A street wrapped in mirroring foil and window cleaning fear inducing robots: these are and&'s art interventions

AMO's HALO in the Machine Room of Sint-Maartensdal

With HALO, AMO discussed the role of new technology that will most likely return in our urban fabric as new cathedrals or temples to accommodate our growing digital needs. AMO adapts the Machine Room building into a hypothetical space for worship, a new typology in our future urban fabric. AMO uses the religious symbolism of the halo and the building, and questions if our blind faith in religion ins shifting to a blind faith in data. Bright light beams create radials of a HALO that intersect the building's volume. The center of the HALO is in the Machine Room caretakers circular watch-platform.

Studio L A's Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all? in Hanengang

For Studio L A, the practice of architecture is a device through which to investigate societal issues, phenomena and narratives, and to place them in renewed perspectives. The installation pictured above relates to how we are watched and perceived on so many ways and levels. The reflecting fabric underlines how different angles depict us in a different way and, in a way, questions how the right for our privacy is being lived up to today.

The installation displaying four robots (Siri, Sophia, Tars and Alexa) on the Martelarenplein

The installation is themed around the particular brand of fear which the modern era inspires. The viewer has a sense of being lost in a technological wasteland where the original purpose of the simple machine has been erased - in its place is an oddly spooky and beautiful remnant of progress. The glass panes have active robotic window cleaners moving across its surfaces. Gesturing towards an eerie future, the animated robot induces a fear of technology and recalls the suburban pass time of the car wash. The underlying theme is the erasure between industrial beauty and technological threat.

The "Surveillance Speaker" by Dries Depoorter on the Martelarenplein

This is an installation by Dries Depoorter about surveillance and A.I. It showcases the latest breakthroughs in computer vision software and exists out of a camera, a computer and a speaker. Through the speaker we hear what the camera sees in a sentence that starts with "I see...". The audience is confronted in a playful way with the presence of security cameras. How do you look in the eyes of a surveillance camera that can speak?