WORkiNG MAChiNE
Named after Karel ÄŒapek's definition of futuristic robotic in his R.U.R (Rossum's Universal Robot) 1920, this installation incorporates robotic performance, dance, sound, lights, video, the space and the viewers.
It contemplates cultural kinesis in a psychoanalytical debate about the concept of paralysis. The story takes place in a bohemian bar called Bar-Amotz. Sitting in the bar are 'live' actors - a number of robotic sculptures. The robots sing, dance and engage in a lively discussion over drinks.
A conversation takes place between a psychoanalyst-robot and his two friends, who are artist-robots. One of these artists (Robot Future Planning) makes a living selling its work, while the other (Robot Forever Now) does not make a living from his art. The psychoanalyst-robot is consulting them about two of its cases (its patients are all real human beings).
One client is an artist who, on the night the Israeli army re-occupied Gaza, had a dream about meeting Marcel Duchamp and since then has been creatively paralysed.
The other client is an art curator who feels sick and disorientated whenever she goes to an exhibition. The Robot Dream Speculator asks its drinking companions for their views on these clients.
Using this form of complete theatrical, yet automatic display of written script, my intention was to create a story within a story as well as a space within a space, a traditional Shakespearian Mousetrap to catch both artist and viewers with it.
Exhibited at Rothschild 12, Tel-Aviv (Curator Noam Segal).
Related texts: The Observer, the Foreseen and Free Will by Noam Segal , Why Robots are Orphans: Guy Bar Amotz’s Play for Robots Change in Me by Felix Ensslin.
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Robot installation, wood, paper mache, robot technology, programmed lighting, sound and video.
Sculptures, voices, direction, mechanical-animation sound and lights: Guy Bar-Amotz.
Sound design: Peter Zwingli Hall .
Software design: Piers O'Hanlon.
Light design: Dany Fishof.
Photography: Ben Harries, Boaz Nobelman, Nadav Bar-Amotz.
Video Cam: Gil Lupo.