Forklift Ballet
“The Last Embodiment”
Machines are losing their machinity. We can only keep our humanity if machines keep
their machinity. The ability to embody a machine, that is, to make it an extension of our
body, disappears as machines get easier to use. In the past, we could have an intimate
relationship with our old radio because tuning a station involved a kind of “symphony”
with the radio itself through the physical manipulation of the tuning control and watching
the display. Today, you just push a button to have the radio tune itself. Our body
interaction is nothing, there is no engagement.
The forklift ballet is an homage to the special relationship between humanity and
machinity. The machines should become part of us and enhance our humanity. When they
do, they disappear and we see only an extended person. The experience of embodying and
using the machine is its own pleasure.
In the forklift ballet the dance of the machine is actually the dance of the driver/ballerino.
The driver has an intimate relationship with the forklift. The driver has embodied the
machine. We see expression come through his extended body. When we embody the pen,
or the sword, or the piano, or the computer, or the car, or the forklift we can feel pleasure
from using it, allowing its machinity to conduct our feeling.
The world of technology is striving to make machines easier to use. But careless
improvement will take away machinity and consequently take away our humanity. This
ballet may be the last embodiment.
In general, this performance is an illustration of contemporary life. It shows the relationship between
humans and machines and the interface between man and his feelings. Man expresses himself only through
the skilled manipulation of machines. The ballet of electrical forklifts guided by skilled drivers and life
sounds expresses the metaphor of now.
