/////////////////////////////////
Echoes In My Mouth
At the time when artificial intelligence arrives at machine consciousness, and we hover in a post-work and post-creativity world, barely anything sets us humans apart from our fellow intelligent beings—the ones we created.
Our memories and traumas can be rewritten and removed, so our broken humanity and its conflicts are finally healed. We soon discover humans lack traction and meaning in this perfect world, and most urgently, motivation. In such scarce times, a memory bank is formed in a remote cave, in case we ever need a transplant.
Unified by an original score to a poem written by the artist, the video toggles between bodies in movement and a fantastical world inside and outside a cave. The images inside the cave were created using various forms of generative AI, including: DALL•E2, craiyon, Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, and more. The dancers are movers/creators from the Batsheva Ensemble.
/////////////////////////////////
Speculative Essay
A Speculative Essay draws on technological and scientific advancements as well as the imagination to create worlds in a hypothetical future. Its stance is neither antagonistic toward nor accepting of—technology. It recognizes we are already bio-infused with technology through our bodies and minds, and it seeks to define margins of autonomy and agency within an imagined future world.
/////////////////////////////////
(an short excerpt from Echoes In My Mouth. Total runtime 7’10”)
Written, directed and produced by Orit Ben Shitrit
Dancers | Creators from The Batsheva Ensemble:
Maya Botzer
Dor Nahum
Ori Mbazbaz
Avigail Shafrir
Cameras: Aviv Nachshon, Daniel Abergel, Dani Rozentov, Orit Ben Shitrit | Editor: Aviv Nachshon | 3D: Idan Fima | Animation: Omer Dolev |
Poem: Orit Ben Shitrit | Singing and Melody: Roni Katz | Music and Mix: Elya Bental
Thank you: Allegria+Asher Ben Shitrit, Gregory+Alona Minevich, Gilad Reich, Yochai Ataria, Dovrat Cohen.
Dor Nahum