Panel presented at ISEA2011 - the 17th International Symposium on Electronic Art, Istanbul, Turkey.

This panel investigates the ‘signs of life’ that are exhibited by robots in exhibitions and performative environments and the ways that audiences perceive and respond to life-like qualities in robotic characters. As robots and humans come together in gallery installations and performative environments, different types of human-robot intersubjectivities come into play. Both humans and robots become ‘social actors’ negotiating relationships and modes of interaction. How do audiences perceive intentionality, personality and emotion in robots? This panel explores how the physical qualities and affordances of the robot (for example, its size, shape, form, mobility and modes of communication) affect human interaction and emotional investment. How do robots perceive and respond to their environments and to their human interactors? Beyond anthropomorphism and bio-mimesis, what other distinctively machinic ‘signs of life’ do robots display?