Ant(igone)

Performance

A human accidentally steps on an ant.
To his astonishment, another ant begins to speak.

Her name is Antigone. Sent by her colony to study humans, the ant researcher is developing an intelligence test for our species. Drawing the human into an improvised Socratic dialogue, she tries to determine whether humans can truly be held accountable for their actions.

Are humans intelligent—and therefore responsible for what they do?
Or are they simply not capable enough to be held accountable? In that case, should ants place humanity under guardianship?

This short scene (approx. 6 minutes) involves a real-time AI (Gemini), which appears as Antigone’s voice. The piece explores a strange dilemma: how do we measure the intelligence of a species that might be far more intelligent than we are?

Recording

Performance “Ant(igone)” by Gunter Lösel at the RobotFringe Festival at ICSR in London, July 2, 2026

As part of the 18th International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR + Art 2026), taking place from July 1 to 4, 2026, at the University of London.

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