kinetica-artfair London

Carnivorous art, man-animal-machine hybrids, mechanical drawing machines, subliminal installations, pole dancing robots, light sculptures and cybernetics are just some of the exhibits to be found at Kinetica Art Fair, the UK’s first art fair dedicated to kinetic, robotic, sound, light and time-based art which opens in London on Friday 27 February.

Kinetica Art Fair is developed by Kinetica Museum in partnership with P3 and supported by the Contemporary Art Society.

More than 25 galleries and organisations specialising in kinetic, electronic and new media art are taking part with over 150 exhibiting artists. The Fair will be like no other with living, moving, speaking and performing art.
The Fair provides unparalleled opportunities for the public and collectors alike to view and buy work from this thriving international movement and to participate in the programme of talks, workshops and performances.

http://www.kinetica-artfair.com/

50 of the best robots decided by wired magazine

http://www.wired.com/wired/images.html?issue=14.01&topic=robots&img=37

DANTE II

Wade Marynowsky; The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie Robot.

Wade Marynowsky; The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie robot.
Electrical engineering: Aras Vaichas, Software design: Mr.Snow, Dress maker: Susan Marynowsky, Supported by the University of Western Sydney.

The Insitute of Contemporary Art Newtown (I.C.A.N). 5th – 21st of December, Thursday to Sunday 12 – 5 pm. Opening Friday 5th, December, 6-8pm.

By appropriating the title of the film The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie (1972) I pay homage to the surrealist film director Luis Buñuel. The film is about a group of upper middle class people attempting, despite continual interruptions to dine together. So what is Bunuel trying to say? That the bourgeoisie are charming because they have nothing to worry about except how and when they will dine together? Or that they are in fact hideous creatures with nothing better to do than waffle about?

Taking this question into the gallery, the bourgeoisie robot is operated by invited mystery guests over the internet, for the duration of the exhibition. The charming robot avatar waits for visitors to enter the space and then converses with them in a polite and pleasant manner. The robot is interested in talking about food, robots, dancing and other general bourgeois banter. In doing so the robot questions the role of the gallery as a place of contemplation.

The robot wears a hooped dress, which recalls the beginnings of automata, the 18th century. For example: Jacques de Vaucanson’s mechanical flute player and defecating duck (1738). Vaucanson’s automata stunned European eyes of the era producing the first uncanny moments in robotic art.

The fact that bourgeois robot’s voice is male and that he wears a dress highlights the camp sensibility of robots. As Steve Dixon states in his essay Metal performance (2005) “Robotic movement mimics and exaggerates but never achieves the human, just as camp movement mimics and exaggerates but never achieves womanhood”.

The robots head, consisting of a camera inside a plastic dome, references the now common place surveillance (CCTV) domes in shopping centres and other public spaces. Through physical inhabitation of a real-life avatar the work is concerned with the evolution of mediated communication technologies and their influence on the nature of the conversation.

more images here http://marynowsky.net/

Lara Favaretto at the Sydney Biennale

My favorite machine art work at Cockatoo island for the Sydney Biennale.

Lara Favaretto
Plotone, 2005
Courtesy the artist and Galleria Franco Noero, Turin; with the support of Amici Sostenitori del Castello di Rivoli, Turin

LARA FAVARETTO
Twistle 2003
air tank, pressure regulator, distributor, timer, electrovalve, plastic cables and whistle

Lara Favaretto uses sculpture, photography, film and installation to create artworks that produce a sense of magical fantasy and urgency, forming an immediate bond with the viewer through a sense of play. Favaretto calls her works ‘macchine del divertimento’ (fun machines). They are mechanisms whose purpose is to be radically non-productive and non-functional. For the Biennale of Sydney, Favaretto has created a new version of Plotone. A ‘platoon’ of compressed air-tanks, they appear to breathe as timer-released air blows from them periodically, setting in action a chorus of party whistles. It is a festive, alternative chant to the military marching songs of soldiers. ‘An army betrayed or defeated is standing still,’ says Favaretto, ‘compelled to remain in their confined position, like civilian soldiers frustrated in waiting, in a silence interrupted only by single breaths: inhaled through the movement of their red and silver playful tongues.’

http://www.bos2008.com/app/biennale/artist/36

Rococo Vortex at Don’t Look Gallery.

Rococo Vortex by Wade Marynowsky,
(dresses by Susan Marynowsky)
Don’t Look Gallery, 419 New Canterbury Rd, Dulwich Hill
Opening August 20, 6pm, August 21-30, Thurs-Sat 11-5pm

The exhibition explores 18th century European notions of the automaton, elegance, decadence and how these have filtered down into contemporary Australian kitsch culture.

In the gallery shop front are two spinning Rococo styled and robotic crinolines. The robotic stands spin as if they are in continual dance. The spin position coordinates are sent wirelessly to a computer which translates this movement into audio and video. The work questions Australia’s, and other countries, continuous obsession with identity, antiquity, and bourgeoisie society. If the French decided to behead their Monarchy in 1793 when will it be time for Australia to break from the commonwealth?

Near Future Arts Lab

I visited the Near Future arts lab in Sapporo yesterday and we arranged a date for a new video work. Near Future are a group of performance artists and tech wizards who have created the robot Kinbi.

The robot makes friends with the audience by shaking their hand and speaking to them. It then displays the friend count data on its screen. The group perform in lab coats and welding masks. They do not speak to the audience directly but through the robot and keyboards. The have performed the Rising sun rock festival and many events in Sapporo.

In another work they cook 2 minute noodles inside hardening concrete. They then break open the cement to eat the noodles, Wacky geeks! They are working on there English text for world domination. Look out for them in your neighbourhood.

Here they are on TV performing with household objects to create a painting.

Karakuri ningyō

Karakuri ningyō (からくり人形?) are mechanized puppets or automata from Japan from the 18th century to 19th century. The word ‘karakuri’ means a “mechanical device to tease, trick, or take a person by surprise”. It implies hidden magic, or an element of mystery. In Japanese ningyō is written as two separate characters, meaning person and shape. It may be translated as puppet, but also by doll or effigy. The dolls’ gestures provided a form of entertainment.

Three main types of karakuri exist: Butai karakuri (舞台からくり stage karakuri?) were used in theatre. Zashiki karakuri (座敷からくり tatami room karakuri?) were small and were played with in rooms. Dashi karakuri (山車からくり festival car karakuri?) were used in religious festivals, where the puppets were used to perform reenactments of traditional myths and legends.

They influenced the Noh, Kabuki and Bunraku theatre.Karakuri ningyō (からくり人形?) are mechanized puppets or automata from Japan from the 18th century to 19th century. The word ‘karakuri’ means a “mechanical device to tease, trick, or take a person by surprise”. It implies hidden magic, or an element of mystery. In Japanese ningyō is written as two separate characters, meaning person and shape. It may be translated as puppet, but also by doll or effigy. The dolls’ gestures provided a form of entertainment.

Three main types of karakuri exist: Butai karakuri (舞台からくり stage karakuri) were used in theatre. Zashiki karakuri (座敷からくり tatami room karakuri) were small and were played with in rooms. Dashi karakuri (山車からくり festival car karakuri) were used in religious festivals, where the puppets were used to perform reenactments of traditional myths and legends. They influenced the Noh, Kabuki and Bunraku theatre.

Kirsty Boyle has a great site about her Karakuri research

http://www.karakuri.info/

KAPROS and MUSE

KAPROS and MUSE were a research project of Tsukuba UNIV titled “Modeling the Evaluation Structure of KANSEI” 1997-2002. The meaning of “KANSEI” is similar to “emotional engineering”. The body of these robots were made and designed in “kyushu institute of design (computer related design laboratory)” 1999 . The software and navigation system was developed by intelligent robot laboratory at Tsukuba UNIV. (Maeyama shoichi). Also involved was Tamon Hosoya who now teaches at Sapporo City University.

Synthetic Times exhibition; China & Henrik Menné

National Art Museum of China (NAMOC)
No. 1 Wusi Street Dongcheng District
Beijing 100010 P.R.China
Jun 10, 2008 -July 3, 2008

http://www.mediartchina.org

Henrik Menné, 56L, 2004, Denmark.

The dynamic sculptures by Henrik Menné are basically about process, (im)balance, and organizing matter by means of rigid systems on the one hand and chance on the other.

The majority of Menné’s production consists of machines or arrangements temporarily put to work when exhibited. The visible process is always silent, controlled, and structured by repetitive movements as the machines transform a single material – plastic, wax, metal or stone – into distinct objects. The objects are seldom treated as autonomous works of art. They are destroyed or the material recycled after the exhibition.

Although closed and often self-referring, the system of Menné’s processual sculptures both change the environment and is sensible to changes in the environment. The instability of the exhibition space is what causes the important marginal variations in the almost identical objects produced by a particular machine.

The process of 56L seems self-evident, and, like other works by Henrik Menné, 56L displays an immense effort and obsessive trait by putting forces such as gravity and the well-known qualities of a material into play.

56L (2004) consists of solid glue, a fan, iron, a heating element, and an engine. The dimensions of the work are variable (machine 180×150x150 cm).

56L produces a white web of glue. The machine heats up solid glue, which then flows down in thin threads in front of a fan that blows the strings in different directions. As a temporary result in which the history of the white structure is contained, the web takes the shape of the object or surface on which it settles.

The intriguing low-tech and analogue character of Henrik Menné’s works illustrates the principle behind the organization of the particular sculpture. Despite this rational transparency, works by Menné almost always appear logically impossible and tremendously beautiful.

Biography
Henrik Menné (born 1973) lives and works in Copenhagen (Denmark). He graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in 2002 and is represented by Galleri Tom Christoffersen (Cph).

Website
http://www.tomchristoffersen.dk/artists/henrik_menne/henrik_menne.html

ULTRA FACTORY in KUAD

I am currently a artist in residence at S-AIR in sunny Sapporo, Hokkaido, and I am reminded of the great artist Kenji Yanobe. Looks like he has a new studio called UltraFactory