The history of women is literally interwoven with that of mechanical production: weaving, looms, switchboard operation, hardware assembly lines. And women were an instrumental force in the early days of mathematics and computer sciences – before it all became nerdy and testosterone-ridden. But our cultural imagination has entangled the narratives of femininity and technology even further, in science fiction, horror, and post-apocalyptic scenarios. Enter the fembot (female robot).
Uncanny Valley Girl explores questions of gender, technology, intimacy and power through the lens of the fembot motive. It constantly shifts between beauty and horror, machine and body, eroticism and hostility. Seductive, sometimes humorous, the performance lures the audience into a dark confron tation with their own gaze. It makes them aware of the fear that technology is taking over, or that maybe women do.