Aviette is a character from French writer Romain Rolland’s 1921 film script in collaboration with Belgian artist Frans Masereel, ‘La Révolte des Machines ou La Pensée Déchaînée’. In it, she is described as “Rencontrez LA JEUNE AVETTE, dite AVIETTE, - 18 à 20 ans, sportive, rieuse, délurée, ne craint rien, ne respecte rien, ne songe qu’à s’amuser, leste, souple, étourdie, imprudente, effrontément moqueuse.” 

Aviette can be seen in a YouTube clip here below, where she performs a welcome dance to music by Belgian pioneer noise band Etat Brut, ‘Une machine qui reproduit mes paroles’. She then dances to the Main Title from the soundtrack of Roman Polanski’s film Rosemary’s Baby. Then she stops, to dance again to Smells Like Bambola, a mashup of Nirvana vs Patty Pravo by Ricordi Bastardi. She then stops again and performs a final dance to Mekano by SPK.

‘Mekano’ was also the name of the architecture modelbuilding lab at the Artesis Hogeschool/ University of Antwerp that I founded in 2009 and organised for 14 years. My work in the Mekano also stimulated my interest in laser cutters, 3D printers, CNC machines and other technologies that I today consider cybernetic extensions of my body.