Ballerina Tryout

A dual wall sculpture, 'Ballerina Tryout,' showing a ballerina on the left and a shapeshifting cyborg on the right, mirroring her pose.
Conceptual sculpture by Mike Silverman depicting a ballerina and a cyborg, exploring transformation and shared consciousness.
Close-up of the ballerina figure's chest on the left of 'Ballerina Tryout,' showing an embedded outline of the cyborg.
Close-up of the cyborg figure's chest on the right of 'Ballerina Tryout,' showing an embedded image of the human dancer.
Close-up of the cyborg figure's head on the right side of the 'Ballerina Tryout' sculpture, made from upcycled e-waste.
An e-waste art piece, 'Ballerina Tryout,' featuring two figures in an identical dancer's pose, symbolizing replication and profound connection.
Artist Mike Silverman's dual figure sculpture 'Ballerina Tryout,' crafted from hard drive platters and motherboards, illustrating one being becoming another.
Artist Mike Silverman's 'Ballerina Tryout' sculpture, showing a human dancer side-by-side with a technologically advanced, replicating cyborg figure.
Close-up of the cyborg figure's head and chest on the right of 'Ballerina Tryout,' showing detail including musical bars in the figure's head.
Close-up of the ballerina figure's head and chest on the left of 'Ballerina Tryout,' showing reflections of other art in the room.

Have you ever imagined perceiving the world through a completely different consciousness? As another person, perhaps — or a bat navigating by echo, or an octopus processing experience through nine distinct brains?

Ballerina Tryout depicts a shape-shifting cyborg that wants to understand what it feels like to be a dancer. With Beethoven's Ode to Joy running through its head, it is in the process of becoming a perfect double. Every hard drive platter piece on the cyborg exactly replicates the corresponding piece on the ballerina, including the placement of the bolts.

The relationship runs deeper than replication. An outline of the cyborg appears on the dancer's chest; an image of the dancer appears on the cyborg's. The work explores how a profound connection changes both individuals — the knower and the known. To truly understand someone, you may have to become them, at least briefly. And that transformation leaves a mark on both.

65”h x 59”w x 3”d: hard drive platter, motherboard, vinyl, nuts and bolts