“5 Robots Named Paul” is an installation where the human becomes an actor. In a scene reminiscent of a life drawing class, the human takes the sitter’s role to be sketched by 5 robots. When the subject arrives by appointment, he is seated in an armchair. An assistant pins sheets of paper on to the robots’ desks and wakes each one up, twisting its arm or knocking three times.
The robots, stylised minimal artists, are only capable of drawing obsessively. Their bodies are old school desks on which the drawing paper is pinned. Their left arms, bolted on the table, holding black biros, are only able to draw. The robots, named Paul, each look alike except for their eyes, either obsolete digital cameras, or low-res webcams. Each eye focuses on the subject or looks at the drawing in progress.
The drawing sessions last up to 40 minutes during which time the human cannot see the drawings in progress. The sitter only sees the robots alternating between observing and drawing, sometimes pausing. The sounds produced by each robot’s motors creates an improvised soundtrack. The sitter is in an ambivalent position, at the mercy of the robots’ scrutiny, but also an object of artistic attention. As the model in a life drawing class, the human is personality-less, an object of study. The human sitter is passive, the robots take the creative sensitive role. Although immobile, the model is active in keeping the pose, and for the spectator the sitter is an integral part of the installation.
Paul was originally developed by Tresset to palliate a debilitating painter’s block. This could be seen as creative prosthetics or behavioral self-portraits. Even if the way Paul draws is based on Tresset’s technique, its style is not a pastiche of Tresset’s own but rather an interpretation influenced by the robot’s characteristics. The drawings, often perceived as works of arts by the public, drawing practitioners and amateurs, progressively cover the gallery’s walls, day after day.
The installation was produced by Illuminate Productions for the Merge festival 2012 with the support of Tate Modern, Arts Council England, Neo Bankside, Better Bankside
“5 Robots Named Paul” is an installation where the human becomes an actor. In a scene reminiscent of a life drawing class, the human takes the sitter’s role to be sketched by 5 robots. When the subject arrives by appointment, he is seated in an armchair. An assistant pins sheets of paper on to the robots’ desks and wakes each one up, twisting its arm or knocking three times.The robots, stylised minimal artists, are only capable of drawing obsessively. Their bodies are old school desks on which the drawing paper is pinned. Their left arms, bolted on the table, holding black biros, are only able to draw. The robots, named Paul, each look alike except for their eyes, either obsolete digital cameras, or low-res webcams. Each eye focuses on the subject or looks at the drawing in progress.The drawing sessions last up to 40 minutes during which time the human cannot see the drawings in progress. The sitter only sees the robots alternating between observing and drawing, sometimes pausing. The sounds produced by each robot’s motors creates an improvised soundtrack. The sitter is in an ambivalent position, at the mercy of the robots’ scrutiny, but also an object of artistic attention. As the model in a life drawing class, the human is personality-less, an object of study. The human sitter is passive, the robots take the creative sensitive role. Although immobile, the model is active in keeping the pose, and for the spectator the sitter is an integral part of the installation.Paul was originally developed by Tresset to palliate a debilitating painter’s block. This could be seen as creative prosthetics or behavioral self-portraits. Even if the way Paul draws is based on Tresset’s technique, its style is not a pastiche of Tresset’s own but rather an interpretation influenced by the robot’s characteristics. The drawings, often perceived as works of arts by the public, drawing practitioners and amateurs, progressively cover the gallery’s walls, day after day.The installation was produced by Illuminate Productions for the Merge festival 2012 with the support of Tate Modern, Arts Council England, Neo Bankside, Better Bankside
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