The development of robot art (original) (raw)

Robotic Art and Cultural Imagination

eWIC - British Computer Society, 2018

In this article, I aim to accentuate the importance of the cultural imagination about robots, observing it 'as a mixed register of fantasy and an actual practice' (Kakoudaki 2007, 165). I emphasise the field of robotic art, which, I argue, is in a fluid state of exchange with other areas of robotic research, equally benefiting from the larger context of the cultural imagination about robots. Furthermore, I discuss artworks that offer ​valuable commentary on robots even though they are not defined as robotic art in a narrow sense (Penny 2013), given that they feature only the representation of robots or robot-like characters. Nevertheless, these artworks contribute to the circulation of symbolic registers that revolve around the multifaceted figure of a robot.

Robots between Fictions and Facts

2009

The contribution sketches the emergence of the present days robotic art as the result and reflection of activities in fields of art creativity and science fiction (both literature and cinematography) in the first half of the previous century, and the convergence of art and scientific and technical development mainly during the second half of the 20 Century.

Towards posthuman creativity. From kinetic to bio-robotic art

Towards posthuman creativity. From kinetic to bio-robotic art, in Art Line, eds. M. Mroz-Grygierowska, T. Ekstrand, Blekinge Museum 2014

A work of art as an artist I wish to look closely at a particular form of robotic art. In its mainstream, so to speak, robots play the role of artworks. As part of the tendency that I will be dealing with here, robotic art pieces created by humans play the role of creative instances for further generations of artworks -thus robotic works become artists, become art creating art. Its sophistication comes not only from the specific status that its creations achieve -they are at the same time subjects and objects, creations and creators. This stems from the hybrid entanglement of various tendencies and art types, and also from the degree of aesthetic problems it provokes, causes and considers through its mere existence.

Robot Art: An Interview with Leonel Moura

Arts, 2018

In the wake of his inclusion in the landmark 2018 “Artists and Robots” show at the Grand Palais in Paris, Leonel Moura reflects herein on his own work and its place within the broad spectrum of techno-art; and of particular current interest is his reliance as an artist on emergent phenomenon—i.e., the ability of relatively simple systems to exhibit relatively complex and unexpected capabilities—which has recently come back into focus with the spectacular ability of the “deep learning” family of computer algorithms to perform pattern recognition tasks unthinkable only a few years ago.

Metaphysics of The Machines: From Human-Robot-Robot Interaction to AI Philoso-phers Abstraction

Artnodes, 2021

In this paper, we introduce the artwork «Syntropic Counterpoints: Metaphysics of The Machines» which is part of the ongoing art-based research project «Syntropic Counterpoints». We aim to investigate the potentials of using artificial intelligence as an interdisciplinary creative medium. Moreover, to raise fundamental questions related to the artificial agents' role in raising human-AI society throughout the continuous period of reaching its emancipation. We are proposing the conceptual approach and methods in creating the audio-visual AI automated content through philosophical discussions between the four AI philosopher clones of Aristotle, Nietzsche, Machiavelli, and Sun Tzu. Special attention is given to the hybrid usage of technologies that led us toward transforming artificial intelligence into a co-existing artistic entity and novel creative framework for art and design practitioners. Therefore, we discuss some of the crucial questions related to our research and further d...

Robots: The 500-year Quest to Make Machines Human

Technology and Culture

Without any doubt, robots fascinate mankind. During the last five to ten years, this field of technology has gained tremendous public attention and attracted significant research funding for both civilian and military purposes. The general technical progress in fields such as electronics, mechanics, and computer science and their convergence over the last two decades have triggered an increasing presence of robots in the industrial as well as the private spheres. Yet our conception of robots continues to be inspired by plays, novels, films, and more recently electronic games, all of which have little in common with industrial robots. With their broad technological and social impact, robotics is thus an attractive topic for museums of science and technology. Such interest has been evident since the beginning of the twenty-first century through the creation of a range of exhibitions that attracted large numbers of visitors in various European cities. 1 In 2017 the Science Museum in London opened a temporary exhibition on robotics that featured a unique collection of more than a hundred objects focusing on humanoid robots from the sixteenth century to the pres-Frank Dittmann and Nicolas Lange are curator and assistant curator for robotics at the Deutsches Museum, Munich. In particular, the authors wish to thank Vera Ludwig for her many remarks and fruitful discussions. We also would like to thank Ben Russell, London, for his suggestions.

The Commonplace of Man in the Times of Anthropomorphic and Intelligent Robots

Art Inqiuiry, 2020

The objective of this paper is to discuss the commonplace of man in relation to the theory of mimesis in the context of the analysis of current examples of anthropomorphic and intelligent robots. Two aspects of the analysis have been taken into consideration. The first one is linked with the similarities of such robots to the idealized human body and the second one acknowledges mental similarities between the robots and humans, which entail the question of artificial intelligence. Most of the quoted examples derive from the world of art which has become an interdisciplinary area of collaboration between artists and engineers. This contribution contains a comparative study and a part of it, in many cases, involves the contributor's observations on the presented intelligent robots.

Whimsical Bodies and Performative Machines: Aesthetics and Affects of Robotic Art - Open Cultural Studies 2017; 1: 514–521

This article explores the ways in which robots' behaviours are designed and curated to elicit reactions from their human counterparts. Through the work of artists such as Nam June Paik, Steve Daniels, Edward Ihnatowicz and Norman White, a survey of robotic art illustrates a particular aesthetic and behavioural language that is non-threatening, animalistic, cute, quaint and whimsical. Considering the artists' programming of behaviours and construction of aesthetics, the use of animal behavioural modelling, and developments in social robotics, this article unpacks how meaning is inscribed onto robots and in return how affect is transmitted to human viewers. By exploring the whimsical bodies, performative machines and networked nonhumans brought forth in robotic artworks, this article draws out how aesthetic and behavioural languages of robotic art play into peoples' emotional and affective encounters with them.

Embodied Cultural Agents : at the intersection of Robotics , Cognitive Science and Interactive Art

2002

This paper outlines the development over several years of Petit Mal, an autonomous robotic artwork, and discusses a new project arising from it. Central concerns are an holistic approach to the hardware/software duality, the construction of a seemingly sentient and social machine from minimal components, the generation of an agent interface utilising purely kinesthetic or somatosensory modes which ’speak the language of the body’ and bypasses textual,verbal or iconic signs. General goals are exploration of the ’aesthetics of behavior’, of the cultural dimensions of autonomous agents and of emergent sociality amongst agents, virtual and embodied. The research emerges from artistic practice and is therefore concerned with subtle and evocative modes of communication rather than pragmatic goal based functions. A notion of an ongoing conversation between systemp and user is desired over a (pavlovian) stimulus and response model. The paper concludes with a description of the project Caucu...