Lifeless & Helpless (robot), 2011

Mixed media (dural, wires, plastic, duct tape), 156.34 mm. Assisted by Martin Grödl

 

The little metal creature is a present to the Natural History Museum Vienna from its admirer Miss Mary Eleanor Katherine Brooks (well-known romantic novel writer and stalwart suffragette). She came up with the idea of building a robot upon her first visitation to the Natural History Museum. She said, she felt like she was walking through a nicely painted photograph, like all the once-living animals were frozen into one last, never-ending picture. However, the only thing that preserves the livelihood of the dead animals is the vast scientific apparatus of the museum. Miss Brooks went on with the aim to prove that modern science cannot only preserve the static, but also recreate life as such. Observers of the robot would surely associate a living creature by its movements. And unlike the frozen animals in the museum, it is something that could use some help from the humans in the proximity.