Innovative Robotic sculpture takes kinetic sculpture and drills it into a futuristic landscape. In this movement, humans investigate artificial intelligence, emulating an ever-elusive future filled with precocious pieces of metal and dangerous manifestations of the subconscious. Automatons walked the earth as... [more]

Innovative Robotic sculpture takes kinetic sculpture and drills it into a futuristic landscape. In this movement, humans investigate artificial intelligence, emulating an ever-elusive future filled with precocious pieces of metal and dangerous manifestations of the subconscious. Automatons walked the earth as early as the eighteenth century, when mechanical ducks quacked and mysterious, magical "men" wrote without the aid of human hands. Today, remnants of these awkward amalgamations are alive in Disneyland atrocities and other entertainment animatrons. However, Robotic sculpture moves beyond the realm of crowd-pleasing simulations in order to tackle our preconceived notions of life itself. Alive yet not alive, Robotic works question our definitions of spirit, soul, awareness, and power. The movement explores the differences between mechanical and mortal potential in previously unmapped territories. For examply, Dutch artist Eric Hobijn built centrifugal force around life's transience with a durable, 35-foot robot that spits flames onto its victims. The work seems to subvert any sense of human authority in our strange relationship with technology. Many Robotic sculptors cavort in the miasma of virtual reality, questioning where one perception ends and another begins. Tammy Knipp takes spectators into an unnerving video installation that sends crackles of static up the spine. She says "the demarcation between virtual risk and real risk breaks down" in her synthetic realities. Although the theme is recurring, not all electronically driven art is menacing. Benign and intriguing works such as "Octofungi," by Yves Klein, appear alive and autonomous. The eight-legged interactive sculpture reacts to visitors' movements, exhibiting manifold behaviors with the intelligence of a living insect. Robotic sculpture fuses technological innovations with mechanical aesthetics, yet traditional artists contend that it has no soul. Evolving technology and the perpetual questions of consciousness may bring a new energy to this inventive art movement. [show less]