Machine Membranes

2023

Performance (30 min)

Documentation photos: Runa Halleraker

Machine Membranes was the first collaboration between artist Marie Nerland, composer/singer/multi-instrumentalist Mari Kvien Brunvoll and myself.

The theme of the performance revolves around the relationship between technology and the human body. “Technology has become the body's new membrane for existence”, artist Nam June Paik once stated. The project originated from a shared interest in science fiction and in the dystopian, yet alluring aspects of technological development. It explored how machines surround us more and more and gradually become part of us, and how we are tracked by sensors and algorithms in our increasingly mediated way of experiencing and being in the world. Machine Membranes presented some aspects in the development of the membranes between the human body and machines – from the first typewriter called “cembalo scrivano” to the present-day machines that scan the reactions of the human body and thus increase its potential for surveillance.

Many thanks to Julie Lillelien Porter, Sasha Azanova, Oda Tungodden and BEK – Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts.

This project has been supported by Bergen Kommune and Lydgalleriet.