abstraction contraption

abstraction contraption is a screened-based exhibition, exploring the world of robots and machines in contemporary art.

Robots have functioned as idols, toys and cult objects through the ages across almost every culture of the world. Daydreams of machines inform the invention of devices which sense, process and perform in the world around us.

As images created by humans, as well as facsimiles of life, robots simulate our actions – and mirror our imagination. As replicating machines, they stage opportunities for projections of wholeness and fantasies of fragmentation. When contemplation, speculation and engineering intersect, robots are born.

Thinking beyond the utilitarian functions of mechanical devices, artists are exploring our fascination with robotics and critiquing the role of science in society. The practice, often in a DIY, bespoke fashion, has given rise to a new form of creative practice, one that is as grounded in the questioning of technology as it is inspired by its possibilities to entrance.

abstraction contraption provides an overview of different projects realised both regionally, nationally and internationally. The majority of the projects are primarily presented as screen based works, highlighting the abstraction of projected images of the machinic.

The robot as a projected image mutates from detached appliance to an incarnation of obsession. The creation of such intermediary artifacts in turn reveals the playful and idealistic urges within our own human nature.

Exhibiting artists
Natalie Jeremijenko
Erika Lincoln
Niki Passath
Esther Polak and Ivar van Bekkum
Michael Candy
Kuuki (Gavin Sade and Priscilla Bracks)
Simon Penny
Ross Manning
Mari Velonaki
Stelarc
Kristoffer Myskja
Max Dean, Raffaello D’Andrea, Matt Donovan
robococo (Petra Gemeinboeck and Rob Saunders)
John Tonkin
Tomotaka Takahashi
France Cadet
Igor Štromajer and Brane Zorman
Varvara Guljajeva + Mar Canet
Fabio Gramazio,Matthias Kohler, Raffaello D’Andrea
Kirsty Boyle

When: 15 Jan to 16 Mar
Where: The Edge, State Library of Queensland
Cost: Free
Bookings: Not required

abstraction contraption has been curated by Edge Resident, Kirsty Boyle. Read more about Kirsty and her other Edge projects.