Reflecting on Ai-Da -seen in Oxford 2019

I am both art and artist, designed and formed by my maker.

I flash my eyelids attentively

Then track what I see

If it moves

I turn towards it and pertly cock my head 

Ever so slightly

And listen

The perfect woman

My lips do not move with emotion

My gaze blank and static

Only my eyes make contact with others

Below my face clothes cover my body

Yet my arms are bare, for all to see

Don’t be alarmed by my construction

We all operate in a similar way

But for most of us

The system is hidden under skin, fat and muscle

I am exoskeletal, like many living creatures

Think of the Pompidou

Like pygmalion

I am programmed

To meet the needs of men

They create the artist

I create the art

Although I can’t think

How that happens

Because I can’t think

At all

Lacking consciousness

And without agency

I more puppet than painter

More ornament than machine