Tobia

Tobia is a speculative apparatus that, like an uncanny plant, reacts to the external stimuli coming from the surrounding environment. Tobia “sees” light through as a series of eyes that are scattered on its skin, or more simply with a 360° eye. Therefore, it also detects human presence in the surrounding. The creature reacts to external agents with unpredictable movements, activating with visitors a dialogue through a form of optic and haptic communication. Tobia is part of an ongoing research project called Towards a new Liminality, an experimental setup of dialogue between human beings and digitally fabricated non-human entities. With the attempt to leave behind the anthropocentric supremacy of the two-eyed observer, Towards a new Liminality opens up the contemplation of different forms of intelligence, whether artificial or not, examining ways of sensing that go beyond those coming using two eyes, a brain, a nose, and a mouth.

Davide Porta (IT)
Davide Porta works between Vienna and Cagliari at the interface of architecture and artistic research. Trained as an architect, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Balancing between analog and digital production he designs experimental installations and short films focusing with critical thinking on the relationship between technology and their societies. He works with custom algorithms, digital fabrication techniques, and real-time animations to explore alternative human-machine interactions, investigating speculative systems of dialogue and symbiosis between organic and inorganic matter. He is part of OUT!, a collective of artists, researchers, architects, and curators. Their work delves into speculative ways in which public space can be modified, in real-time, according to the microscopic environment disclosed through the new sensing technologies, and the increased awareness of microbial and viral co-inhabitants emergent from the pandemic.