In James Lovelock’s Novacene, humans and AI systems—both purposeful and intelligent, coexist. While their relationship could be friendly or hostile, Earth’s current state will necessitate collaboration, the future shaped by the need to sustain Gaia, not the selfish needs of humans or other intelligent species.

In WOW+FLUTTER AI serves as a creative muse, generating characters from generic prompts. Similarly, the Skinner Releasing Technique (SRT) uses spoken texts as prompts to encourage creative movement and play. Gibson & Martelli use these scripts and haiku-like prompts to generate hundreds of avatar designs in Midjourney, which they model and rig. The SRT process is used to inform movement improvisation, to draw the viewer into the movement’s energy and qualities.

Human experience is shaped by the limitations of identity—gender, race, age, and culture. In WOW + FLUTTER non-human avatars animated by dancers via mocap dissolve these boundaries, offering a space where identity becomes fluid, mutable, and infinite. These avatars challenge the boundaries of what it means to ‘be’ and to ‘experience,’ allowing ontological fluidity, identity and existence occupying spaces beyond the body. Philosopher Merleau-Ponty emphasized primacy of the body as the medium through which we experience. Yet, non-human avatars allow disembodied experience, the essence of ‘being’  no longer tied to flesh but to movement, expression, and intention.

In WOW+FLUTTER these non-human characters allow us to empathize with ‘the other’ in ways that challenge anthropocentric perspectives.

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