Critical context

“In the pursuit of capturing our digital TV eye tracking, we have redefined the notions of disability and pet affordances, elevating them from negative historical affordances to an expressive contemporary medium. It is my belief that artists, the disabled and animals have a pivotal role in fostering diversity, cultivating novel relationships, and envisioning new modalities of philosophy or ways of being. By transcending traditional boundaries between human and animal, living and non-living, local and remote, biological and digital, we usher in a new era of interspecies-digital interaction that better aligns with the complexities of life in the 21st century.” (James 2023)

Main explorative points:

1. Artwork:

Introduces “Symbiotic Observations, 2023,” – canine and human eye tracking data. – (watching TV together), which captures the collaborative learning journey between disabled humans and assistance canines through eye-tracking data collection during digital media consumption, represented by 14,000 specimen pins on a pinboard.

2. Exploration of Collaborative Learning:

Explores how some humans and canines engage in collaborative learning experiences, crossing the digital divide through activities like watching digital media together and participating in eye-tracking experiments using interchangeable human-canine eye trackers.

3. Keywords and Themes:

Emphasizes themes of posthumanimalism and transhumanimalism, highlighting the fusion of human and animal perspectives in digital media consumption and technological development.

4. Challenging Boundaries:

Challenges traditional boundaries between human and animal cognition, showcasing the shared learning experiences and adaptability of both species in navigating digital environments. (Borderland and Cyborg Theory on steroids)