Chico MacMurtrie: Amorphic Robot Works (NYC)
Art and Communication
Practices
Chico MacMurtrie is Resident Artist at the University of Applied Arts Vienna as well
as Visiting Professor at the Department of Art and Communication Practices during winter semester 2018/19.
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.