Inese Verebe James Robinson

Kvartira-11 / New New is a sound installation responding to the ambiguous situation in my motherland, where 50 years of Russification left Riga, capital of Latvia, with a population 50% Russophone, including myself. Living with proletarian ideology under Soviet Rule impacted how people identify and express themselves artistically, before and after the collapse of the USSR.

With the death of Joseph Stalin, restrictions in the USSR eased. That was a perfect time for Soviet people to learn how to break rules creatively. The Ministry of Culture still strongly controlled censorship in the Soviet Union, and the nation was not satisfied with the offer of cultural life under the Iron Curtain, causing the black market to become the main source for exploring Western trends. Illegal recordings would spread like a virus on DIY vinyls, cassettes, and even pirate radio stations.

As an amateur musician who collaboratively worked in Rock bands since my youth, am interested in the concept of the DIY artist and bedroom producer. With the development of technology, recording and promoting your music is easier than ever, but the main challenge for Soviet people was limitation. By limiting sounds you can produce at the installation, creating simple and fun interactions, such as a pirate broadcast to a Soviet Radio, am hoping that the public will reinvent themselves.

Theory and experimentation exist in conjunction with each other, tools act as a catalyst to this creative process. My work aims to offer people an access point to using cybernetic systems as a creative space, focussing on embracing the unique benefits of the digital realm, instead of simulating our previously un-broken analogue environments.

Inspired by the process-oriented approach of the New Brutalism movement; form follows function in this work, with a simple box drawing attention to plan. The shuttered concrete and welded steel are both products of the processes used to make the structure. The time-based element of the work is expressed using light acting as a spatio-temporal translation, with circles referencing the looping behaviour of early dance music. The light interface for the pattern system is an abstracted diagram of the workings of system itself, depicting its cyclic nature.

Through manipulation of cyclic patterns, non-linearity is introduced by the user, shaping the composition over time. Two simple processes are chained together to produce a complex behaviour greater than the sum of its parts: inner circles producing step lengths for the outer circles’ events. Participants are encouraged to engage with the piece by interacting with the touch-plates. Being informed by light and sound, a feedback-loop is created by the users, adding entropy to the system creating unique experiences.

When the rubbish is combined with marine life, the final jellyfish is born. As people pass by the sculpture, the jellyfish seems to come to life. People are drawn to its glow and stop to take a closer look, discovering that the jellyfish is made from marine debris. Using sensors to detect when people pass by, it also suggests that the ocean changes with human behaviour.

The choice of jellyfish as a sculpture prototype is because of its translucency, and because I once mistook a jellyfish saw in shallow waters for a piece of plastic. I also witnessed a sea turtle eating a plastic bag, mistaking it for a jellyfish, which led to its death. This means that the similarity between jellyfish and plastic bags can put marine creatures in danger without them realizing it due to human activities.

The creation of the jellyfish sculpture aims to remind people of the issue of marine pollution through the form of art, raise public awareness of environmental protection, promote eco-friendly behavior, and encourage sustainable development. Furthermore, the jellyfish sculptures can also showcase my love and concern for marine life, allowing viewers to better understand and recognize the marine ecosystem.

As an interaction designer, my recent focus has been on exploring the complex and evolving relationship between humans and intelligent machines, particularly in the context of autonomous driving. Throughout the year, I consider the role of autonomous driving as an assistant, security and traffic accident/congestion solver and explore what the future may hold such as ethical problems on roads.

Keep your hands on the wheel is a phrase often heard as a command in current semi-autonomous driving. Through my work, aim to gather the emotional attitudes of the general public and to provoke thought and discussion around the ethical implications of autonomous driving. Questions such as whether machines replace humans in making proper judgements, how safe is safe enough, and who will be responsible for any consequences that arise, are all questions that need to be explored.

As visitors engage with my work, they are invited to consider their own views and opinions on these important topics as characters in different paths. Choices and votes are made in a simple touch format, adding their opinions to the wall. Ultimately, my goal is to spark conversations that encourage individuals to consider the potential impact of autonomous driving. By tapping into public opinion on these ethical issues, together we can shape the future of this technology in a way that is safe, responsible and beneficial for all.

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