ArtBots: The Robot Talent Show—ArtBots Take Manhattan

ArtBots: The Robot Talent Show—ArtBots Take Manhattan. 12-13 July 2003 at EYEBEAM Gallery in Manhattan's Chelsea art district.

From the media release by Douglas Irving Repetto (artbots@artbots.org): "Featuring the work of 23 artists and groups from six countries, the show is a hybrid combining aspects of both a juried art exhibition and a traditional talent show. Participants include robots that draw, paint, sculpt, sing, dance, and play musical instruments, as well as many with talents that are a bit harder to pin down; you might call them robotic sculpture or even cybernetic performance artists!" The show eschews VR, according to co-curator Philip Galanter, showing the work of artists who have "chosen to explore alternate realities, and alternate creatures, by creating them right here in the physical world." Repetto notes that "The application of robotics to the arts raises interesting questions about things like authorship, responsibility, intentionality, and even consciousness […]. The technology being used by many artists today is no different from the technology being used to build robotic companions for the elderly, automated security systems, or self-guided missiles. As is often the case, artists are at the forefront of these technological and social developments […]." Includes the "Semi-living Artist" combining rat neurons with a robot arm (see under Background: B. Keefe). As of Jan. 2015, Repetto's release was on-line at.