Interspecies Interfaces (Part II) : Shape of Language

Tapprest‘s collaborative work explores how emerging developments in technology and social imaginaries interact with the post-industrial subject in affective, preconscious and sensorial ways, often within speculative scenarios.

Interspecies Interfaces

Other species’ senses are tuned into phenomena outside of the human sensorium, from subtle electromagnetic fields and minor fluctuations in turbulence or vibrations in air, water, and earth to the faintest of molecular traces. Interspecies Interfaces engages with emerging developments in sensory augmentation and AI, exploring how the convergence of these technologies could profoundly alter humans’ ability to attune themselves with other animals’ sensory realities. During their residency at EPFL, Wilson and Tapprest will prototype scenarios where these technological convergences have been extended and become widely adopted, considering their potential implications on collective values and behavior.

AI is fast becoming the interpretative layer between large complex datasets, including recordings of animal communication. While postindustrial humans mostly encounter AI outputs as text and images on screens, sensory augmentation could aid in translating this information into other ambient sensing modalities, opening up the possibility of expanding interspecies and environmental awareness from intellectual channels to affective, experiential channels within human lifeworlds. The duo’s research at EPFL will result in a series of cinematic vignettes that invite audiences to inhabit speculative worlds following the arrival of interspecies interfaces.

Emilia Tapprest

Emilia Tapprest (NVISIBLE.STUDIO) is a Finnish-French filmmaker and visual artist based in Amsterdam. Her collaborative work explores how emerging developments in technology and social imaginaries interact with the post-industrial subject in affective, preconscious, and sensorial ways, often within speculative scenarios. With a background studying industrial and interface design at Aalto University in Helsinki, Tapprest obtained her second degree in fine arts and film at the Sandberg Institute in 2019. Her work has been presented on international platforms such as Vdrome, Kunstverein Schattendorf, Impakt Festival, VISIO European Programme on Artists’ Moving Images, and Bologna Art City. Tapprest is a former resident of the Jan van Eyck Academie (2021), FilmForward (2021), Rupert AiR (2023), Institute for Advanced Study, and Allard Pierson, among others. She is currently tutor in cinematic moving image for the geo-design MA at Design Academy Eindhoven.

Emilia Tapprest website