- Title: Floating spheres: Wayne McGregor's new installation hits London
- Date: 10th August 2017
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (AUGUST 10, 2017) (REUTERS) SPHERES AT EXHIBITION VARIOUS CLOSE OF SPHERES VARIOUS OF EXHIBITION GOERS CLOSE UP OF SPHERES WITH LIGHT FLARE (SOUNDBITE) (English) WAYNE MCGREGOR, ARTIST, SAYING: "What is going on? Well, you can see that there's these amazing drones, these autonomous flying spheres in the Roundhouse space. We wanted to make a piece which was a piece related to autonomous objects and live bodies, and we've made this piece called '+/= Human'." VARIOUS OF SPHERES IN EXHIBITION (SOUNDBITE) (English) WAYNE MCGREGOR, ARTIST, SAYING: "It's quite interesting because when you look at them quite objectively, you just see the poetry in them, you see, kind of biological movement. You kind of see the constellations emerge and unfold over time, that's really beautiful. But actually, it’s a very different experience being on the inside, where of all of sudden you have not this, not just a noise but this sphere coming really, really close to you with its gang, and you do have a very different kind of emotional response to it. I think the participation of it is a very different way of experiencing this installation." MCGREGOR MEETING DANCERS FROM THE INSTALLATION (SOUNDBITE) (English) WAYNE MCGREGOR, ARTIST, SAYING: "I think partly but also partly isn't it interesting that autonomy is expressed in lots of interesting ways. These spheres kind of hijack a particular person and decide to come and visit them and I think that's how we encounter every day occurrences anyway in a way. You know, our lives are unfolding, we don't know what's around the corner. I think that's very much how we live and I love that. I love that relationship between body and machine, I love that between intelligences, I love it between this notion of what is autonomy and how wide can we have a sense of autonomy nowadays." VARIOUS OF DANCERS AT INSTALLATION (SOUNDBITE) (English) WAYNE MCGREGOR, ARTIST, SAYING: "Of course it does because the technology is really prevalent. But I think that when we think about the technology and its application, we often think about it in more sinister terms and I think one of the aspirations for this piece has always been to think about how we might be able to work with autonomous objects and perhaps create a different kind of poetry or a different kind of communication which is perhaps more fragile, and I think that's why we were again thrilled to be working in this domain." VARIOUS OF SPHERES IN EXHIBITION (SOUNDBITE) (English) WAYNE MCGREGOR, ARTIST, SAYING: "The basic version is it's a motion tracking system. The motion tracking system looks for, for example, somebody to go towards and it allows the spheres to find a pathway, to invent a pathway to go and find, close to that person. If that person moves it reacts and moves back again. And then when it’s had enough of that love affair or that bullying of that particular individual or dancer, it moves and finds another one. So, in basic terms, it really is a kind of attraction and repulsion."
- Embargoed: 24th August 2017 13:17
- Keywords: Wayne McGregor floating spheres +/- Human Roundhouse art installation London Camden modern art
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Art,Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Human Interest / Brights / Odd News
- Reuters ID: LVA0016TKP2E1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: To the casual viewer, Wayne McGregor's new art installation in London may just look like a load of balls, but the new exhibition from the renowned British choreographer is, in fact, asking what it is to be human in a world of increasingly sophisticated technology.
'+/- Human' opens in London's Roundhouse art space venue on Thursday (August 10), a collaboration between McGregor and art group Random International, who previously created the acclaimed Rain Room.
From delivering packages to targeting militant groups, autonomous technology is increasingly becoming part of our daily lives.
McGregor says it's something he was keen to explore, "I love that relationship between body and machine, I love that between intelligences, I love it between this notion of what is autonomy and how wide can we have a sense of autonomy nowadays," he said.
The installation will feature a series of choreographed dances but will also allow members of the public to get up close with the drones.
"The motion tracking system looks for, for example, somebody to go towards and it allows the spheres to find a pathway, to invent a pathway to go and find, close to that person." McGregor says, "If that person moves it reacts and moves back again. And then when it's had enough of that love affair or that bullying of that particular individual or dancer, it moves and finds another one. So, in basic terms, it really is a kind of attraction and repulsion."
'+/- Human' runs until August 28, 2017. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
