ROBOTA (44°34'39.5"N 72°14'45.2"W)

2022

single-channel video / experimental / 6 minutes

“They are the product of an experiment to eliminate pain and desire, so that nothing should disturb the precision of their labor.”
— Dr. Gall, Act II, Karel Čapek, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots), 1920

In a post-human world, a cyborgian entity materializes and experiences a pond for the first time.

The performance stems from an ecofeminist perspective and references the origin of the word “robota” (derived from “drudgery” and “forced labor”) as well as “robot” (from Karel Čapek’s Rossumovi Univerzální Roboti, Rossum's Universal Robots).

Robota’s cyborgian entity continues its habitual tasks but senses possible liberation in the multisensory, multispecies world in and around the pond.

“I do not know what to do. I want — I want — something that I do not know what it is.”
— Helena Robot, Epilogue (Act III), Karel Čapek, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots), 1920

a WAKAME MEDIA production

Maria Maciak Performer / Director

Dan Roe Cinematography

Maria Maciak Editor / Sound Designer

Zorro aka Baby Baba Dog Person

Bear Person Courtesy of Lirofilm

special thanks to Priscilla Heine and Cristobal Majcherski

©2022 wakame vr