Adorned in titanium, latex, silicone, and electronic apparatus

July 21, 2005 8:48 PM

Psymbiote: Hybrid Apparatus for Social Interface [via]
posted by moonbird (11 comments total)

"isa/Psymbiote places herself in the eye of the storm: the conceptual terrain at the collision of bodies and machines, the mutation of her own identity through transformation of the body"

Sure, but can she program the VCR?
posted by oddman at 9:33 PM on July 21, 2005

I don't see any close-ups of functioning neural implant slots. :(
posted by dopamine at 9:59 PM on July 21, 2005

I need more cyber modules! I spent all mine on heavy weapons skill. :(
posted by jenovus at 10:24 PM on July 21, 2005

Does she make sounds like a pinball machine when you have sex with her?
posted by fenriq at 11:31 PM on July 21, 2005

I wrote a long-assed diatribe on why this sucks, but I discarded it. I can't not comment on this though, so let's see if I can distill it.

1992 called. It wants its future back.

Isa/symbiote has been milking that poorly designed costume piece for years now. The 'project' hasn't progressed at all. The only concept visualization is a couple of bad pencils sketches. Industrial design undergrad students at places like Art Center in Pasadena churn stuff like this out on a daily and weekly basis. I've seen better costumes walk into Denny's at three in the morning.

You can buy articulated exoskeleton gloves in metal at Hot Topic, for chrissakes.

From the perspectives of futurism, design, engineering and technology it's all terrible. In her illustrated lecture she uses a lot of big words and phrases - and even touches on some salient info - but it's all rehashed stuff that's years, decades, or almost a half century old or more. It willfully ignores where technology is going, and where it's already been.

This isn't cybernetics. There's more real cybernetics in the faceplate of an iPod or almost any cellphone. This is a melodramatic club kid milking an art grant.

Sure, it might make the Pointy Haired Bosses and managers at SIGGRAPH titter, but that has little to do with any real futurism, and probably has a lot more to do with the 'exotic' latex-clad girl wearing it.

Ooo. I'm so melodramatically industrio-gothic, no?
posted by loquacious at 12:02 AM on July 22, 2005

Well said, loquacious. You took the trouble for articulate irritations that I felt but couldn't be bothered to explore over such a lame phenomenon.
posted by squirrel at 2:16 AM on July 22, 2005

So, this is a person who puts on a science-fiction costume and goes to conventions? Groundbreaking.
posted by barjo at 4:08 AM on July 22, 2005

Really good points. I didn't post it because I like it, or even the idea of it, and loquacious nailed what eeked me out about it. I guess I find it fascinating that human-machine interface has sort of taken the place of psycho-spiritual evolution. Linking up with a computer is fairly easy, but the real forward thinking ideas about conscious evolution were much harder and actually took much work and devotion. Becoming a machine is the easy way out.
posted by moonbird at 4:18 AM on July 22, 2005

I was reading it thinking "but what does it do - what makes this something other than the nightclub-wear it looks like?". After poking around for a bit (not long enough really) I decided it sounded like the answer was "nothing".
If, as suggested, she has been doing this for some time now without evolving the gear, then yeah, that's not very interesting. It might be a way to make a living, sure, but not a very good way.

OTOH, I don't wish to be misinterpreted as condemning a girl for wearing skimpy latex. Wearing skimpy latex is a noble activity to be encouraged in anyone with a form worth showing :)
posted by -harlequin- at 4:40 AM on July 22, 2005

Cool! Thanks for finding that old copy of MONDO 2000 for me. I thought I'd lost it. ;)
posted by sourwookie at 5:01 AM on July 22, 2005

Thanks for taking the critique the right way, moonbird. I certainly wasn't attacking you.

Hey, damnit! That's my copy of MONDO 2000. I need to reply to that ad on the back page about developing a teledildonics system.
posted by loquacious at 7:30 AM on July 22, 2005