Watch Highway to the Sky on ADM+S YouTube

Author Loren Dela Cruz
Date 16 February 2023

Highway to the Sky is a short film developed as part of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making & Society’s (ADM+S) Future Automated Mobilities project that documents a speculative arts workshop with neuro-diverse participants as they use painting and stop motion to imagine future transport mobilities.

Facilitated by Art Therapist Isabelle Ashford from The Art to Wellbeing, the participants explore what sensations arise during their current travel experiences and what they would like to be automated (or not) in the future. The creative process elicits reflection and thoughtful responses from the project participants and highlights their sensory experiences.

“We don’t need to keep making more cars because it’s just excessive. The inequity and the impact on the environment are the things that bother me, because I live on this planet too. I can’t make a big difference – those multi-million dollar companies can make a difference, but they won’t because it will hurt their end profits,” said project participant and artist, Eleanor Perkins.

ADM+S Research Fellow and filmmaker Jeni Lee said, “What really stood out in the co-creation of this project was the participants desire to feel cocooned and safe while travelling, combined with their commitment to social justice and environmental care.”

Through a series of short film vignettes, the Future Automated Mobilities research project explores how diverse participants currently experience transport mobilities and how automated technologies might be part of our future lives. The films aim to surface impacts of automated decision-making that haven’t been accounted for and explore barriers and biases propagated and amplified by ADM in society.

Watch Highway to the Sky on YouTube or view transcript.

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