Antoine Catala, Emobot (teacher), 2014, powder coated aluminum and steel, computer, sound system, TV, video (color and sound), 71 by 21 by 18 inches, 13 minutes, looped.
You will find yourself laughing, uncomfortably to be sure, at the video in Antoine Catala’s show “New Feelings.” It’s based on video footage of an 11-year-old boy whom Catala asked to mimic various emotions. In the video, his digital avatar’s facial contortions suggest a cyborg striving to have feelings. Writing for A.i.A., Federico Florian described a recent Catala show that featured drones and holograms as having a playfully space-age feel. This show maintains that atmosphere. A latex balloon inflates and deflates; inside are small parenthesis-shaped objects based on an emoticon that revolves to create different “expressions.” On a low pedestal are bizarre objects that visitors can handle; their textures will surprise you. A computer voice occasionally calls out phrases that appear in the show’s press release, such as “I don’t feel the same anymore. I feel new. I don’t know how to describe the sensation. Do you?” Are the machines gaining the capacity to feel, or are our own emotions becoming mechanical?