“History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce,”says Karl Marx. In 1981, riots broke out between local police and black residents inBrixton, UK, a working class neighborhood in South London. Now, imagine a futuristic Brixton, which has degenerated into a disregarded area inhabited by London’s new robot workforce – robots built and designed to carry out all of the tasks which humans are no longer inclined to do. Filmmaker and architecture graduate Kibwe Tavares ofFactory Fifteenproduced this futuristic and harrowing vision in the following short film, a mix of animation with architectural drawing, overlaid with photographs from the Brixton riots of the early 1980s.
Tavares describes his futuristic imagining of robotic enslavement here: “The film follows the trials and tribulations of young robots surviving the harsh inner city life, living the predictable existence of a populous hemmed in by poverty, disillusionment and mass unemployment. When the Police invade the one space which the robots can call their own, the fierce and strained relationship between the two sides explodes into an outbreak of violence echoing that of 1981.”
Tavares made the film as part of his masters degree in architecture atThe Bartlett. Watch it here:
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Robots of BrixtonfromKibwe TavaresonVimeo.
Direction, animation, modeling, lighting, texturing etc:Kibwe TavaresPhotographer, Brixton riots:David HoffmanSound designer:Mourad BennacerMusic: “The Great Insurrection”DJ Hiatus
Story byCourtney Boyd Myers
Courtney Boyd Myers is the founder of audience.io, a transatlantic company designed to help New York and London based technology startups gr(show all)Courtney Boyd Myers is the founder ofaudience.io, a transatlantic company designed to help New York and London based technology startups grow internationally.
Previously, she was the Features Editor and East Coast Editor of TNW covering New York City startups and digital innovation. She loves magnets + reading on a Kindle.
You can follow her onFacebook,Twitter @CBMandGoogle +.
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