The robotic pole dancers on display at CeBit earlier this month were an interesting idea, but they were a little lacking in the "dance" department.
Not so with Jordan Wolfson's (Web site NSFW) animatronic sculpture, currently on display at the David Zwirner Gallery in New York. Created in collaboration with Hollywood animatronics and special effects studio Spectral Motion, the work uses cutting-edge technology for an extraordinarily lifelike effect.
"Wolfson's animatronic sculpture combines film, installation, and performance in the figure of a curvaceous, scantily clad woman covered in dirt marks and wearing a witch mask," the gallery wrote. "The woman can be encountered on a one-on-one basis in a mirrored room in the gallery, creating a different kind of viewing experience that intensifies the importance of the gaze found throughout Wolfson's work."
The sculpture faces a mirror in a room, which creates an effect of voyeurism -- the feeling of being at a safe remove. However, built into her face is facial recognition technology that homes in on the faces of individual viewers in the mirror, pinning them in her gaze as they move around the room and creating an uncanny connection made all the more creepy because of the Green Goblin-esque witch mask.
It's as creepy as all heck -- and equally impressive. Watch it for yourself below.
(Source: Crave Australia)