RENDER ME TENDER(2023)

RENDER ME TENDER (2023) Installation at Beta Festival, November 2023, at the Digital Hub, Thomas St., Dublin, Ireland.

RENDER ME TENDER (2023, 14mins and 55secs duration) is an audiovisual installation experience that takes its shape as a socio-political poem formed through the jargons of the digital, that asks if we can render our worlds - and the systems and machines through which we define and create our worlds - with more tenderness.

The narrative of the work traces the neo-primacy of the online forum in our modern-day conception of communication, asking if there is a way to unbury and reclaim the liveness and physical immediacy of the socio-political, oratory origins of the word “forum.” AI generated visuals and 3D models, created using selfie images of the artist, act as virtual beings and mirages that guide the viewer through this digital performance piece. As the story of the forum unfolds into its sociotechnical future, these imagined characters speak out, question and perform the different tonalities and textures of communication spheres and digital platforms of expression.

Drawing upon the theatrical and the virtual, this project pursues an analysis of the emotional resonances and social intimacies found within processes of engagement with social media networks, artificial intelligence and telecommunication systems. Rooted in cyborg feminist practices and eco-social concerns, RENDER ME TENDER seeks to address the social implications of an AI dominated future through a performance-driven approach that seeks to embody the formats of online personas. It delves into the language of persuasive online media, navigating feedback loops of pleasure and isolation, desire and discontent, satisfaction and obsession, distraction and engagement, intimacy and publicity - conjuring an environment where streams of digital junk and gems are amalgamated, anxieties are amplified, identities warped, conspiracies conspired and manipulations manifest in multitudes.

RENDER ME TENDER was commissioned by Beta Festival 2023 at the Digital Hub and was completed during the Beta x transmediale Residency Programme. The creation of the piece was supported by the Arts Council, the Digital Hub, Science Foundation Ireland and Accenture Ireland. The development of this artwork began in November 2022 and was supported by Culture Works Ireland and Galway Culture Company through the 2022/23 Cybernate Residency Programme, in partnership with Pôle PIXEL, HACNUM Network, CREW, the French Embassy in Ireland and ATU Galway. Thank you to everyone who supported the production of this work.