IN|FORM | Hey, Alexa
An Interview with Jacob & Ben Watton
‘Alexa, turn the light on’ is a work in development created by brothers Jacob and Ben Watton. The work was presented at Ausdance QLD’s Scratch Night as a work in development.
Jacob is an independent artist working primarily in Brisbane and Toowoomba as a choreographer, performer and teacher. Ben works in business systems and business application design with a heavy emphasis on workflow systems. They are different. ‘Alexa, turn the light on’ was born from a collaboration between their differences.
What draws you to the Amazon Alexa Technology?
BEN: What drew me to the Alexa platform initially was knowing that it would be fairly easy to integrate with and write tailor made Alexa skills. I then wrote a pile of personal tools; for instance, I developed a podcasting solution that when I press pause on my podcasting app on my phone, it writes to a database my current position in the podcast. Later when I ask Alexa to play that podcast, because of my tool, it will begin where I left off. These small, tailor made solutions served as the initial inspiration to manipulate Alexa beyond her out of the box skill set.
JACOB: I would describe my relationship to technology as kicking and screaming. I wasn’t so much drawn to the Alexa technology; it just turns out that when you have an Alexa in basically every room of the house (that includes the bathroom, graciously only for a short period), Alexa is instead, drawn to you.
What are you most interested in as a Tech Developer for this project?
BEN: I like that the work will be ever changing. As things we ask the Alexa to search for change, what it responds with will change as well. For example, if we had a major news event that happened to share some search terms with something that Jacob talks about, the Alexa’s output during the performance would reflect that world shift. The project changes, as the world around it, changes.
What are you most interested in as a Performer for this project?
JACOB: I’m excited to see how Ben’s technology and his choices manifest themselves onstage. For me this technology feels intrinsically connected to my brother, and whilst the audience may not see Ben as clearly as I do, I am hoping that Alexa’s persona on stage takes on some of Ben’s sensibilities.
What surprised you about the collaboration between Performance and Technology?
BEN: When I first wrote one of the skills for our showing, I did a pile of testing. I ran the skill over and over and asked it questions, indeed I asked some of the questions that we ended up using in the showing. However, when I asked those questions, I found no compelling narrative to the answers. I just got input and output. When I watched Jacob perform with my technology, it was very clear that he was able to elevate that skill far beyond the raw inputs of the technology. It was exciting to see his performance push beyond what I imagined the boundaries of my technology to be. I think this interplay between my technology and his performance is what makes this show so compelling as a concept. We didn’t know this was the case until we presented at Scratch Night.
JACOB: As I was working with the technology, I was surprised by its ability to develop content all on its own. Instead of scripting the Alexa to say what I wanted it to say, when I wanted it to say it, the Alexa interacts with the performance in a really nuanced way all on its own. As a performer it was a reminder to remain present within the performance space; how my role, and the direction of the performance on stage was actively informed by choices made by Ben’s technology.