[-empyre-] a-life intimacy / transpecies relations..

["Melinda Rackham" <melinda@subtle.net>]

hi all,
i have been enjoying the discussion, and  wanted to  ask you all a question
in an arena of interest to me .. that of transSpecies relations..

im particularly interested in human intimacy with a-life
creations/creatures..  as i have experienced a-life (and other life-like
soft/hard/ware constructs such as avatars, robotic animals, etc) generating
a feeling of intimacy and relationship with our humanity..

 For example:
 ive felt a presence  in the room  when viewing Ken's work Autpopoesis
http://accad.osu.edu/%7Erinaldo/works/autopoiesis/autopoiesis.html
 i know it was watching me... it was spooky but i felt like it was a
creature in a zoo that i had to be a little wary of..

 ive admired the beautiful aesthetic outputs of Paul's works like Sandlines
http://www.paul-brown.com/GALLERY/TIMEBASE/SANDLINE/INDEX.HTM sensing that
little creatures  are squishing around underneath the image.. like i could
reach in and interfere with their connection lines.. and that  i could
liberate them from their square container  to wiggle off somewhere else..

and Mauro's elegant a-life drawings fascinate me and i just want to own
them! http://www.plancton.com/prints.htm  something about  their
simple/complex  forms have an uncanny likeness to designer Florence
Broardhurst's wallpapers and prints (which are incredibly fashionable at the
moment) and i really do sense a personality and intelligence creating them..

and i definitely want to intimately relate to Maria's cute and sexy tickle
robots at  the tickle salon :) they should be on internet mail order!
http://www.xs4all.nl/~notnot/TickleSalon/TickleSalon.html

Maria is the only one of you who seems to be playing with a.life in a skin
to skin context , and i'm wondering how audiences react to that ?

However you are all to some extent dealing with, not only creating
artificial life art works, that react to external stimulation ,  but a whole
new space of inquiry of how we as humans relate to a-life.

im thinking too of a-life artists Christa and Laurent's move towards issues
of intimate relations in their Mobile Feelings project
http://www.iamas.ac.jp/~christa/WORKS/IMAGES/MOBILE_FEELINGS_PICTURES/MobileFeelings.html
its not a-life but  raises issues of human interaction with  the indicators
of life ( ie a heart beat) being technologically produced..

Are we scared of the possibilities of a-life and emergence and
rationalising it to distance ourselves from it..? or are we embracing it,
can we humans cope with not being the centre and/or pinnacle of life in the
universe?

thanks for your thoughts so far

Melinda