Week 3: Arts and Robotics

Prosthetic art which can provide utility,
while capturing the wearer's beauty

There exists an interesting intersection between the worlds of art and robotics; robotics are often seen to provide tangible value, producing objects commonly used in daily life, versus art which is commonly seen as a means of portraying a message, with more value in its meaning rather than in the creation of some tangible product. Yet, there is no need to distinguish between the both purposes, and art and robotics can coexist while both providing this tangible value and through thought provoking message. One example of this is in prosthetics, where just because the robotic parts have utility, it does not prevent them from being a piece of artwork as well.

An audience becomes immersed in the
movie viewing experience

Walter Benjamin brings up some great points about the aura of a work of art, its unique existence in the time and space that it was created in. It seems like the ability to mass reproduce art, the authenticity becomes faded, the messages that are created through the careful production by the artist no longer exists in what can be easily made cheap copies, or photographs which bear not as much depth. I believe art lies ultimately in the message, not just in the final product, and each piece of art carries along the process with it. As mechanical reproduction becomes more and more prominent, and medium changes to something like film, the process and the messages held begin to shift. I believe that this new art style, doesn’t necessarily take away from the aura that Benjamin first mentions, but rather, creates an entirely new aura, given by the movies’ producers and directors, a message that can be shaped through realistic immersion, causing the audience to forget their existence and be sucked into one where the artists’ vision can be immediately realized

AI is developed to have human connection,
whether in looks, or in thought process

One movie that incorporates robotics in a very real sense is Ex Machina, where artificial intelligence is being tested on a subject, Caleb, to see if at any point, the distinction between computer and human becomes wiped away. Important commentary on robotics shows how people try harder and harder to create a final product like them, the artwork of robotics exists in the deception and the immersion which provides value to humans as they can relate the robots to something they may already consider beautiful themselves in their daily lives. I think artwork with robots, especially AI is important, just because films like these provide doors for verbal intercourse, into issues that may arise.

Sources:

Davis, Douglas. “The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction (An Evolving Thesis: 1991-1995).” Leonardo, vol. 28, no. 5, 1995, pp. 381–386. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1576221.

Benjamin, Walter.  "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" from Illuminations. New York, Schocken Books, 1968, Pgs. 217-251

The Alternative Limb Project, www.thealternativelimbproject.com/about/the-alternative-limb-project/.

Online, UC. “Robotics MachikoKusahara 1.” YouTube, YouTube, 14 Apr. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=31&v=xQZ_sy-mdEU.

EX MACHINA. Film. Directed by Alex Garland. Distributed by Universal Studios, 2015.