Zenna Tavares (London, UK, 1986)
Kibwe Tavares (London, UK, 1983)
Gaika Tavares (London, UK, 1982)
Eli Bingham (New York, USA, 1993)
Emily Mackevicius (Massachusetts, USA, 1989)
live and work in Los Angeles, USA; New York, USA; London, UK
Basis with GKZ
Djali
Album
Description
This work is a narrative exploration into counterfactual pasts and hypothetical futures, fusing the mediums of film, sound, and computation to transport audiences beyond the constraints of the present.
Robots of Brixton is an architectural discourse, narrated through the languages of montage and film, that explores themes of race, class, immigration, and contemporary urban London. Its story is specific to a place (Brixton) and time (1980s), but it is eerily prescient of more recent urban protests across the globe. It follows the trials and tribulations of young robots surviving at the sharp end of inner-city life, a predictable and precarious existence, underpinned by poverty, disillusionment, and mass unemployment. When the police invade the one space that the robots can call their own, the fierce and strained relationship between the two sides explodes into an outbreak of violence echoing the protests of 1981.
Djali explores storytelling and visualisation of hypothetical worlds, narrated from the perspective of an artificial intelligence present in them. Experientially, Djali is interactive, building on advances in natural language processing, computer vision, and computation to simulate our human ability to mentally explore possible and even impossible worlds with our mind’s eye.
Credits
Team
Lullyn Tavares (Djali, Writing), Shaiyan Keshvari (Djali, Perception Design), Karen Schroeder (Djali, Research Operations), Ria Das (Djali, AI Development), Archana Warrier (Djali, AI Development), Doug John Miller (Djali, Illustration), Janine Kwoh (Djali, Design), Mourad Bennacer (Robots of Brixton, Sound Design), DJ Hiatus feat linton Kwesi Johnson (Robots of Brixton, Music), David Hoffman (Robots of Brixton, Still Photography), Vesna Petresin Robert (Robots of Brixton, Consultant), Lauraent Petresin Robert (Robots of Brixton, Consultant), Nic Clear (Robots of Brixton, Tutor), Ying Suen (APOC Store, Director), Jessica Au (GKZ, Costuming), Michelle Yi (Women in Data, Operations)
With the additional support of
Zuckerman Institute, Columbia
