Urban Hosts is an annual series of talks and events about urban life, democracy and technology. In 2024 the programme moved to the Pablo Neruda library, where it has been holding conversation on artificial intelligence and civic governance.

Next, Thur 17th join us at 1900 for a conversation with interactive dramatist Rik Lander and actress Marie-Helene Boyd about their work with echoborgs – hybrid agents, with the body of a human person but the ‘mind’—or more precisely, the words—of a digital conversational agent.

Rik Lander is a writer and maker of participatory narratives and lecturer specialising in participatory narrative at the University of the West of England (UWE) in Bristol, where his work focuses on the relationship between virtual agents and humans and conversational systems. Addressing the process behind the creation of I Am an Echoborg, Rik Lander shares the inspiration behind the work and his role as the performance host.

Marie-Helene Boyd [UK/CI]
British-African actress, Marie-Helene Boyd is a bilingual performer, who for the last eight years has played the role of an echoborg in the performance, I Am an Echoborg. Reflecting on her work, Boyd shares their views on the implication of AI on performers bodies.

Moderator and host: Teresa Dillon

Free Event // Language English