Chico MacMurtrie and his Amorphic Robot Works crew have a major show featuring their inflatable robots opening tonight at New York’s Andrew Edlin Gallery, running through December 1.
MacMurtrie has been working on inflatable robot sculptures for some time now with the ultimate goal of producing an elaborate humanoid. As a workup to that, he’s created inflatables in a wide range of forms, including birds, totem poles, arteries, trees, and even a tree walker, using high-tensile fabrics to build both their structural bones and muscles, which are animated by servo-controlled air bladders. With no structural metal, these super-light-weight robots are seamlessly integrated, with all their computer and mechanical guts hidden beneath the cloth, and have a strikingly organic look. Nary a sensor, wire, or actuating mechanism to be seen here, and one can easily imagine they’ve entered some primordial creationist’s workshop when they enter the gallery to see the creatures expand, move, breath and react to those who come to watch them.
The gallery will also exhibit a high-def video of MacMurtrie's recently completed Totemobile, commissioned by Citroën, a towering robotic sculptural marvel that I wrote about earlier this year in the magazine. A second part of the show opens October 20 on Brooklyn’s Anable Basin and features a robotic tree floating upon a sculptural island planted with native estuary grasses and glowing with solar-powered lights.
Check out a video of some of the inflatables here.
