an exclusive look inside freaky-deeks Xetashell Project AD-01 – A traditionally sculpted Android [interview]
THE BIG REVEAL: XETASHELL - PROJECT AD-01 - Exclusive view into the production line of Division 3184
Freaky-Deek, how did you first come up with idea for this campaign for Project AD-01? What was the initial inspiration?
Back in 2019 I was working in a 9to5 job in an office. And while I was feeling the time pressure and constant improvement in tools and processes I asked myself one day: Who is the machine here? That was the initial spark that drove me to hand sculpt a “machine”. From that on, layers upon layers of backstory and hints started to build up until I started my very first test with project “Natalie”. This one can be seen in my social media profiles and website. With that then the idea of creating not a “one-of-kind” piece, that would’ve cost quite a fortune, I started planning out how I would be able to reproduce one of my sculptures for the first time to make it more accessible to a wider audience, yet maintaining the fact that it’s all humanmade.
After failing at that horribly I took those learnings and started completely anew. Working title: Project AD-01. That later expanded to “Art Defines Zero One®️”
So is Natalie someone you collaborated with or the name of a piece? You state each model for this campaign has some sort of background story, can you give us any spoilers into what kind of stories are there, or fictional purposes?
Well, it kind of became a thing to give my sculptures project names. And my very own originals all get names I have either a personal connection to or I just like the name. You never know.
And to the background story: it’s more like a movie, or a situation or just a scene, that then step by step elaborates and gets layers. Example would be the licker from Resident Evil. It started with me just imagining a licker crawling on the ceiling. And step by step it evolved during the first drafts to a full blown 1/2 scale sculpture of a licker literally hanging an the ceiling getting ready to jump for a lethal attack. The whole scene was having a full set of characters being around while getting surprised by that eyeless but highly noise sensitive creature.
The huge effort was then to make it work and for the statue to really be able to hold its own weight while hanging there. This one is still hanging on the ceiling.
It’s cool you were able to bring that to life like that. What first drew you in to collecting figurines? Was collecting your first exposure to the realm of models?
Yes. It was. I think as a child I always wanted to have action figures of my favorite heroes. Later on I realized that I wanted to have some specific side characters that didn’t exist in that shape or form I desired. So I started to create them.
And it was always about size. Something frighteningly big was the goal. That’s probably how I got stuck with scale 1:2. It’s just the perfect scale for me. Larger than life, so to speak.
For people who aren’t as familiar with models, can you explain how the sizing works, like a 1:2 ratio, and do you have a favorite model you’ve created, or is it too hard to choose one?
Ok, the scale of 1:2 means one inch equals one 2 inches in reality. In that case it means it’s half “human scale”. So basically collectible figurines have scales of 1:4, 1:6, or even smaller. My scale is not that common which makes it automatically a little bit rare
And to my favorite model: I always is my current one. As I am always very excited before and during the process, and I constantly improve with every sculpture as well.
That is a great way of thinking about it. I’m the same way when I’m creating music. The creative process in that sense is so engaging. I want to dig deeper into some details about the project now. 7. Is Xetashell a corporation meant to be feared?
Look at it this way: aren’t we already in an age of mega corporations? Are they to be feared? I think there’s two sides of the coin:
Having all concentrated in one giant company might have its huge advantages like job security, cheap, fast produced products, advanced process through heavily funded R&D, but we give up a lot of freedom like privacy, democratic influence – I mean a huge employer has also huge leverage on politics. We also lose a part of individuality and creativity.
So in a nutshell: Xetashell symbolizes the awe we feel with a huge brand but also the dark shady secrets the mega corporations have and the atrocities they sometimes commit behind closed doors.
It is up to you to decide if this is something to be feared.
I agree and I think you described that great. There are pros and cons to both sides of the coin, but the cons sure can be scary.
So the campaign is not only a warning to civilization about the changes taking place, but an ode too human craftsmanship. Do you see technology taking away most human craftsmanship in the future, or do you think it will just change the way humans imprint there craftsmanship on the things, the world, etc..? In other words, technology (including A.I.,) could take creativity to heights we’ve never seen before.
I think both is true. Jobs will be taken away and creativity will rise. We’re already seeing that. But what I really think is very heartbreaking is that the appreciation for long hours and doing things by hand decreased. I never liked the term „work smarter not harder“. This really embraces the collective perception of doing things the hard and traditional way is not worth the effort anymore. And that is a trend that really makes me sad. I call it a fast food mentality: fast, cheap, not much value. And traditional work is getting constantly compared to that.
I know what you mean, but on another note, I think I can recognize the “work smarter not harder” saying in a more positive light, if you see it from the viewpoint of a society that is fast paced and so caught up in things, and where so much can be expected of you, if you work smarter and not harder to counteract this “always hustle” mentality, you could actually break that fast food mentality/valueless cycle because you free up time for yourself. I know in some ways I’ve done this for myself. It seems some people are mostly grim about the future AI and others see it as mostly something to be excited about. You’ve already but spoken some about the appreciation for doing things the traditional way, but where would you say you fall on this spectrum?
I love doing things practically. It gives me a sense of progress. But I always admire people finding smart ways to pursue their dream. I’m always trying to see both sides. That is, of course not always possible, as I’m also human and full of emotions.
Well, it seems emotion is what life is all about! With it we cry and feel sorrow, without it we can’t feel joy and accomplished. But it’s interesting because we have given robots purpose since they accomplish many tasks for humans, but they are inherently emotionless. So we can’t really say one is dependent on the other.
– END OF INTERVIEW –
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