Week 3: ROBOTICS + ART
 |
| Alice in Wonderland - AI Generated - |
The impact of robotics in contemporary society is profound, significantly enhancing our quality of life in various domains. In "The Work of Art in the Age of mechanical Reproduction," Benjamin argues that "Mechanical reproduction of art changes the reaction of the masses toward art" (Benjamin, p.3). This assertion underscores the influence of mechanical innovation on societal interactions with art. The technical transformation can be traced back to the invention of the printing press, a mechanical invention that enabled the mass production of books and all printed materials, pioneered by the Chinese in 1040. The printing press was the starting point of the assembly line production, which contributed to the technological landscape.
 |
| Printing Press |
Furthermore, the tradition of mechanical innovation includes the creative minds of figures such as Leonardo Da Vinci. Da Vinci's creation of an automaton that could sit, eat, and open its mouth, marked an important step toward what we now know as "robotics" (Vesna, Lecture Part.2). Although robotics and art do not seem to have a direct relationship, they intersect in various ways, enriching both fields with innovation. In "The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction," Davis mentions that "the work of art in the age of digital reproduction is physically and formally chameleon. There is no clear conceptual distinction now between original and reproduction in any medium based in electronics or telecommunications" (Davis, p.381).
 |
| Automatons: The Ancestors of the Current Robots |
Robotics and art do not seem to have a direct relationship as they are different fields in the eyes of society. However, "in contemporary robotic art they have been intertwined from the start, living off and nurturing each other" (Powers). With robotic advancements, it is now hard to distinguish between art and science as it emphasizes human-machine interaction, which blurs the distinction between these two fields. For example, artificial intelligence is considered as an art tool, just like a paint brush is" (Korsten). In conclusion, robotics can bring both positive and negative effects on art as it can introduce new techniques of art but also lead to dependency on digital tools.
Works Cited
“Computational creativity, can a robot create art?” Iberdrola, https://www.iberdrola.com/culture/computational-creativity-robot-art. Accessed 18 April 2024.
Davis, Douglas. “The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction (An Evolving Thesis: 1991-1995).” JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/1576221. Accessed 18 04 2024.
Herath, Damith, et al., editors. Robots and Art: Exploring an Unlikely Symbiosis. Springer Nature Singapore, 2016. Accessed 18 April 2024.
“Lecture Part 1.” Wikipedia, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJcPtv7tnKY&list=PL9DBF43664EAC8BC7&index=28. Accessed 18 April 2024.
“The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” MIT, https://web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/benjamin.pdf. Accessed 18 April 2024.
IMAGES
“Printing press | Invention, Definition, History, Gutenberg, & Facts.” Britannica, 8 March 2024, https://www.britannica.com/technology/printing-press. Accessed 18 April 2024.
“Alice in Wonderland,” https://creator.nightcafe.studio/creation/Je8Ql1IfFksL5z5RMwVn. Accessed 18 April 2024.
Shah, Huma. “Automatons: the Ancestors of the Current Robots | OpenMind.” BBVA OpenMind, 24 February 2017, https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/technology/robotics/automatons-the-ancestors-of-the-current-robots/. Accessed 18 April 2024.
Hi Regina, thank you for sharing your thoughts. I appreciate how you incorporated information from previous lectures into your response. I definitely agree that art and robotics have become increasingly intertwined with the development of new technologies like AI. I love how you noted that robotics can be used as a tool to help humans create art and it reminds me of the recent popularization of using generative AI tools like DALL-E and Sora to make art. As these technologies continue to develop, robotics will inevitably become even more intertwined with art.
ReplyDeleteHi Regina, I appreciate your discussion about the complexity of the relationship between robotics and art. Particularly, I like how you challenged the ideas of the Benjamin reading because it demonstrates that your understanding of the course material was unique.I too believe the relationship between robotics and art to be evolving, so it was refreshing to see someone with a similar temperament.
ReplyDeleteHi Regina, what I found most compelling about your blog this week was the way the topics you wrote about were able to complement the previous weeks' discussions, particularly in terms of your assertion about the interconnectedness of robotics and art, using both history and contemporary usage to make the link from industrialization all the way to modern AI. The blurring distrinctions between of the fields of art and robotics is reminicent of that same supposed distinction we learned about regarding the arts and sciences, or the two cultures.
ReplyDelete