27.8.20 The uncanny valley in art
Masahiro Mori, who turns 92 this year, first coined the term ‘uncanny valley’ in the 1970s.
‘Studying the ways in which people interact with toys, puppets, and prosthetics, Mori extrapolated a generation of robots that would inspire revulsion in their users because they looked too human’ (Arn, 2019)
It interests me that Mori includes toys, puppets and prosthetics.
Arn goes on to say ‘At the core of his most famous essay is a whimsical and rather un-scientific graph in which he plots the “human likeness” of various things—a toy robot, a healthy person, a doll, an ill person, even a zombie—against their hypothetical shinwakan, i.e. “affinity.” He drew inspiration from his country’s rich theater tradition, arguing that its famous bunraku puppets were both highly lifelike and highly likeable, but perhaps only because audiences viewed them from the comfort of their seats…. the word “uncanny” is a surprisingly recent invention. It originated in the 16th century, but didn’t acquire its full modern definition until 1919, when Sigmund Freud penned an essay on the subject, citing, by way of example, the creepiness of dolls, puppets, and waxworks. What distinguished these objects was, for Freud, their combination of strangeness and familiarity—the more familiar the observer found them, the stranger they became. ’ (ibid).
Arn again: ‘artists continue to revel in the uncomfortable gap between the two. It’s safe to say that Freud himself would have admired the sculptures of Ron Mueck and Duane Hanson, both of which are often misleadingly characterized as “hyperrealistic.” Mueck’s figures are undoubtedly lifelike, but they’re often far larger than life, giving them an eeriness impossible to capture in photographic reproductions. Much the same could be said of Hanson’s work: His sculptures—often cast in fiberglass, painstakingly painted, and, finally, dressed in second-hand garments—have all the intricacies of actual human bodies, and yet, by dint of their silence and stillness, they’re firmly lodged in the uncanny valley. Encountering Hanson’s Slab Man (1974–75) as a teenager, I did a triple- or quadruple-take, realized that I was looking at a sculpture, not a person, and finally, overcome by the deadpan humor, surrendered to giddy laughter—the proper Freudian response’ (ibid).
Arn, J. (2019) Why Artists Love the Eerie Sensation of Characters That Look Almost Human Available at: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-artists-love-eerie-sensation-characters-human (Accessed: 27 August 2020)
Masahiro Mori, who turns 92 this year, first coined the term ‘uncanny valley’ in the 1970s.
‘Studying the ways in which people interact with toys, puppets, and prosthetics, Mori extrapolated a generation of robots that would inspire revulsion in their users because they looked too human’ (Arn, 2019)
It interests me that Mori includes toys, puppets and prosthetics.
Arn goes on to say ‘At the core of his most famous essay is a whimsical and rather un-scientific graph in which he plots the “human likeness” of various things—a toy robot, a healthy person, a doll, an ill person, even a zombie—against their hypothetical shinwakan, i.e. “affinity.” He drew inspiration from his country’s rich theater tradition, arguing that its famous bunraku puppets were both highly lifelike and highly likeable, but perhaps only because audiences viewed them from the comfort of their seats…. the word “uncanny” is a surprisingly recent invention. It originated in the 16th century, but didn’t acquire its full modern definition until 1919, when Sigmund Freud penned an essay on the subject, citing, by way of example, the creepiness of dolls, puppets, and waxworks. What distinguished these objects was, for Freud, their combination of strangeness and familiarity—the more familiar the observer found them, the stranger they became. ’ (ibid).
Arn again: ‘artists continue to revel in the uncomfortable gap between the two. It’s safe to say that Freud himself would have admired the sculptures of Ron Mueck and Duane Hanson, both of which are often misleadingly characterized as “hyperrealistic.” Mueck’s figures are undoubtedly lifelike, but they’re often far larger than life, giving them an eeriness impossible to capture in photographic reproductions. Much the same could be said of Hanson’s work: His sculptures—often cast in fiberglass, painstakingly painted, and, finally, dressed in second-hand garments—have all the intricacies of actual human bodies, and yet, by dint of their silence and stillness, they’re firmly lodged in the uncanny valley. Encountering Hanson’s Slab Man (1974–75) as a teenager, I did a triple- or quadruple-take, realized that I was looking at a sculpture, not a person, and finally, overcome by the deadpan humor, surrendered to giddy laughter—the proper Freudian response’ (ibid).
Arn, J. (2019) Why Artists Love the Eerie Sensation of Characters That Look Almost Human Available at: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-artists-love-eerie-sensation-characters-human (Accessed: 27 August 2020)