Stelarc is an interesting artist that I came across several years ago while investigating new media and ‘what it is’. His work incorporates robotics within an artistic context to comment on the blurring of the human and the machine. He sees human beings as slowly integrating and fusing with the machine, and creates pieces that explore this potential.
The “Exoskeleton” created by Stelarc is in contrast to the animals created by Theo Jansen (see the post for Oct. 18, 2011). While Theo Jansen creates similarily complex and visually rigid ‘animals’ the difference between his work and that of Stelarc is the fluidity of movement. The “Exoskeleton” is a large pneumatic machine that lumbers across a stage while Jansen’s animals appear to glide over the beach. Jansen’s animals are autonomous, while the human future of Stelarc is captured and confined.
It is amazing how works that share such a visual affinity can speak of such different visions of our world. What is it about each artist’s work that takes the meaning in entirely contrary directions?
Brian Leichnitz 