Presentasjon:
The installation ‘Proxy' features a pair of almost identical robotic devices (named ‘Essence' and ‘Possibility') which have been designed to carry out the basic tasks involved in hunting for tardigrades and nematodes in samples of moss, lichen and earth originally taken from the natural habitat. Essence and Possibility owe much of their aesthetic and their contextual purpose to the twin Mars rovers ‘Spirit' and ‘Opportunity' which have been roaming and experimenting upon the surface of the red planet since January 2004.In ‘Proxy' we see a reversal in the normal relationships and assumed roles between humans and robots. Where normally we send robots to dangerous, inaccessible or inhospitable places, here it is the artist that has undertaken excursions to mountainous regions for the purpose of collecting samples which the robots, ‘safe' and ‘sound' in the gallery space, will investigate. On each occasion that ‘Proxy' is exhibited a new sample collecting expedition is made in a geographical region related to the exhibition venue.
http://hostprods.net/projects/proxy/
