Ken Feingold work is very interesting in relationship to digital art. Feingold plunges into the realm of artificial intelligence through his works of using mechanized heads that use speech recognition. For example in his work If/Then Feingold explores the concept of ever-changing dialogue. I find it very intriguing how Feingold uses such off setting objects that we as humans can identify as human characteristics in a digital atmosphere. Through his project people can influence the human heads by logging onto a website where they can see their effect in the gallery space. The use of interaction between the human heads results in access to imagination and thoughts of the heads.
This concept of digging into the consciousness is very interesting in perspective to the digital realm. I feel that as a human we are always wondering what other’s thoughts are and by Feingold’s work this becomes a reality to a certain degree. I find the concept of the randomness of human conversations is also presented between the human heads.
Giving digital technology human characteristics so we can relate to one another is also seen in Eric Paulo’s and John Canny work in PRoP-Personal Roving Presence. The robots engage in simple everyday human activities while revolving in a certain space. I find this very interesting in relationship to digital technology because something foreign in human nature is being transformed to mimic human characteristics, and also allows the interaction between digital and human to occur.
Both of the works that I touched on are trying to allow communication between digital and human. I feel that this sets up a standard for allowing technology to advance as well as communication between the two mediums. The need for human representation in digital technologies and realms results in need to find human characteristics and functions in something that is not human at all. By doing this we can better relate to digital technology and build a relationship between human and machine.
