Robotic creatures exploring the proximity between the cute and the uncanny

Uncanny Dimple examines the close proximity between the cute and the creepy. Drawing from roboticist Masahiro Mori’s concept of the Uncanny Valley, which explains the eeriness of lifelike robots, my theory of the Uncanny Dimple portrays a parallel phenomenon in the context of cuteness. The robotic creatures inhabiting the soft depths of the dimple demonstrate the subversive power of cute, where adoration borders on aggression, delight turns into disgust, and meek dependance is a clandestine way of asserting dominance and demanding attention. Like the cyborg of Donna Haraway, these creatures defy the boundaries between natural and unnatural, subject and object, submission and domination, creating queer couplings between humans, animals and machines.

The work was exhibited at the Uncanny Dimple exhibition at Kosminen gallery in Helsinki in July 2019, and was later expanded for Goldsmiths Computational Arts MFA degree show in London in September 2019.

Goldsmiths Computational Arts MFA Degree Show, 5—8 September 2019

Uncanny Dimple solo show at Kosminen, Helsinki, 25 July — 4 August 2019