robotic choreographies
Materials: Hats, Steel, Computers, Custom Built Robots, Compressed Air Components, Mp3 Player.
Dimensions:
“The Invisible” is part of a continued investigation of a theme I’ve been pursuing over numerous years. A search to discover ways of dissolving the boundaries between cinematography and sculpture, and thus find alternative ways to capture and preserve motion. To accomplish this, I’ve been exploring the possibilities of mechanized physical objects combined with computational devices and how they can be applied to make animations which exist beyond the screen that are both tactile and time-based.
“The Invisible” is presented as a sculptural performance that is comprised of eight duplicate custom built robots all suspended and arranged evenly in a circular pattern from a metal frame. Fedora hats are attached via a multitude of black rods to each robotic element so that the hats hang in midair at roughly eye level with the observer. This arrangement alludes to an invisible human presence directly below each hat and this allusion to humanity is a common feature in my work. A copiousness number of electrical cables and air tubes are joined to these mechanized elements. Which allows under the guidance of a computer program the movements of the iconic Fedora hats to be manipulated and enables the piece to perform a choreographed dance / animation. Resulting in the hats swerving in formation, gyrating and rushing this way and that to the accompanying sound of Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries in a surreal theatrical homage reminiscent of the helicopter attack scene from the film Apocalypse Now.