Week 3 - Robotics and Art

A photograph of Henry Ford's assembly line
Although technology has become an undeniable necessity for 21st-century life, the mechanization of society is a relatively recent affair. Of course, this rapid-pace industrialization didn’t arise from thin air; in fact, its roots can be traced back to Johannes Gutenberg's development of the printing press in the 1450s. Indeed, while the first to invent the printing press was actually the Chinese, Gutenberg was the first to bring the notion to the west. Further, it was his development process that led not only to the cheap, mass manufacturing of books, but it was also the dawn of assembly-line production -- the same assembly line production that Ford utilized for the development of his automobiles (MacFadden).

Of course, with this newfound industrialization of society comes the mechanization of the arts, considering that the arts themselves are simply artists’ interpretations of society and their responses to contemporary cultures or temporal events. In fact, in the 1906 newspaper “Le Figaro, F.T. Marinetti published his article, “The Futurist Manifesto,” throughout which he praised the automobile as a piece of art itself, acclaiming the car as an object of beauty and aesthetic worth.

A photograph of a dog "Gene" (left) vs. a painting of the same dog
This societal and artistic mechanization had much criticism as well. Primarily, due to the development of the assembly line and hence the advancement of factories, many individuals were forced out of agricultural occupations and became factory workers. Indeed, here they faced numerous issues, such as long hours and poor working conditions, for which industrialization faced many critiques. Moreover, the mechanization of artistry also faced criticism -- Walter Benjamin, for instance, argued that the “aura” or individuality of art, as well as its traditional value, is essentially expunged during its mechanical reproduction. He offers the comparison of paintings and photographs to argue that whilst paintings are unique and unreplicable, photographs can be printed indefinitely.

Others argue that the mechanical reproduction of art is actually beneficial. Douglas Davis states that although he believes Walter’s correct, automation can add to art’s aura, even within “replicated” pieces. He demonstrates this idea with Photoshop, a program that utilizes already produced imagery to develop a new original piece. Indeed, I’d argue that in the same manner one’s humanity is expressed through a paintbrush to a canvas, our humanity can also be reproduced by applying mechanics to arts. Indeed, the intertwining of arts and technology offers many roads of possibility and opportunity to create unimaginable artistic works. An example of this mechanical artistry can be found in the work of the Flaming Lotus Girls, a group of volunteer artists whose sculptural works herald the interconnectedness of robotics and the arts.

The Flaming Lotus Girl's sculpture, "Soma"

WORKS CITED

Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” 1936.

Davis, Douglas. “The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction (An Evolving Thesis: 1991-1995).” Leonardo, vol. 28, no. 5, 1995, pp. 381–386., doi:10.2307/1576221. 

“Fire Sculpture Artists: Flaming Lotus Girls: San Francisco, CA.” Flaming Lotus Girls, www.flaminglotusgirls-serenity.com/. 

Marinetti, Filippo Tommaso. “The Futurist Manifesto.” Le Figaro, 20 Feb. 1909. 

McFadden, Christopher. “The Invention and History of the Printing Press.” Interesting Engineering, Interesting Engineering, Inc, 12 Sept. 2018, interestingengineering.com/the-invention-and-history-of-the-printing-press. 

Saunders, Patrick. “Gene”. Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 29 Mar. 2016, www.patricksaunders.blogspot.com/2016/03/getting-pose-right-photography-vs.html

Flaming Lotus Girls. “Soma”. Wikipedia, 16 Feb. 2015, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaming_Lotus_Girls#/media/File:Flaming_Lotus_Girls_-_Soma_ _San_Francisco.jpeg

Wikimedia Commons. “Ford assembly line.” Smithsonian Magazine, 1 Dec. 2016, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/one-hundred-and-three-years-ago-today-henry-ford introduced-assembly-line-his-workers-hated-it-180961267/

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