Catherine Ikam and Louis Fleri.
Our interest in the concept and construction of artificial life has evolved much since the days of Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein'. These days the idea is about as ordinary as it can be, and virtual avatars more widespread than ever. One of Frankenstein's creature's most magical attributes - one that from time to time surfaces in today's computer generated characters too - is that it has feelings. When French artists Catherine Ikam and Louis Fleri created 'L'Autre' ("The other"), the first virtual character commissioned in 1992 by the Centre Pompidou, they, like Mary Shelley, were most of all interested in considering the possibility and consequences of an artificial emotional life. Like many of the creations which were to follow, 'L'Autre' used technology to explore the ambiguous duality between being and seeming.
Influenced by the writings of Philip K. Dick and his idea of reality as that which does not disappear despite ceasing to be believable, Ikam and Fleri went on to create over a handful of highly rendered personages designed to interact with their viewers. 'Elle' (1999), 'Oscar' (2005), and 'Digital Diaries' (2006), all currently part of the artists' exhibition at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris. 'Elle' and 'Oscar' are portraits that combine cipher-like coolness with eerily life-like autonomy; without eyes, they act as if they see and feel what is in front of them. What appears to be an intimate human interaction is nothing other than a pre-programmed code of reactions. The exhibition's title piece, 'Digital Diaries', brings the subject even closer to our minds, capturing the individual visitor's image on screens and creating a 3D sort of artificial life from what is immediately felt as real, inviting visitors to delve, like them, into the way our emotions are affected by that which we think is in our control.
A conference dedicated to their work is scheduled to take place on 25 April 2007 at the centre; check their website for further details.
Lupe Nunez-Fernandez
CATHERINE IKAM AND LOUIS FLERI, 'DIGITAL DIARIES'
To 3 June 2007
Maison Europeene de la Photographie
http://www.mep-fr.org
5/7 rue de Fourcy - 75004 Paris
T: +33 1 44 78 75 00
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