelessness).
Puppets are the materialization of this
definition of the comic as well as the reversal of it: they are naturally born
mechanical and are given an artificial life which they lose at any time and
gain it back again, playing happily between life and death. They are comic by
this nature but actually they make fun of the humans' comic (or tragic)
relation to life and death. Extending this to other inanimate objects
(potentially animate), one can imagine (or even experience) the unpleasant
situation where machines and all kinds of things are laughing at us: a cultural
mirror reflecting our own perception of life and reality.
Automata are a special kind of puppets:
the eternal repetition of a rather sort action or movement defines them as
“totally dead" or “mechanical” because variety and endless heterogeneity
is another typical characteristic of life. They enjoy not even the artificial
life that marionettes and other theatrical puppets have. The freedom of choice
has vanished completely. We no more recognize “life” to them as their
mechanical nature is clearly declared by their behavior. We recognize an
unsuccessful intention of imitating life and this honesty makes them even more
comical since -as puppets- they should have life... Automata are related to
puppets in a similar way puppets are related to humans. They are puppets of
puppets...
Statues and still images are off course
even more restricted puppets but in their case, the fact that we do not expect
them to move frees them and creates a different context, a different world of
imagination/ animation.
Puppets and automata have been a kind of
collective “selfie” picture of humanity through the ages. Digital photography
has made very easy and handy the fast creation of a self-portrait, or a
self-puppet through which we communicate with our inner self and share our
theatrical relation to it with the outer world. From the archaic tribal ritual
(with or without puppets) to the modern selfie picture, we seem to have reached
the most self-oriented moment of our evolution.
