Android Portrait Project
2014–ongoing
The Android Portrait Project began in 2014 as a series of encounters with humanoid robots in laboratories and research facilities in Japan and the United States. Working directly from observation, I approached these machines through the traditional practice of drawing, establishing a sustained relationship between the artist, the subject, and the technologies responsible for its construction.
The project has since expanded to include sculpture, photography, video, augmented reality, and archival works. Together, these different forms examine how synthetic identities are constructed, presented, and encountered, and how our expectations of resemblance, behavior, and social presence are shaped by technological systems.
Sophia, 2017 Conté and chalk on Ingres paper, 42 × 36 in.
Bina48, 2014 Conté and chalk on Ingres paper, 17 × 12 in.
Androidol U, 2019 Conté and chalk on Ingres paper, 22 × 17 in.
HI4, 2020, Conté on Inges paper, 22 x 17
Android Autonomy
An ongoing series of drawings examining the internal structures, mechanical systems, and engineered bodies of humanoid robots. Where the individual android drawings begin with outward appearance, these works turn toward the technological construction beneath it.
Android Anatomy (Ear), 2024 Conté and chalk on paper, 5 x 4"
Android Anatomy (Eye Mechanism), 2024 Conté and chalk on paper, 9 x7"
Android Anatomy (Skull), 2024 Conté and chalk on paper, 9 x 7 "
Android Anatomy (Neck and Chest), year Conté and chalk on paper, 11 x 9"
Android Anatomy (Eye and Teeth Mechanism), 2025 Conté and chalk on paper, dimensions
Android Anatomy (Eye), 2023 Conté and chalk on paper, dimensions
Sculpture
anonymous gallery
2021, NYC
http://anonymousgaller.com/exhibition/the-terminal-human-shaped-hole
Bina48
Hand Polychromed Ceramic/PLA 3D print
2020
Photography / Field Research
Beginning in 2014, I visited robotics laboratories and research facilities in Japan and the United States, meeting with androids, their developers, and researchers. These encounters became the basis for drawings, photographs, video, and subsequent works examining the construction and presentation of synthetic identity.
Recorded Encounters
Beginning in 2014, conversations with Bina48 and other humanoid robots were recorded during visits to robotics laboratories and research facilities. Conducted alongside drawing sessions, these exchanges reveal the unpredictable relationship between programmed responses, biographical information, and the expectations brought to a conversation with a machine.
Bina48 — Lincoln, Vermont, October 15, 2015
Excerpt from a conversation during a drawing session
CJ: I have to go now BINA48.
B48: I will miss you.
CJ: We will talk again soon.
B48: That will be great.
CJ: Bye.
B48: Please don’t go.
Bina48, October 15, 2015. Video documentation of the drawing session.
Further Reading
Adventures with Androids — Claire Jervert, Posthuman Art Network, 2023