Ludic Method Tea: "There's a there there"

 

How is it that people chat with a bot or talk to an avatar as if they were actually interacting with a "real" revenant of a deceased loved one? The sociologist and psychologist Sherry Turkle, who has been researching parasocial relationships and interactions between humans and machines at MIT in Boston for more than two decades, says the bots and avatars know "how to trick you into thinking there's a there there". This expression plays with a well-known phrase from Gertrude Stein. In "Everybody's Autobiography", Stein described the feeling of returning to her old home village, where nothing was the same for her. She had returned home, but home was gone. The avatars and bots of the dead are often described as "un-heim-lich". 

 

Author and director Moritz Riesewieck will shed light on the special quality of the presence of the dead in the form of digital and virtual revenants. What do the bereaved hope to achieve through dialogues with the supposed digital clones of the dead? How do the bots and avatars or their providers play with people's hopes and fears? Moritz Riesewieck will combine observations from 6 years of documentary research and diverse artistic experiences with references to philosophy, cultural history, psychology and more.

 

Moritz Riesewieck (*1985) is a German author and director. His debut film `The Cleaners‘ which he co-directed with Hans Block dealt with a shadow industry of digital censorship. It celebrated its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018 and has since been screened at more than 70 international film festivals, in cinemas and on TV worldwide. It was nominated for an Emmy and the German Television Award and has received numerous international awards, including the Prix Europa for the Best European TV documentary film 2018 and the Grimme Audience Award 2019. Their TED talk on freedom of expression on the internet reached an audience of millions. Their essay 'Vom Ende der Endlichkeit' was published in several countries. Their second feature documentary “Eternal You” premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2024 and has already been shown at more than 30 international festivals, in cinemas and on TV and won several awards. Under the label “Laokoon” Riesewieck collaborates with Cosima Terrasse, Hans Block and other artists and scientists, developping innovative theatre and crossmedia projects. Their artistic data experiment "Made to Measure" premiered at the international media art festival Ars Electronica in Linz. It won the renowned "Information is beautiful"-award 2022. Their theatre plays have been shown at Burgtheater in Vienna, Muenchner Kammerspiele and other renowned theatres. In their work, Laokoon questions the impact of digital technologies on society and everyday life. Moritz Riesewieck has recently become a member of the German Film Academy.