If you think about it, chances are that at some point in your life, you have ‘met’ a robot one one way or another. They are in movies, factories, the medical world and even in our house looking after us. But what is our opinion about the increasing take-over of this technology on earth. Do we still have our privacy? Are we afraid about machines taking over our lives and even our bodies?
HELLO: ROBOT. EXHIBITION – GHENT, BELGIUM
Design Between Human and Machine
Have you ever met a robot? You probably have, whether you’re aware of it or not. Robots are everywhere in our society these days. From the media to daily life, there are more smart machines than most people would think.
As humans, we are constantly thrown into debates about privacy, automation of processes and our excitement and fears about having machines take over (parts of) our lives and even bodies. But what is your opinion about this topic?
The exhibition “Hello, Robot.” in Design Museum Gent in Ghent, Belgium, is a great place to find out.
Our ideas and expectations around robots are strongly shaped by pop culture.
Interaction Between Human and Machine
Hello, Robot. features four highly interactive sections in which the visitor is invited to think about topics such as ‘science & science fiction’ (what a robot actually is), ‘programmed to work’ (thoughts on how would we like to work in the future), ‘friends & helpers’ (the emotional aspects of working and living with robots) and ‘becoming one’ (the evolution of robots).
Walking through the exhibit, you are being asked a total of 14 questions such as “Do we really need robots?“, “Do you trust robots?” and “Can a robot do your job?“. These questions help you discover that the answers to them are not so straightforward, but lead to even more discussions that we should perhaps prioritize more.
We have become pro-sumers: we consume what we produce ourselves
On 14 February 2015, NASA announced Curiosity’s discovery of a heart-shaped crater. The same day, NASA released these digital Valentine’s cards.
Taking Back Our Control on Life
The curators of the exhibition have done an excellent job to compress this incredibly broad topic into such comprehensible displays. You will really leave the museum asking yourself how we should deal with new technologies, as individuals and as a society as a whole.
The ever-evolving digitization and robotisation (if that could be a word) sometimes seems to alienate us from the reality that we often create ourselves. Yet at the same time we seem to go back to nature more often than ever as a source of inspiration to improve our artificial construction plans, hoping it will give us a stronger grip on reality, our humanity, our future… perhaps even our happiness.
The real question is: How do YOU choose to react to a world that continues to become smarter? Leave your thoughts and comments below.
From biohacking to smart homes… what will the future bring us?
Hello, Robot.
Design tussen mens en machine / Design between human and machine
27 October 2017 – 15 April 2018
Design Museum Gent
Address: Jan Breydelstraat 5, 9000 Gent, Belgium
Phone: +32 9 267 99 99
Opening Hours: Mon-Fri 9:30 AM – 5:30 PM, Sat-Sun 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Closed on Wednesday
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