Improv Everywhere has performed a fun uncanny experiment called “Human Mirror”: in it, a long line of identical twins sit in opposite seats in a subway car to catch commuters off guard. Here is the video from their site (if you don’t see it, it’s also available on youtube): The trick is fascinating, and provides a sly… Continue reading Twins on the Train to Weirdsville
Author: Michael Arnzen
Michael Arnzen holds four Bram Stoker Awards and an International Horror Guild Award for his disturbing (and often funny) fiction, poetry and literary experiments. He has been teaching as a Professor of English in the MFA program in Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill University since 1999.
Medical Manikins and Suffering
Today I stumbled onto Oobject — a weird multiuser “curations collection” that exhibits photos that members spot online, organized by offbeat themes. One of the most uncanny exhibits of them all is a collection of “medical manikins”. The above shot by Tomer Ganihar (a shot taken as part of a series he did in an Israeli hospital… Continue reading Medical Manikins and Suffering
Autonomous Improv and the Player Piano Effect
Wade Marynowsky’s weblog, Autonomous Mutations, highlights current uncanny art projects and other manifestations of das Unheimliche and is full of fantastic and unique examples of the aesthetic (like Karakuri ningyo), links to Machine art, and also references to uncanny theory. I say he features the “aesthetic” of the uncanny because his blog is an offshoot… Continue reading Autonomous Improv and the Player Piano Effect
Android Science and the Uncanny Valley
In addition to sharing his published research online on his website, Karl F. MacDorman has a series of youtube videos from his presentation on the the “uncanny valley” in android science, given at the 2007 NMC Summer Conference , hosted by the Indiana University School of Informatics (June 6, 2007). Below is part VII of the lecture. Mind… Continue reading Android Science and the Uncanny Valley
Hitchcock and the Uncanny Object
On Vanneman, Alan. “Alfred Hitchcock: A Hank of Hair and a Piece of Bone.” Bright Lights Film Journal 42 (Nov 2003). In the “Dead or Alive?” section of his photo essay, “Alfred Hitchcock: A Hank of Hair and a Piece of Bone,” mystery writer/film critic Alan Vanneman gives us a veritable slide show lecture that… Continue reading Hitchcock and the Uncanny Object
“Voice of Julio” by David Byrne and David Hanson
Meet Julio — the singing robot. “Voice of Julio” is an art project by David Byrne (Mr. Big Suit from the rock band, Talking Heads) and David Hanson (creator of “conversational character robots”) currently on exhibit at the “Machines and Souls” exhibition in Madrid (ends mid-Oct 2008). Julio is made of electrons and rubber, but sings… Continue reading “Voice of Julio” by David Byrne and David Hanson