Can't Help Myself (Sun Yuan and Peng Yu)

Last updated
Can't Help Myself
Can't Help Myself Robot 02.jpg
ArtistSun Yuan and Peng Yu
Year2016–2019
Medium"Kuka industrial robot, stainless steel and rubber, cellulose ether in colored water, lighting grid with Cognex visual-recognition sensors, and polycarbonate wall with aluminum frame" [1]
DimensionsVariable overall
LocationSolomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York
Accession2016.40
Website https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/34812

Can't Help Myself was a kinetic sculpture created by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu in 2016. [1] The sculpture consisted of a robotic arm that could move to sweep up red, cellulose ether fluid leaking from its inner core, and make dance-like movements. [2] It was commissioned by the Guggenheim museum with the intent of cultivating dialogue about the advancement of technology and industrialization, violent border control, and allusions to the nature of life. [3]

Contents

The sculpture was displayed at the Guggenheim Museum in the Tales of Our Times exhibition until 2019, and at the Venice Biennale in 2019 for the May You Live in Interesting Times exhibition. [4] Each display elicited various audience interpretations. [5]

Creators

Sun Yuan and Peng Yu are an artistic duo that began making non-normative and unconventional art in the 2000s. [6] Sun Yuan was born in Beijing, China in 1972 and Peng Yu was born in Heilongjiang, China in 1974. [7] The pair first met each other while attending at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing where they both studied oil painting. [4] After completing their studies at the Central Academy of Fine arts in the 1990s, Sun Yuan and Peng Yu had short solo careers that set an artistic foundation for their partnership in the early 2000s. [4]

Sun Yuan & Peng Yu create kinetic and installation art pieces that work to incorporate unconventional and organic materials into artworks and create "statement" pieces about the current systems of political and social authority. [8] Yuan and Yu utilize technology and multi media art to "comment critically on the modern understanding and exercise of political constructs like the nation-state, sovereign territory, freedom, and democracy." [8]

Creation and display

Can't Help Myself Robot 05.jpg

Can't Help Myself is one of the many pieces of kinetic art that Sun Yuan and Peng Yu created throughout their career with increasing media attention. [9] Aforementioned, Can't Help Myself is a kinetic sculpture that is made from a mobile robotic arm. [1] The idea of using a robot as the main object of focus in Can't Help Myself stemmed from the artists' desires to relinquish their "artistic will" or "artistic genius" and replace it with something mechanical or programed, alluding to the meaning of the artwork. [8] The ultimate goal of Yuan and Yu's Can't Help Myself is to evoke powerful physical, emotional, and psychological responses from their audience and prompt them to scrutinize the socio-political systems that plague todays society, such as industrial violence at the border. [3]

Can't Help Myself was created with immense planning as well as consideration of the audience shock factor, a signature characteristic of Sun Yuan and Peng Yu's collaborative projects. [3] The kinetic sculpture was created using a Kuka (KUKA model Kr180 R3100 K) industrial robot arm made of stainless steel with an exterior black coating. [2] Furthermore, the arm was modulated by the addition of a shovel and a rubber squeegee at its end. [2] The arm functioned at a 360 degree radius and had full mobility through a programmable Kuka controller. The sculpture itself was powered by a high voltage cable connected to the base of the robot. [2] A hydraulic component was installed at its center, and consisted of 48 gallons of cellulose ether and dark-red colored water that would seep from the center of the sculpture. [2]

The robot was installed on a 7m x 7m white wooden, waterproofed platform with room for wiring underneath. Aside from the platform, Can't Help Myself was surrounded by floor-to-ceiling clear polycarbonate panels that would prevent spillage and protect the piece. [2] Within the installation space there were 18 LED lights and 4 GigE Cognex industrial cameras placed in a grid on the ceiling. [2] The cameras were programmed to the Kuka controller to serve as a visual recognition system that detected the movement of the red, bloodlike liquid. [2] This resulted in the arms recognition of an area of spillage, motion towards it, and consequential squeegeeing of the liquid toward the robot's base. [2] The Kuka robot was also programed to perform 32 distinct dances when not sent to squeegee different areas of the raised platform. [2]

Kinetic sculpture

"Blowin' in the wind".gif

Kinetic art began occupying space in the art realm in the 1920s upon the publication of the "Realist Manifesto" in Moscow. [10] Kinetic art emerged as a means of defying the static nature of art and art elements by the formation of sculptures with kinetic rhythms perceivable to their audience. [10]

For an art piece to be characterized as kinetic it must possess one or more of the following characteristics: 1) an optical phenomena, 2) transformative, 3) movable by the observer, 4) mechanical in nature, 5) playing with light and surrounding environments, and 6) have intrinsic movement. [10]

The goal of a kinetic sculpture is to create a machine in which motion is a critical component of the piece, resulting the audience's failure to associate the sculpture with an mere object. [11] The automated nature of Can't Help Myself categorizes the sculpture as a work of kinetic art, which, in turn, generates an anthropomorphic quality to the robotic arm. [1] This anthropomorphism partially is because of the robotics performative nature and completion of the human task of cleaning up a spillage. [1] In addition, the spectators enter an emotional phase of connection with the artwork, followed by in intellectual phase where the audience works to understand the origins and significance of the motion, another quality of kinetic art. [11] Can't Help Myself was created with the intent of generating both an emotional and intellectual response from viewers and takes up the human task of representing the violence and terror at the border. [3] Furthermore, Can't Help Myself is a physical manifestation of metaphysical ideas which directly elicits a human emotional response from the audience, as kinetic art should do. [3]

Dances, duty, and demise

There are three integral qualities to understanding the functionality of Can't Help Myself: the dances it performs, its programmable duty and purpose, as well as its demise when it stopped operating in 2019. [4]

Can't Help Myself Robot 01.jpg

Dances

When Can't Help Myself was created, it was programmed to perform for its spectators. [1] The robotic arm was made to dance, and had 32 unique dance moves, such as "ass shake", "scratch an itch", and "bow and shake". [1] These dances functioned as technical representations of the artists' machine animation skills as well as the artists' desire to anthropomorphize the sculpture and parallel its existence to that of a human. [1] The dances themselves served the purpose of eliciting an emotional response from the viewer and grasping their attention. The programmed dances would have looked familiar to the audience, giving Can't Help Myself a humanistic quality that is unavoidable. The robot also would have interacted with viewers through "waving" or even doing "jazz hands", committing their attention to the sculpture. [12] Furthermore, this dancing quality simultaneously shifts the audience perspective of the sculpture as an object to understanding the sculpture as an extension of humanity or something living. [11]

Duty

The functional purpose of the moving robotic arm in Can't Help Myself spans much further than its interactive dance moves and crowd engagement. The duty of the robotic arm is to sweep up the dark-red cellulose ether fluid that seeps out from its inner core, something that was thought as necessary to maintain its functionality. [1] The 4 GigE Cognex industrial cameras, placed above the sculpture, alert the robotic arm to move to an area of spillage and squeegee said fluid back to its center. [2] As time proceeded the spillage became larger and became harder for the robotic arm to manage. This shifted the life trajectory of the robot from dancing and entertaining its viewers to constantly working to fulfill its programmed duty. [12] The responsibilities of the sculptures have been equated to the participation in a Sisyphean task, a task that will never be fully completed, by the artists and curators alike. [3] The endless sweeping of the fluid to the inner core of the sculpture was artistically intended to be absurd, laborious, and eerily satisfying. [1] The audience surveying the repetitive duty of the robot keeps them engaged in the piece and contemplate its meaning and significance. [3] Furthermore, the repeated duty of Can't Help Myself gives it a sense of consciousness as a life-form, one that has been captured, confined, and subject to a task in a given space. [1]

Demise

Can't Help Myself Robot 03.jpg

Two years after the completion of Can't Help Myself, it came to a permanent halt in 2019. [9] The death was not due to hydraulics or the loss of too much fluid, as Can't Help Myself was completely programmed, ran on electricity, and powered off every night by museum staff. [2] The artwork was programmed to perpetually squeegee the "blood-like" fluid seeping from its inner core, as a Sisyphean task, but not as a life necessity. [4] The death of Can't Help Myself was completely subjected to the artists, and in 2019 they decided to come into the gallery space and unplugged their creation. [4] Therefore hydraulics of the kinetic sculpture was not an integral part of its functionality, but only a component of the piece to make a statement. [12]

Solomon R. Guggenheim: Tales of Our Time

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, Lobby Skylight Delight.jpg

Can't Help Myself was created in 2016 and commissioned by the Robert H.N. Ho family collection for display at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. [13] The artwork was intended to be displayed as a part of an exhibition that called attention to Chinese artists with an emphasis on displaying cultural and historical hidden narratives titled Tales of Our Time. [13] The name of the exhibition is a play on the title of a book, Gushi xin bian, by a modern Chinese literary Lu Xun, which comments on society and contemporary issues by retelling relevant ancient Chinese legends. [13] The exhibit itself serves as a cohesive group of art pieces that deconstruct the fabrications of the past and reveal the present for its true nature. [13] This exhibit was curated by Xiaoyu Weng with the intention of being politically polarized and creating a dialogue about migration and borders in China. [3] Tales of Our Time ran from November 4, 2016 to March 10, 2017. [3] With its purpose of eliciting unknown cultural and historical narratives as well as challenging the "conventional understanding of place", Can't Help Myself was created as Sun Yuan and Peng Yu's representation of geography and the nation state. [13] The presence of Can't Help Myself as a kinetic sculpture in this exhibit speaks to its role of promote awareness to industrialized brutality on the Asian borders as well as the migration crisis in China. [3] This artwork along with the others in the exhibition represent an artistic effort of contributing to the globalization of art via combating nationalism and intersecting art and traditional storytelling. [14]

2019 Venice Biennale: May You Live in Interesting Times

La Biennale di Venezia 2019.jpg

After its display at the Guggenheim, Can't Help Myself was displayed at the 2019 Venice Biennale for its 58th anniversary. [15] The Venice Biennale's 58th exhibition, titled May You Live in Interesting Times, was curated by Ralph Rugoff and ran from May 11, 2019 to November 24, 2019. [16]

The expression "interesting times" was utilized by the Venice Biennale to represent the "menacing times" of sociopolitical polarization and "oversimplification of controversial topics". [16] The May You Live in Interesting Times was to bring awareness to global crises such as nationalism, treats to traditions and institutions, and controversial relationships in a "post-war" and highly combated world. [16] The works present in May You Live in Interesting Times was to serve as a demonstration of arts social function and present art pieces that challenging existing habits and exposes multiple perspectives on controversial issues. [15]

The exhibition itself was split into two propositions, Proposition A and Proposition B which each include one artwork from the same group of artist, each piece being vastly different and utilizing different mediums. [17] In general, Proposition A was more primitive in subject and had archaic displays, whereas Proposition B represented a shift toward modernity and industrialization. [15] This allows for each artist to display an alternative presentation of their perspective of global politics. [17] Can't Help Myself was displayed in the Central Pavilion within Proposition B and served as a testament to Sun Yuan and Peng Yu's perspective of technology's effect on politics and the maintenance of geopolitical borders. [15] Can't Help Myself tells the story of the political "other" through using industrialization to emphasize this narrative. [14] The kinetic sculpture is a manifestation of a sentient form of life captured in a cage and put on display and confined to do a Sisyphean task because of technology and industrial programming. [15]

Interpretations of Can't Help Myself

Can't Help Myself Robot 04.jpg

Can't Help Myself is a modern artist interpretation of technology at the border and the violence that it has caused. [3] Firstly, the cameras present above the sculpture are method of activation for a machine that elicits a response once something or someone passes a certain point of restriction or no return. [3] The blood-like substance, although useless for the functionality for the object itself, is a testament to the bloodshed that spills out from industrialization and technological violence at geopolitical borders in China and across the globe. [18] The Sisyphean task of cleaning up the spillage is a reference to border technology's sole purpose of causing bloodshed and restricting migrants from passing a specific point. [12] However the constant spillage represents the human impulsive behavior of seeping out of the core for outward movement in uncharted territory. [15] The dancing of the machine is purposeful as it convolutes Can't Help Myself's identity as both a robot, but as a human, exposing its vulnerabilities. [4] This anthropomorphic quality raises questions about the separation of man from machine and generates the audience to question if the makers of the machine or the machine itself has true control over its actions. [2] The piece is a testament to increasing machine intelligence and the controversies of surveillance culture. Curator Xiaoyu Weng states "Humans are unaware that the machines and programs created for surveillance result in them becoming subject to mechanic monitoring and controlling of behavior", which summarizes the further implications of Can't Help Myself. [2] Lastly, the artists' unplugging the sculpture is their metaphorical way of advising political officials to put an end to the technological violence at nation borders and encouraging people to break away from monotony and allow them to branch out of their preordained, enclosed spaces. [4]

Social media and Reemergence

Can't Help Myself gained public attention starting in 2023 because of social media networks like TikTok and Instagram; however, its audience perception has changed. [9] Social media framing as well as commentary on posts have highlighted the anthropomorphic quality of the sculpture where people feel as though it is "relatable robot" and state "no piece of art has emotionally affected me this way". [19] [20] The interpretation of the robot has altered from its intended meaning and has been increasingly associated[ when? ] as an allegory about life and the idea of working to live. [19] The most common misconception is that the hydraulic fluid is lost "blood" from the robot and is squeegeed back to the center because the robot needs it to live. [20] The Sisyphean nature of the sculpture has caused its audience to resonate with Can't Help Myself as a reflection on people's constant suffering that comes with repetitively doing work to maintain themselves and their lifestyles. [19] The death of the robot elicits many feelings from its current audience, but recent[ when? ] interpretations revolve around the idea that regardless if people do their due diligence to sustain themselves, there is always a higher preceding power that has other plans. [5] This suffering, as seen in the sculpture, is perpetual and never ends until it becomes the source of human's death and demise as they work their entire life to keep themselves from "spilling" and falling apart. [20]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peggy Guggenheim Collection</span> Art museum in Venice

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is an art museum on the Grand Canal in the Dorsoduro sestiere of Venice, Italy. It is one of the most visited attractions in Venice. The collection is housed in the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, an 18th-century palace, which was the home of the American heiress Peggy Guggenheim for three decades. She began displaying her private collection of modern artworks to the public seasonally in 1951. After her death in 1979, it passed to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, which opened the collection year-round from 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kinetic art</span> Genre of artworks that contains movement

Kinetic art is art from any medium that contains movement perceivable by the viewer or that depends on motion for its effects. Canvas paintings that extend the viewer's perspective of the artwork and incorporate multidimensional movement are the earliest examples of kinetic art. More pertinently speaking, kinetic art is a term that today most often refers to three-dimensional sculptures and figures such as mobiles that move naturally or are machine operated. The moving parts are generally powered by wind, a motor or the observer. Kinetic art encompasses a wide variety of overlapping techniques and styles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maurizio Cattelan</span> Italian artist (born 1960)

Maurizio Cattelan is an Italian visual artist. Known primarily for his hyperrealistic sculptures and installations, Cattelan's practice also includes curating and publishing. His satirical approach to art has resulted in him being frequently labelled as a joker or prankster of the art world. Self-taught as an artist, Cattelan has exhibited internationally in museums and Biennials. Maurizio Cattelan created his most important works of art at Viale Bligny 42 in Milan, where he lived for many years.

Performance art in China has grown since the 1970s as a response to the very traditional nature of Chinese state-run art schools. It has become more popular in spite of the fact that it is currently outlawed. In 1999, the importance of contemporary Chinese art was recognized by the inclusion of 19 contemporary Chinese artists in the Venice Biennale. In recent years, many of these artists have made performances specifically for photography or film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robotic art</span> Any artwork that employs some form of robotic or automated technology

Robotic art is any artwork that employs some form of robotic or automated technology. There are many branches of robotic art, one of which is robotic installation art, a type of installation art that is programmed to respond to viewer interactions, by means of computers, sensors and actuators. The future behavior of such installations can therefore be altered by input from either the artist or the participant, which differentiates these artworks from other types of kinetic art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cai Guo-Qiang</span> Chinese installation artist

Cai Guo-Qiang is a Chinese artist.

Sun Yuan and Peng Yu are Chinese conceptual artists whose work has a reputation for being confrontational and provocative. They have lived and worked collaboratively in Beijing since the late 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michelangelo Pistoletto</span> Italian artist, painter and sculptor

Michelangelo Pistoletto is an Italian painter, action and object artist, and art theorist. Pistoletto is acknowledged as one of the main representatives of the Italian Arte Povera. His work mainly deals with the subject matter of reflection and the unification of art and everyday life in terms of a Gesamtkunstwerk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">List Visual Arts Center</span>

Established in 1950, the List Visual Arts Center (LVAC) is the contemporary art museum of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is known for temporary exhibitions in its galleries located in the MIT Media Lab building, as well as its administration of the permanent art collection distributed throughout the university campus, faculty offices, and student housing.

Chambers Fine Art is an art gallery based in New York City and Beijing that specializes in Chinese contemporary art. Opened in New York in 2000 by Christophe Mao. Notable Chinese artists who had their first solo show in the United States at Chambers include: Lu Shengzhong, Shi Jinsong, Hong Hao, Qiu Zhijie, Hong Lei, and Chi Peng.

Jon Rubin is a contemporary artist based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and a professor at Carnegie Mellon University.

Kiang Malingue is a commercial art gallery with premises in Hong Kong and Shanghai, China. It was founded by Edouard Malingue and Lorraine Kiang Malingue as the Edouard Malingue Gallery in 2010. The establishment combines different disciplines, ranging from video and installation to painting and sound, and also actively works with international institutions and curators to present off-site artistic projects and exhibitions.

Marshal Peng Dehuai is a 2016 Chinese biographical historical drama television series directed by Song Yeming and written by Ma Jihong, Gao Jun and Xu Jiang, based on the life of Peng Dehuai (1898-1974), a prominent Chinese Communist military leader during the 20th century. The series stars Dong Yong as Peng Dehuai, alongside Yang Tongshu, Tang Guoqiang, Liu Jing, Wang Wufu, and Luo Gang.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ai-Da</span> Humanoid robot artist

Ai-Da is described by its creator as "the world's first ultra-realistic humanoid robot" artist. Completed in 2019, Ai-Da is an artificial intelligence robot that makes drawings, painting, and sculptures. It is named after Ada Lovelace. The robot gained international attention when it was able to draw people from sight with a pencil using her bionic hand and cameras in her eyes.

Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World is an exhibition that took place at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York between October 6, 2017 – January 7, 2018. The exhibition presents works by seventy-one artists and artist collectives across China and worldwide, who define contemporary experience in and of China. Looking at a period between the Tiananmen Square Protests, which also coincides with the end of the Cold War, and the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the exhibition explores a time when "anything seemed possible" and artists from China sought visibility in the global art world. The curators of the exhibition write that the works in this exhibition respond to how China went through a radical transformation between 1989 and 2008, which had an unmatchable impact at the global level. The exhibition has been considered as "an invaluable window" onto the intersection of contemporary art, politics, and history, and as an opportunity to ask questions about the role of museums as sites of learning how one could be a global citizen today. It also traveled to Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Ryan Ponder McNamara is an American artist known for fusing dance, theater, and history into situation-specific, collaborative performances. McNamara has held performances and exhibitions at Art Basel, The High Line, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, The Whitney Museum, MoMA P.S.1, and The Kitchen amongst other places.

I Can't Help Myself may refer to:

Can't Help Myself may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chengdu Biennale</span> Chinese contemporary art festival

The Chengdu Biennale is a contemporary art biennale event in Chengdu, China, started in 2001.

Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other is an art installation created by Chinese artists Sun Yuan & Peng Yu in 2003. The installation consists of a series of enclosed treadmills, each with a pair of American Pit Bull Terriers placed facing each other. The treadmills are turned on, causing the dogs to run towards each other but never allowing them to make physical contact due to the transparent barriers.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Sun Yuan and Peng Yu | Can't Help Myself". The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation. Retrieved 2024-04-12.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Zhong, Jillian. "Identity Report Computer-Based Artwork" (PDF). Computer-Based Artwork Guggenheim Conservation Department: 53 via Guggenheim CCBA.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Hou, Hanru; Weng, Xiaoyu (2017). Tales of our time: = Gu shi xin bian. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. New York: Guggenheim Museum Publications, U.S. ISBN   978-0-89207-529-4.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Sun Yuan and Peng Yu". ArtRKL. 2024-02-02. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
  5. 1 2 "Sun Yuan and Peng Yu: Audience, Agency, and Complicity | Spiegel-Wilks Seminar: Venice Biennale". web.sas.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2024-04-13.
  6. "works". sunyuanpengyu.com. Retrieved 2024-04-13.
  7. "Sunyuan & Pengyu". sunyuanpengyu.com. Retrieved 2024-04-13.
  8. 1 2 3 "Sun Yuan and Peng Yu". The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
  9. 1 2 3 Dazed (2022-01-18). "A dystopian robot arm is taking over TikTok". Dazed. Retrieved 2024-04-13.
  10. 1 2 3 Rickey, George W. (1963). "The Morphology of Movement: A Study of Kinetic Art". Art Journal. 22 (4): 220–231. doi:10.1080/00043249.1963.10794433. ISSN   0004-3249.
  11. 1 2 3 Belik, Jaroslav (1988). "Creation through a Machine: Kinetic Art". Leonardo. 21 (3): 243–246. doi:10.2307/1578649. ISSN   0024-094X. JSTOR   1578649.
  12. 1 2 3 4 "Watching Can't Help Myself is like looking at a caged animal". Hypercritic. Retrieved 2024-04-13.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 "Tales of Our Time". The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
  14. 1 2 Carroll, Noël (2007). "Art and Globalization: Then and Now". Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. 65: 131–143. doi:10.1111/j.1540-594x.2007.00244.x . Retrieved 2024-04-13.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rugoff, Ralph; Richards, Mary; Baratta, Paolo, eds. (2019). May you live in interesting times: Biennale Arte 2019 (First ed.). [Venice, Italy: La Biennale di Venezia. ISBN   978-88-98727-30-8. OCLC   1089218801.
  16. 1 2 3 "Biennale Arte 2019 | Biennale Arte 2019: May You Live In Interesting Times". La Biennale di Venezia. 2019-03-04. Retrieved 2024-04-13.
  17. 1 2 D’Souza, Aruna. "Venice Biennale 2019". 4columns.org. Retrieved 2024-04-13.
  18. Shan, Lo Yin; Fong, Janet; Leung, Isaac (2019), de Kloet, Jeroen; Fai, Chow Yiu; Scheen, Lena (eds.), "Digitisation with (in/out) Borders", Boredom, Shanzhai, and Digitisation in the Time of Creative China, Amsterdam University Press, pp. 307–314, doi:10.2307/j.ctvqr1bnw.26, JSTOR   j.ctvqr1bnw.26 , retrieved 2024-04-13
  19. 1 2 3 "Can't Help Myself – How a Relatable Robot Offers a Critical Reflection on Modern Society". Diggit Magazine. 2022-02-23. Retrieved 2024-04-13.
  20. 1 2 3 "'No piece of art has ever emotionally affected me this way': Artist's viral post on robot". Business Today. 2023-05-30. Retrieved 2024-04-13.