"In the Wild," is a living, visual poem composed of a film and an aquatic garden, borrowing its title from HRI (Human-Robot Interaction), where the term refers to what happens beyond the controlled conditions of the lab. Here, “in the wild” is about softer and queer ways of sensing and understanding ourselves and the world around us, beyond the demands of optimization, legibility, and extraction.
Filmed through digital video, 16mm, archival material, and a robot-dog camera, the work moves between Kalochori in Thessaloniki, the Ballona Wetlands in Los Angeles, and the LIRES Robotic Lab at the University of Macedonia, where Dr. Anna-Maria Velentza appears beside the social robots that accompanied her doctoral research in Human-Robot Interaction.
During the opening, the audience was able to experience robotic and human performers in a live interaction within the world of the installation. Performers: Mochi Georgiou and Huntrezz Janos
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Landscape and Planting Design by Despoina Sarakinioti
Aquatic Plant Consultant by Giannis Gryllis
Cinematography by Antigoni Tsagkaropoulou, David De Rozas, Kleitos Kyriakides
Music Composition and Sound Design by Aliki Leftherioti
The film was produced at The Center For Ethnographic Media Arts, University of Southern California
Plants Sponsored by Gryllis Water Lilies
Short film: 4k digital, 16mm film, 19:00 min, color, sound, Greece, Los Angeles, 2026 Aquatic Garden: water, aquatic plants, sheet metal, waterproofing membrane, ears of grain, cut inflorescences, dried leaves, trunks
