Sun Yuan & Peng Yu, Can’t help myself

Sun Yuan & Peng Yu, Can’t help myself, 58th International Art Exhibition, May You Live In Interesting Times, Biennale Arte 2019, August 31, 2019

The idea to use a robot came from the artists’ initial wish to test what could possibly replace an artist’s will in making a work and how could they do so with a machine. They modified a robotic arm, one often seen on production lines such as those in car manufacturing, by installing a custom-designed shovel to its front. Collaborating with two robotics engineers, Sun Yuan & Peng Yu designed a series of thirty-two movements for machine to perform. Their names for these movements, such as “scratch an itch,” “bow and shake,” and “ass shake,” reflect the artists’ intention to animate a machine. Observed from the cage-like acrylic partitions that isolate it in the gallery space, the machine seems to acquire consciousness and metamorphose into a life-form that has been captured and confined in the space. At the same time, for viewers the potentially eerie satisfaction of watching the robot’s continuous action elicits a sense of voyeurism and excitement, as opposed to thrills or suspense. In this case, who is more vulnerable: the human who built the machine or the machine who is controlled by a human?

CREDIT : https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/34812

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Pictures and Review Here:https://popcinema.org/art-culture/58th-international-art-exhibition-biennale-arte-2019-venice
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