Week 3 - Art and Robotics

This week's topic was the intersection of art and robotics, specifically with regards to industrialization and society's reaction to it. This topic piqued my interest primarily because of its overlaps with a previous Desma class (Desma 8, Media Histories) that I took at UCLA previously. For that class, I had the pleasure of viewing LACMA's exhibit, "Haunted Screens," which provided insight on the German Expressionist film movement.


The robot of Metropolis, seen in LACMA.

This exhibit really captures the beauty of film as a medium, and speaks on two levels to this week's discussion topic - on one hand, it shows that industrialization and advancing technology can in fact give way to new forms of artistic expression, and on the other, that technological progress can become itself an inspiration for art. Walter Benjamin seems to disagree with this point, saying that the reproduction of a piece of art by mechanical means will diminish its 'aura' - but I think that the reproduction provides value of its own.


Arduino Uno

The mention of Arduino in the lecture also provides me a point of connection to this topic. For my senior Engineering project, my team worked in depth with the Arduino Uno microcontroller to run our own, new diagnostic device. In working with the chip, I discovered just how many interesting, innovative applications are out there, made possible by a simple but powerful technology. While they may not qualify as 'art' in a traditional sense, these creations, powered by the worldwide reach of simple robotic controllers, serve as inspiration to many who would otherwise relegate themselves to a less creative life.

An 8x8 LED cube - just one example of an incredible combination of engineering and art

Sources

Miranda, Carolina A. "Wild Architecture Makes German Cinema Come Alive at LACMA." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.

W. Benjamin. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." 1936. Print.

"WHAT IS ARDUINO?" Arduino. Arduino, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.

Chrmoe. "LED Cube 8x8x8 Running on an Arduino." YouTube. YouTube, 31 Dec. 2010. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.

D. Davis. "The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction." 1995. Leonardo, Vol. 28, No. 5. Third Annual New York Digital Salon. pp. 381-386. Print.