AUTO
AUTO is a performance and installation where the audience participates in developing an autonomous vehicle. The project explores the feeling of moving at high speed toward the future with nobody in the driver’s seat.
As AI proliferates, human labor is further devalued and replaced. The design of automated systems is never neutral. As technology advances faster than regulation, decisions about how to respond to risks and how to ethically test these systems are made with little oversight.
AUTO is a new kind of driverless vehicle created in collaboration with the public through test rides. As a passenger, you don’t ride in AUTO, you become AUTO. Each ride begins with the question: Where are we going?
As the vehicle accelerates, new features are tested. Utilizing roadside signage and sound from the vehicle speakers, the ride unexpectedly transforms into a karaoke sing-along. Passengers receive prompts to sing the AUTO anthem and engage with each other, becoming a fully automated system.
AUTO is location specific, adapting in each city through public collaboration. Community workshops bring together local stakeholders to discuss AI, automation, surveillance, environment, and infrastructure. These conversations directly inform the design of new features for each iteration of the performance.
“For Zürich’s Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (KiöR) program, curated by HEK’s director Sabine Himmelsbach, McCarthy brought AUTO to Münsterhof. A compact self-driving Swiss PostBus stood in the square. Its bright yellow colour is instantly familiar in Switzerland, while its rounded, futuristic form connects it to PostBus’s real-world automated mobility projects, where autonomous shuttles are tested as part of the country’s future public transport infrastructure. Removed from those test routes and placed in the middle of the city, it became a point of entry into thinking about automation, public space and decision-making.”
︎ Read more on HEK Share
AUTO Münsterhof, Lauren Lee McCarthy, 2025
Commissioned by Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (KiöR)
Curated by Sabine Himmelsbach, Haus der Elektronischen Künste
Photography: Peter Baracchi
Artist: Lauren Lee McCarthy
Exhibition Design: Salmah Beydoun
Production Direction: Björn Alfers
Technical Production: Marco Kleiner
Studio and Software Assistance: Wylie Kasai
Sound Design: Tommy Martinez
Video Performers: Berit Gilma, Chelly Jin
Cinematography: Gabriel Noguez
Writing Contribution: Stalgia Grigg
Narrative Design Contribution: Nick Fortugno
Software Contribution: Corbin Ordel
AUTO TUNE created in collaboration with Casey Reas