Tully Arnot

Our song might be fake but did it get your attention?

Our relationship with technology is growing and soon interacting with artificial animals might not seem strange at all. Fake fauna could even prove useful in helping us study natural systems. But if we continue to separate ourselves from the natural world, will we only have facsimiles like these singing the morning chorus? Part of our daily soundscape and often flying under the radar, birds are integral to the environment. Next time you are walking down the street, in the bush, or around the block, listen out for the birds and consider what we might be losing if one day they weren’t real.

Can a simulation replace the real thing?

Tully Arnot (Australia/Hong Kong) works across various media to explore the effect that contemporary technology has on human relationships as well as the isolating nature of our increasingly connected, but ultimately disconnected world. Using automation and simulation, experimental projects investigate robotic and non-sentient substitutes for human interactions.

With special thanks to Raoul Mulder, Professor of Evolutionary Ecology in the School of Biosciences and Principal Investigator at the Mulder Lab.

Photography: Matthew Stanton

BIRD SONG