In the woods, artist Rory Pilgrim presents parts of his evolving project Software Garden. In these days of globalization more bodies and voices are in contact than ever before. Digital and robotic technologies have now penetrated the fabric of social and human systems and changed them.
Pilgrim seeks to ask if it is still possible to create spaces that unite the human, ecological and technological with basic principles of empathy, care and kindness. In Software Garden Pilgrim presents a space for bodies and voices to come together, both within and beyond the screen. Whereas Pilgrim’s past work has focused on voices, his new work especially concentrates on the important role of bodies.
Interweaving poetry, choreography and song, he explores how complex systems of power and technology influence people’s personal experiences. Narrated by British poet Carol R. Kallend, her words reflect her desire as a disabled body to have a robotic companion. She dreams of compassionate form of technology, of machines living in harmony with humans. By bringing Software Garden to Cure Park, Pilgrim explores the relationship between the human body, non-human species and machines in this era of hyper modernity.
Rory Pilgrim’s (UK, 1988) work seeks to explore emancipatory concerns and connections between activism, spirituality, music and social engagement. He works, often in collaboration with others, in a variety of media, such as performance, film, music, installation and text. Recent solo exhibitions include Rowing, London (2017), Flat Time House, London, Site Gallery, Sheffield (2016), sic! Raum für Kunst, Luzern (2014) and Rongwrong, Amsterdam (2014). Pilgrim studied at Chelsea College of Art, London 2005- 2008 and was a resident at De Ateliers, Amsterdam 2008-2010.
This work can be found at location 5. on the map.
Workshop – HOLOGRAPHIC INTIMACY
Friday June 16, 4 pm.
Meeting point: Care Center
Sign up at: Care Center or info@curepark.nl
As part of his work Software Garden for Cure Park, Rory Pilgrim invites people to participate in a workshop exploring connections between technology, the body and identity. With robotic and digital technology affecting the ways in which we are living, we will explore what these technologies teach us about what it means to be human. In particular we will challenge how we intersect technological systems with basic human principles of care, kindness and empathy.
Working with movement and discussion, we will work with our bodies to further explore the boundaries in which we shift and embody different identities. Responding also to the Amsterdamse Bos as a human constructed site of nature, we will develop a series of group choreography and actions in the forest. Working within a safe space to share and try out new ideas, the workshop hopes to open up new spaces of possibilities of liberation and joy, which in result have political implications how we imagine possible futures
The performative outcome of the workshop will be presented on SATURDAY JULY 15 at 5 pm. Meeting point: Care Center.
