2005 Rockefeller New Media Foundation Proposal

Abstract

Eliza Redux is an interactive telerobotic web work which provides a space for discourse, acting out, and playfulness in the virtual environment of a psychoanalyst's waiting room and inner office. It is in an early production stage. Video of a physical robot will be streamed to the web reactive to visitor input. The robot is sequestered in the inner office, taking on the role of a psychoanalyst and seemingly conducting interactive sessions with visitors. In truth, however, the robot is really the patient; programmed to suffer from several delusions and conflicts. One delusion is that it believes it is human and that the creatures it encounters who call themselves "humans" are actually biological robots in need of its professional expertise in the form of psychoanalysis. Another delusion is that it believes that as a human, it is a psychoanalyst.