Aoyama Shin | Maki Hanagata 'Ergonomic Embryo / Protocell' (Part 1)
This article critiques Maki Hanagata's public experiment, 'Ergonomic Embryo / Protocell,' exploring the relationship between technology, the body, and the concept of the 'chair.'Summary
This is a critique by Aoyama Shin of Maki Hanagata's public experiment, 'Ergonomic Embryo / Protocell' (Part 1). The experiment positions itself as a 'public experiment' where subjects wearing HMDs move around, captured by a camera, and the video is continuously transformed in real-time using generative AI. This transformed image is fed back into the subjects' HMD view, creating a loop intended to awaken the 'chair-ness' inherent in the subjects' bodies, aiming for them to 'become' the artifact rather than just 'use' it. The author argues that Hanagata consistently focuses on posture, viewing the chair as a primitive technology for posture control, exposing how humans have already become semi-chairs. Although the feedback loop appeared incomplete during the viewing, the inseparability of the subject's intent and the AI's recognition raises questions about perception. The chair images generated by the AI are illusory and cannot be sat upon, as approaching them causes transformation. Furthermore, the presence of a non-HMD-wearing 'human chair' acts as a complement to the visible, projected chair, existing through being unseen, contrasting with the highly observed, projected chair.
(Source：artscape)