DIGITAL LAUNCH
ROBOT//DOG
SOPHIE PENKETHMAN-YOUNG
Screening online now
5 April - 5 September
Preview screening: Thursday 21 March, 6-9pm.
Free snacks and drinks.
Sophie Penkethman-Young, Robot//Dog, 2022. Image courtesy of the artist.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Robot//Dog is a kaleidoscopic video essay on humans, dogs, AI and the multitudes they all contain. I’m not joking.
A dog is not a real animal, no really! We made dogs, we selectively breed them, plucking out the playant ones and then we program them. We program them to assist us crossing the street, to hunt down wrong doers, cuddle us at night, and make us look attractive to prospective partners. The dogs work for the state, they work for the airports, they work for the farmers, they work for the family. The dogs come up to us at the cafe and lick our fingers joyfully, the dogs come up to us at the train station and smell us accusingly.
The dogs are made of flesh, the dogs are made of wires, the dogs are at the museum and the fashion show. We know that there are good dogs and bad dogs and that the way we train them impacts the way they turn out. If we know that dogs can be all these things then maybe we can hold that complexity for other programmable beings.
It is hard to hold ambiguity, especially for things that are innocuous and all around us. But we can hold it for dogs.