The Hosts: A Masquerade Of Improvising Automatons extends Wade Marynowsky’s development of custom-built robotics and interactive, performative media. In this installation, Marynowsky explores roboticist Masahiro Mori’s theory outlined in The Uncanny Valley (1970), which suggests that in designing humanoid robots one should not aim for total human likeness, but for an alternative to an uncanny appearance.
Media artist/artistic director; Wade Marynowsky, Electrical engineer; Aras Vaichas, Programmer; Jeremy Apthorp, Lighting; Mirabelle Wouters Costume; Sally Jackson, Photos; Garth Knight.
14 August – 12 September 11am – 5pm (Tues – Sat) and evenings, 6:00 -8:00pm when Performance Space has other events on. Performance Space at the Carriage Works, 245 Wilson Street, Sydney.
Autonomous Mutations 
I love the video of this exhibition on marynowsky.net ! Great soundtrack and editing, to enhance the uncanny effect of those twirling automatons!
thanks Mike! whats news with you has your uncanny book been published?
The book (The Popular Uncanny) has been slow coming (dragging my feet on the revision), but should be out in Spring 2010, I hope.
Your ‘Hosts’ keep freaking me out. Great vid.
Sup Wade!
I like your exploriations into, or rather, away from, the uncanny Valley. The Valley is a place I deal with on a daily basis. For Avatar we tried to tackle Mori head on an build a huge 4 lane highway across uncanny valley and breah ground on a giant concrete parking lot on Photoreal Lookout Point. It was expensive but I think we were sucsessful. Never the less, I find it interesting the number of film makers who seem intent on buying up real estate right smack bang in the middle of the Valley. I often hear them say thing like ” i Want it to look real but stylised” Perhaps familiarty will breed familiarity.
All the best
Areito
Hi Areito
great to hear from you and thanks for the comments!
Yes i think Avatar is a good case in point, great job
can u give some examples of failed attempts?
i recall a medievil 3d film with mapped actors faces that was not convincing enough for me , do you know the one i mean?
best
wade