Robotic Art

Robotic art is a type of art that makes use of robotics or machine and automated
technology, coupled with computer technology and sensors. Robotic art generally
falls under the broader umbrella of kinetic art, which includes art that uses
mechanical elements, such as motors, machines and electrically powered systems,
but doesn’t necessarily include a computer programme. With the rise in electronic
media and technology in art, robotics has become a popular medium of
experimentation. Robotic art can be traced back through history to the first
hydraulic sculptures while the genesis of contemporary robotic art can be
pinpointed to the 1960s.

Robotic art: A brief history

According to academic Joseph Needham, during the Han Dynasty period in
ancient China, robotic art existed in its earliest form. This included mechanical
orchestras and toys and flying automatons such as dragons and fishes which moved
with hydraulic power. Engineers like Mozi and Lu Ban built wooden automated
artificial birds that could fly, while artificer Yan Shi of the Zhou Dynasty
apparently built a human-shaped automaton. By the Sui Dynasty, there were
official accounts in a compendium, entitled Book of Hydraulic Excellencies.
Automata were not exclusive to Chinese early technological discoveries but were
also part of developments in ancient Greece and Ptolemaic Egypt. Greek engineer
Ctesibius (c. 270 BC) “applied a knowledge of pneumatics and hydraulics to
produce the first organ and water clocks with moving figures.” Hero of
Alexandria, a Greek mathematician and inventor, he created numerous user-
configurable automated devices. In Renaissance Europe, Leonardo Da Vinci was
drawing, planning and creating a variety of automated machines, and even made
detailed drawings of a mechanical knight, known as Leonardo’s Robot.

Xia Hang

Xia Hang, started painting when he was 10 years old and graduated with a BFA
from the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts and an MFA from the Sculpture
Department of Beijing’s Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA). During his time at
CAFA, Xia started making comma-shaped men sculptures in polished stainless
steel, which were the precursors of his current mechanical alien sculptures.
Xia Hang has created a series of alien-like sculptures that, complete with
mechanisms, move, stretch and change form with the interaction of the audience.
The artist created such interactive works that were first shown in his 2008
exhibition in Beijing, entitled Please don’t touch (with the ‘touch’ crossed out),
defying that one museum and gallery rule that forbids touching artworks. Xia Hang
felt that this kind of sign detached the viewer and the artwork even more, so he
decided to make artworks that would bring the two closer together, making
sculptures becoming like toys.