This autumn, composer, performer and roboticist Sarah Angliss will begin a part-time residency at Pervasive Media Studio to explore poetic approaches to robotics on stage. In this talk, Sarah will introduce her past work and plans for the residency:

Over the last six years, Sarah Angliss has been performing live with music augmented by robotics. Most of the robots she has created are figurative or electromechanical updates of ancient instruments. One, for example is Hugo, a roboticised 1930s ventriloquist’s dummy who performs vocal samples. Another is Wolfgang, a miniature robot drummer in a dapper 1960s suit. And then there’s The Ealing Feeder, a polyphonic carillon (bell rig) that plays riffs at lightning speed. Sarah is fond of these bandmates and knows they have quite an impact on stage, but she's keen to develop her practice and devise more poetic forms of robotic performance that don't rely on human figures and other traditional tropes. With the generous support of Arts Council England, Sarah is now planning to take time out of her performing schedule and experiment with more imaginative combinations of music and roboticised objects.

During this talk Sarah will discuss her plans to research and develop Trace, a live music and poetic robotic performance that takes discarded everyday possessions - handbags, furniture, kitchen utensils and so on – and robotically animates them to mimic the breaths, postural changes, arm movements and other gestures of their former owners. Sarah's aim is to create an impressionistic playback of absent persons, using their discarded, former possessions. She’s aiming for a humanistic yet non-figurative form of robotic art that’s distinct from traditional automata and stereotypical metallic sci fi robots. Trace, she hopes, will be an uncanny (Unheimlich) and compelling performance—a visitation of sorts.

Visit Sarah's Project Journal to read more about her thinking and project plans.

Trace is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

This Lunchtime Talk is part of Open Studio Friday, which takes place at the Studio every week.

Do you want to find out what is going on at the Pervasive Media Studio? Are you interested in meeting our residents, talking about a
specific project or curious about pervasive media? Why not pack a sandwich and join us for one of our Lunchtime Talks and Open Studio
Friday.

Lunchtime Talks are informal presentations by Studio residents and associates. They normally take place at 1pm on Friday, are free and open to everybody who’s interested in what we do.

After the Talk, we also invite you to stay with us for the afternoon to continue the conversation or work on your own projects. We
provide chairs, tables, wireless and a great space. You bring what you need to work with (laptop/mobile). Our open afternoons close at 5pm.

Let us know if you’d like a tour of the space and we'll be happy to show you around. Send an email to admin@pmstudio.co.uk