"This ordinary life is hopeless. I have no mission or strong conviction. It seems like everything I find beautiful is crying about this hopelessness, and about the irreducibility of being alone. I wish I was a pervert with something inside me that burned and could never be made manifest. My secrets are so boring. I don't believe in art or socialism. I am bitterly jealous of people who are good or successful. I think romantic passion is by nature fleeting. I lie to my mother. I hate myself..."

So begins the Robot in Duke and Battersby's "Monologue for Robots", part of their ten minute episodic videotape Being Fucked Up. The work incorporates simple animation and live action sequences to create a portrait of the artist's lives as they struggle with addiction, gender identity and alienation. Ultimately hopeful, Being Fucked Up touches on central human themes through a use of narrative which is unconventional yet intelligible, spontaneous yet precise.