The group of little robots are quiet in the dark, but once light reaches their sensors there is a frenzy of activity. Like insects under a stone, each sibling wiggles free in its own way – sometimes prancing, sometimes clumsy. Under dark glass, it’s possible to keep the siblings playfully in check. The unique siblings have a basic body made out of plaster, with electronic components sticking out of them like hairstyles. Each member of the family has its own style.
Mechanical and surprisingly ingenious, this small robot creates objects out of molten plastic. Like a proto-liquid, the colourful mass pours out of a kind of spout. The rubbery string spontaneously contorts itself, forming curls and loops that harden into a solid object. When the object that emerges is large or heavy enough, it falls, pulling stringy threads down onto a mountain of individual mini sculptures. The technology is like the kind used in a 3D printer, but here the nozzle that normally positions the material on a pressure plate with precise movements protrudes in the air, spitting out the molten material in a seemingly uncontrolled way.
Metallic, shiny circuit paths snake on an inky black surface. They form a net-like structure where light points move and gleam in bright colours. The play of lights is reminiscent of the soft twinkling of distant cities at night. On the other side of the square black construction is a network of milky lines emitting light in soft colours.
In its form and design, the sculpture replicates the kind of microcontrollers found in virtually every electronic appliance. In the process the light visualises a lively exchange of electrical signals. By enlarging the semi-conductor chips 100 to 100,000 times, the largely unnoticed hardware in the digital environment is transformed into the dimension of the urban space. In this form the chip is also reminiscent of a route map, showing the connecting paths of human relations. An invitation to analyse the building block of digital, global interconnectedness and its influence on life on our planet.
