Hygiena is a short film by Amanda Vincelli centered on the interaction of a human and an AI humanoid. Taking place in an alternate reality, virtual space, or near future, Hygiena focuses on a ritualized maintenance procedure executed within the high- key lighting and commercial production values of what could be an advertisement, music video, or porn clip. A presumably biological human carefully cleans an android whose physical and sexual characteristics are mutable according to the human desires. With a finger’s swipe on the corresponding app, the AI’s physique can be transformed within gradients of criteria such as muscle mass, skin color, sexual organ, etc. This transference of subjugation onto the AI blurs the distinction of who is being cared for, who is receiving pleasure, who is being used. The AI is inherently an extension of contemporary capitalism.

Read more about it in Topical Cream

Curated by Jonas Wendelin.

Amanda Vincelli is an artist from Montreal working in Los Angeles. Her installations, videos, photographs, audio, artist’s books, websites, and livestreams trouble conceptions of the “real,” the “original,” and the “natural,” pointing to the possible disruption of normative social structures and human biology through the power of culture and technology. She recently completed her MFA in photography and media from California Institute of the Arts and her recent exhibitions include Take Care, Gas Gallery, Los Angeles (2018); Respite, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia (2018); Corpus Alienum, Hunter Shaw Fine Art, Los Angeles (2017); Clothing Optional, Night Gallery, Los Angeles (2017); Regimen, Studio XX, Montreal (2017); and Body of Research, Sloan Projects, Los Angeles (2016). amandavincelli.com