A Cyborg's Mirror: Bodies in Hyperreality
A Cyborg's Mirror: Bodies in Hyperreality (2024-) is a commissioned work for Safety Third Productions, co-directed by Katherine Helen Fisher and Shimmy Boyle.
As a creative technologist, I co-designed and developed this real-time, AI-driven interactive performance system using TouchDesigner alongside AI tools such as Stable Diffusion-TD, Mediapipe, and ElevenLabs. This interface, along with its performance, has been featured in the "First Draft" event by Human Resources (LA), the "(Machine) Learning to Be" workshop hosted by the IGNITE series of Brown Arts, the "Future Stages" event at NYU, and "Never Stand Still' at Jacob’s Pillow. More to come soon!
Description:
A Cyborg’s Mirror: Bodies in Hyperreality, is an interactive AI-driven performance that explores identity, hybridity, and audience participation in the digital age. Rooted in cyborg feminism and posthuman theories, it integrates real-time audience inputs, generative AI imagery, and live performance to challenge fixed binaries like human/machine and physical/virtual. Through its participatory framework, the project reimagines identity as fluid and co-constructed, using technology as an active collaborator to foster critical reflections on embodiment and the evolving relationship between humans and machines.
Credits:
- Creative Direction: Katherine Helen Fisher and Shimmy Boyle with Safety Third
- Performers: Jae Neal and Katherine Helen Fisher
- Creative Technologists: Mingyong Cheng and Shimmy Boyle
- Score: Joshua Kadish
- Visual Décor: C. Finley
- Creative Consulting: August Henderson, Uma Shannon
- Photo Credit: Anastasia Velicescu
- Video Sizzle: Adapted from the original version edited by Katherine Helen Fisher and Shimmy Boyle of Safety Third Productions.
- Developed in conjunction with the Data Fluencies Theater project with support from the Brown Ignite Series