1 introduction and sketches booklet a5

Mary Bernadette Lee U1030461E

DESIGN DIARY: PATTERN, ART DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE DO MEN DREAM OF ELECTRIC ANDROID WOMEN ?

INTRODUCTION

Inspiration

I GOT MY INSPIRATION FROM A PHILLIP K DICK’S NOVEL ‘DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP’ Drawing inspiration from the novel, I created these imagined creatures to be from the post apocalyptic cyberpunk world where forms are hybrids of a n o t h e r. M a y b e , i n 2 0 7 0 , humans will no longer exist as pure humans but hybrids of one another with other forms. When that happens, does one undervalue another as a living thing? Or will one be capable of true human emotion, of empathy and be accepting towards each other?

I n a s i m i l a r m a n n e r, m y p r o j e c t ch a l l e n g e s o n e ’s perception of these ‘femme droids’. It also explores the same issue as Phllip K Dick’s novel in which the issue of what it is to be human is explored where emotions, and boundaries of attraction are tested.

I celebrate woman by marrying structures of robotic machinery with the feline sensual woman form. I explore the possibility o f i n j e c t i n g e m p a t hy a n d other sensual and sexual quality of a woman into a cold, automated and rigid quality of an android. These women are designed with the intention to evok e an emotional response in men. Do these visual stimuli of hybrid ‘electric android women’ elicit reactions of lust, admiration or fascination? Or perhaps, even apathy and disregard.

Conceptualization - Ideation

This project is a play on P h i l l i p K D i ck ’s n ov e l ‘ D o Androids Dream of Electric S h e e p ’. I n t h e n o v e l , t h e androids possess no empathic sense. They are considered to be pieces of machinery with limited intelligence and nothing more as what Rick, the main protagonist b e l i e v e s s o . H o w e v e r, h e soon learns that androids may be capable of empathy and humans may be devoid of empathy. This causes a shift in Rick’s understanding of himself, as a human being. The question to keep in mind is, what does it take to be human? How does one know one is human? How does one human feel towards an android?

SKETCHES: FEMME DROIDS

Femme Droids