AUTO
Lauren Lee McCarthy
Artwork Description:
AUTO is a new kind of driverless vehicle created in collaboration with the public through test rides. As a passenger, you don’t ride in AUTO, you become AUTO. Each ride begins with the question: Where are we going? As the vehicle accelerates, new features are tested in a play between automation and control. The unexpected engine of the piece is collective singing, prompted karaoke-style through signage and sound. Learning the words they’re voicing only as they’re leaving their lips, the passengers experience a kind of embodied automation that is both absurd and provocative. Do we feel the anxiety of moving at high speed toward the future with nobody in the driver’s seat? Or is there a thrill in collectively letting go of control? AUTO is location specific, adapting in each city through public collaboration. Community workshops bring together local stakeholders to discuss AI, automation, surveillance, environment, and infrastructure. These conversations directly inform the design of new features for each iteration of the performance. In Zürich, a self-driving Swiss PostBus stood in the center of the city at Münsterhof square. Passengers were routed through an installation of city infrastructure elements into the bus where the singalong was guided by roadside signage. In Los Angeles, passengers descended underground to the LACMA Parking Garage where sign sculptures guided them to a car parked in front of a tube light installation.
Project Collaborators:
AUTO is location specific and adapts in each city through collaboration with local partners. This takes the form of community workshops, panels, interviews, and test rides that consider issues of AI, automation, surveillance, and city infrastructure. These conversations directly inform the design of new features for the AUTO vehicle and ride. In Zürich, researchers and policymakers working on mobility and technology governance were interviewed as part of the development process. In Los Angeles, local community members participated in a series of test rides that helped shape the final performance. The first iteration of the work, presented in the LACMA Parking Garage, was supported by the LACMA Art + Technology Lab and the Social Science Research Council Just Tech Fellowship. The second iteration, presented at Münsterhof in Zürich, was commissioned by Kunst im öffentlichen Raum, curated by Sabine Himmelsbach, and presented in collaboration with Haus der Elektronischen Künste.
