DESMA 9 Week 3 | Robotics + Art

Concept cars, which always look much better than their on-road counterparts are the first thing that popped into my head when thinking of the overlap between industrialization and art. The futuristic and forward thinking design of these cars reflects the artistic interpretations of industrial and technological progress. Something similar is the way in which robots and technology are portrayed as dangerous and evil, for example in The Terminator series where the main antagonist is essentially an algorithm. Professor Machiko Kusahar mentioned in lecture, and highlighted the difference in perceptions of robots in the west and Japan, where shows such as Astro Boy portrayed robots in the opposite way.

Cadillac's Concept Car called the Elmiraj



It was interesting to see Benjamin Walter’s comments on painting being presented as a “simultaneous collective experience”, which he believes is wrong. Especially since today paintings being displayed in exhibitions is the norm, it was interesting to read about how that was not the case, and why painting is not well suited to be displayed in this manner. Walter further attributes this to being a result of the mechanical reproducibility of paintings, which gives us an insight into how advancements in mechanization played a role in art. Moving past the mechanical age into the digital age, Douglas Davis talked about the fact that despite the incredible ease of viewing a piece of art digitally in the digital age, ownership of an original is something that is still valued. This is reflected today with the rise of NFTs as these are based on the same principle of ownership of something original.


One of the NFTs from the collection "Bored Ape"



The lecture videos also highlighted the early development of computers, and how they started off from a simple computation machine like the abacus, to the theoretical machines such as MEMEX. It was interesting to see this early history that shows the ambitious ideas (like the Turing machine) that were needed to spark the innovation that led to the eventual creation of what we in the modern day are reliant on for almost everything. One piece of art by Ken Rinaldo, called the “Maximum Frustration Compressor” was pretty interesting, as it uses an Arduino and Raspberry Pi to keep track of the Global Warming Index, and displays relevant information, with additional features that provide for context and meaning. This not only showed what computers are capable of today, but also highlighted how art and digitization are not limited to the use of applications and software, but can also extend to hardware, which is something that does not immediately pop into our heads when we think of art and computers.


Ken Rinaldo's Maximum Frustration Compressor



Sources:

  1. Walter, Benjamin. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”. 1936

  2. Davis, Douglas. “The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction (An Evolving Thesis: 1991-1995).” Leonardo, vol. 28, no. 5, 1995, pp. 381–86, https://doi.org/10.2307/1576221. Accessed 15 Apr. 2022.

  3. Vesna, Victoria and Machiko Kusahar. “Professor Machiko Kusahara on Japanese robotics”. UCLA DESMA 9 Art Science and Technology Spring 2022, Week 3.

  4. Vesna, Victoria. “Art and Robotics: Lecture Part 3”. UCLA DESMA 9 Art Science and Technology Spring 2022, Week 3.

  5. Rinaldo, Ken. “Maximum Frustration Compressor - Web.” Ken Rinaldo, www.kenrinaldo.com/portfolio/maximum-frustration-compressor/.

  6. “The Grand Coupe Concept.” Elmiraj Future Concept Car - The Grand Coupe, Cadillac, www.cadillac.com/concept-vehicles/elmiraj-grand-coupe. (Source for the image of concept car)

  7. Conti, Robyn, and John Schmidt. “What Is an NFT? How Do Nfts Work?” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 25 Mar. 2022, www.forbes.com/advisor/in/investing/what-is-an-nft-how-do-nfts-work/. (Source for image of NFT)

  8. Rinaldo, Ken. “Maximum Frustration Compressor - Web.” Ken Rinaldo, www.kenrinaldo.com/portfolio/maximum-frustration-compressor/. (Source for image of Maximum Frustration Compressor)

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