"Don't byte da hand that feeds u" V.UNO
"Don't byte da hand that feeds you" is a video game about the relationship between humans and our most prominent biological design, the dog. The piece utilizes text, spoken word, soundscapes, and interactivity to illustrate the concept of domestication as a technological advancement. It relies on scientific papers, philosophy theories, and human-dog myths.
We are in the dream of a dog, and we explore through playful perspective, control, and decision-making. The world uncovers blurbs of storytelling that illustrate the unequal relationship between dogs and humans. We get told the history and possible futures of unbalanced and symbiotic relationships, blurring the lines of anthropomorphic identity.
The contemporary usage of dogs today is a crucial indicator of their future. We are moving from fashion, healthcare, and surrogate children to content creators and parasocial relationships. The morality of breeding biological entities for human utilization sounds like a far-fetched horror story in the proper context. The piece explores the implications of virtualizing our "beloved" pets, from sharing the story of the first humans that domesticated canines to our will to transform the dog into a tool to maximize its human usability.
This piece defines the dog as a human extension rather than an animal. It exemplifies possible futures as we observe the abandonment of digital pets as proof and envision robots that suffice the role of our canine companions—consequently, their inevitable obsolescence. The final topic of the presentation ends by portraying a speculative future where our species grants full human rights to our first-designed species. And we entertain the idea of a fairer symbiotic relationship between humans and dogs.
This research and work was done at the University of New Mexico as part of a Visiting Artist in Design assignment in the Fall of 2022.
Talk at Unreal Engine Salon, August 2023
Exhibition without headset
Smell as navigation
Motion control demo