Chico MacMurtrie: Amorphic Robot Works (NYC)

The lectures are about the artist’s amazing Border Crossers generally and especially the Euro Border Crosser which he built together with students of the Angewandte.

1.
Chico MacMurtrie/Amorphic Robot Works
In and Out of the Body and into the Machine
 
MacMurtrie, Founder and Artistic Director of Amorphic Robot Works is internationally recognized for his large-scale robotic sculptures and media installations. In this talk, the artist will trace the evolution of his kinetic sculptures and robotic “soft machines”, from early performances involving latex skins to his more recent “Inflatable Architectural Bodies” series. A pioneer in using high tensile Tedlar fabric as a medium, MacMurtrie will recount his creative journey and process of constant reinvention, experimentation and refinement.
MacMurtrie is currently working on the “Border Crossers”, a series of inflatable robotic sculptures, which are designed to rise up several stories high and arch over the U.S.-Mexico border and other borders around the world.
 
 
2.
Luise Kaunert/Amorphic Robot Works
Inflatable Structures, between Utopia and Protest
 
Luise Kaunert, Managing Director at Amorphic Robot Works will present a selection of “Inflatables” from the 1960s to today. Artists and innovators across the world have experimented with different inflatable media at the intersection of Architecture, Engineering, Science and Art, in order to create “mind expanding”, uplifting and sometimes disturbing experiences. Kaunert discusses how these installations might relate to Utopian concepts and how current practices are adapting them as form of protest.
 
3.
Chico MacMurtrie & Students
As a resident artist and visiting professor at the Angewandte, MacMurtrie is currently conducting a robotic sculpture workshop bringing together a group of students from different departments. They are currently focused on building an inflatable “Border Crosser” while investigating several European borders as potential sites for Border Crossing performances.
The students will present their research and discuss with MacMurtrie the possibilities, challenges and site-specificity in relation to the Border Crossers project. The talk will conclude with an activation of the current “Border Crossers” prototype, which was built with his students from the Angewandte.