You Say Goodbye, We Say Hello! Robots, Theatre and the Future of Humanity

Brazil-based electronics artist and robotics researcher Zaven Paré and UVic Japanese theatre specialist Cody Poulton will discuss recent collaborations between playwright Oriza Hirata and roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro in theatrical productions using robots and androids. One of Japan's leading dramatists and directors, Hirata is advisor to the Japanese cabinet on cultural and international affairs and recipient of the French Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Ishiguro is famous for making increasingly lifelike androids that are copies of real human beings, including of himself. He has been listed as one of the 15 Asian Scientists to Watch by Asian Scientist Magazine and his work was featured in the Bruce Willis film, Surrogates. Both Hirata and Ishiguro are faculty members at Osaka University.
Paré and Poulton's presentation of Hirata and Ishiguro's work will include a screening of Hirata's short play Goodbye (Sayonara), featuring American actress Bryerly Long and Ishiguro's creation, Geminoid F.