Week 3: Robotics + Art

    This week's class content touched upon robotics, industrialization, as they are in relation to art. This week's content really tied together the idea of art + science for me. This is because, through robotics we can really visualize the intersection of these two topics. In the piece "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction", Benjamin discusses how through industrialization, art has lost is aura. More specifically, Walter Benjamin tells how the ability to mass produce has caused the value of an originally piece to become of lesser value to individuals. This talk of industrialization in terms of art has made me realize how mass production is truly detrimental to some artists/art pieces. With the ability to mass produce, works of art are not as valued as they were prior to industrialization. Given this argument concerning industrialization and art, Douglas Davis argues in "The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction.." that art has not lost its aura as a result of industrialization. Additionally, Davis argues that aura resides "not in the thing itself but in the originality of the moment when we see, hear, read, repeat, revise" (Davis, 386). In this argument, Davis tells us that aura is not lost in the age of digital reproduction. These arguments are contradicting but I find value in both of them as they pose convincing perspectives for each viewpoint regarding industrialization and digital reproduction for art. 

“The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Production.” Digital Scholarship Blog

    Concerning the topics of robotics, this week has given me various learning opportunities about robots as I previously have not really thought much of them. What I knew about robots prior to this week largely came from the Disney animated movie Big Hero 6 in which a healthcare provider robot is one of the starring characters. The movie's robot named Baymax wants to help everyone it encounters and view the main character Hiro as his patient. I would say that this movie shows robots in a positive light and does not capture the typical machine-like build that most movies depict a robot as. 

                                            (Big hero 6 - introducing Baymax HD - YouTube)

    

    Of course, the robot in the movie Big Hero 6 is animated and so it is easy to be creative in its build. However, when looking at robots from Fred Abels' and Mirjam Langemeijer's electric circus, we see the more traditional depiction of a human or animal-like robot. The robots in electric circus are very realistic and are good representations of well-done animatronics. This is probably due to the collaboration between inventor Abels and puppeteer Langemeijer. Furthermore, Ken Feingold is another artists who creates pieces that are capable of carrying on conversations and some that relay dialogues to one another. 

    

                                                  Box of Men - Art & Electronic Media (2007)

Benjamin, Walter. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." London: Penguin, 2008. Print.

 “Big Hero 6 (Film).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Apr. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Hero_6_(film). 

Big Hero 6 - Introducing Baymax HD - YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXsexlI15E0.

“Box of Men – Art & Electronic Media.” Art Electronic Media, https://artelectronicmedia.com/artwork/box-of-men/.

Davis, Douglas. “The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction (an Evolving Thesis: 1991-1995).” Leonardo, vol. 28, no. 5, 1995, p. 381., doi:10.2307/1576221.
 
“Electric Circus Dresseur Der Automaten.” Electric Circus Dresseur Der Automaten, http://www.electriccircus.nl/.
 
Feingold, Ken. “Ken Feingold: Artworks and Documentation.” Ken Feingold: Artworks and Documentation, http://www.kenfeingold.com/.

“The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Production.” Digital Scholarship Blog, https://blogs.bl.uk/digital-scholarship/2014/08/the-work-of-art-in-the-age-of-digital-production.html.