If, like myself, you grew up as a member of a certain television-fixated postwar generation, the word robot almost invariably summons forth mental images of a goldfish bowl-headed automaton waving its stubby arms about, gravely intoning "Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!" At 39, Alan Rath may be only about a month younger than I am, but his vision of the robot is undoubtedly more sophisticated.
In SITE Santa Fe's traveling exhibition Alan Rath: Robotics, the MIT-trained artist's works stretch the boundaries of both art and robotics through their gracefully choreographed, computer-controlled paces. Seven of the pieces are impressively large and mobile, whether wall mounted (such as the two-armed Robot Dance), track mounted (like One Track Minds, composed of two arm-equipped carts zipping back and forth on 40-foot-long rails), wall and floor mounted (Friends and Acquaintances, a complex ensemble that spins, whirs, and projects retractable metal tongues), or free ranging (as with Rover, which wanders about, scrutinizing visitors with its large cyclopic eye).
Rath's sculptures often have an anthropomorphic aspect, but he seems unconcerned with making them humanlike or with creating interactions with viewers that extend beyond the most basic: These are machines, and most of them do their own thing with little concern for human presence, other than some rather comic displays of robotic curiosity. Issues of technology and culture are addressed in Rath's work, but humor plays a part as well - what else would one expect from a guy whose chronology lists such notable events as "1965 - inserted hairpin in electrical outlet"?
Alan Rath: Robotics: April 17 through June 13. Austin Museum of Art, Austin, Texas: www.amoa.org.
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