Sunday, April 17, 2016

Robotics + Art

Industrialization and manufacturing are the forefathers of robotics. The origins of manufacturing can be traced back to the printing press. The printing press contributed to the growing renaissance and facilitated the scientific method. It ushered in the beginning of mass production and knowledge exchange.

Printing Press 

Robots emerged in relation to mass production and assembly lines. The mastermind behind assembly lines was Henry Ford. Ford started with the car, which at first were only for the rich. In 1940 that all changed. Ford came up with an idea for a car that was accessible to everyone. To make this possible he came up with an assembly line for workers. With this assembly line, Taylorism came into the picture. In this scientific practice of management, workers were being treated like they were part of the machine.

Ford Assembly Line

The political also became intertwined with machine. Futurism drives in Italy in 1909, with Le Figaro “a futurist manifesto”. Italians celebrated the automobile as an item of beauty with speed and acceleration as the aesthetic element. They believed the splendor of the world had been enriched by new beauty, the beauty of speed. However, futurism had a very short run. Unfortunately, their culture of speed and power turned into fascism with WWI. Though overshadowed by their negative ending, futurists were central to the creation and development of kinetic art and robotics.


Le Figaro

Walter Benjamin was a German-Jewish literary critic, philosopher, social critic, translator, radio broadcaster and essayist. His work was influential during the 20's, a time when political issues entered into the art world. Benjamin analyzes how mechanical reproduction destroys uniqueness, aura, and authenticity in works of art. He believed the withering of the “aura” is inevitable. Mechanical reproduction emancipates works of art from the dependence of ritual.


Walter Benjamin

The border between artist and designer, artist and engineer is not quite as clear cut in Japan as it is the West. Hiroshi Ishiguro is a prime example. He creates multiple geminoids, including one of himself. He goes through plastic surgery constantly so that the Geminoid and himself stay the same throughout the years. He wants to understand himself, understand human beings by creating something very similar but very different.

Horishi Ishiguro & Gemini

This is what robotics and art are at its core: the human quest for advancement, evolution, knowledge and understanding of society and themselves through any medium possible.

Sources:
Printing Press. Digital image. Web. 17 Apr. 2016. <http://diginarrate.net/2012/03/22/the-development-of-the-printing-press-from-print-to-the-computer-and-ebooks/>.
Ford Assembly Line. Digital image. Web. 17 Apr. 2016. <https://www.pinterest.com/iyhuang16/the-progressive-era-photography-project/>.
Le Figaro. Digital image. Web. 17 Apr. 2016. <http://www.avantgarde-museum.com/en/museum/collection/authors/futurismo~pe4411/>.
Walter Benjamin. Digital image. Web. 17 Apr. 2016. <http://www.artintheage.com/about/walter-benjamin/>.
Horishi Ishiguro. Digital image. Web. 17 Apr. 2016. <http://www.robotronica.qut.edu.au/talks/hiroshi-ishiguro.php>.
Marinetti, F.T.. “The Futurist Manifesto.” masi. N.p.. Web. 17 Apr. 2016. <http://masi.cscs.lsa.umich.edu/~crshalizi/T4PM/futurist-manifesto.html>.
Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” Marxists. N.p.. Web. 17 Apr. 2016  <http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm>.
Uconlineprogram. "Robotics MachikoKusahara 1." YouTube. YouTube, 2012. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.
Uconlineprogram. "Robotics Pt3." YouTube. YouTube, 2012. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.
"Taylorism Henry Ford." Web. 17 Apr. 2016. <http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Saylor.orgs-Scientific-Management-Theory-and-the-Ford-Motor-Company.pdf>.

1 comment:

  1. I do enjoy how you talked about the evolution of robotics due to mass production and how the uniqueness factor became lost as a result. I do agree that there is still a continual urge of people to learn more about how we humans work and try to incorporate it in new robotic technology.

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