Archive for the tag 'Robotic Chair'

Marc
Mar 15th, 2008

Max Dean / Robotic Chair

Max Dean Robotic Chair

Is it art or a technological project? Hard to put a label on Max Dean and his friend’s work. If many of his installations invite interactivity forw the viewer, it isn’t the case for Robotic Chair which was presented at Mois Multi 9 in Quebec City.

The installation was displayed a couple of times during the event. At the scheduled moment, a technician (button-pusher? technical assistant? invited artist?) pushes a button and sets the installation. [See the video]

The simple but elegant chair tumbles, breaking in pieces. The four legs are all over the place; the same goes for the seat and the back. Then, technology kicks in and the chair begins to repair itself. The seat begins by grabbing the first leg. It then goes on, putting the three remaining legs in the right spots followed by the back. Thanks to the artist and his technological buddies, voilà: we have the chair standing straight up before our eyes without knowing how the process was made possible. Boom! The chair breaks itself again. And just like Sisyphus and his boulder, the task begins again.

Standing in front of that installation, I couldn’t feel anything but admiration for the technical mastery being displayed. There it was: a chair rebuilding itself without human help.

At the same time, it all felt a bit boring. Only when the chair broke once more did I feel something. Did I feel empathy? Weirdly enough, I did feel something for the chair that displayed such hard work for… nothing.

In the past, from what I’ve read, Max Dean involved the viewers in his installations. There is no interactivity in Robotic Chair, which could explain why I felt a bit bored. But then again, one doesn’t have to be entertained all the time to appreciate art.

Robotic Chair was presented at Mois Multi 9 in Quebec City in February 2008. It is a collective work made by Max Dean, Raffaello D’Andrea and Matt Donovan.

Further reading: