Robots: A Cultural Icon in Contemporary Art

Wed, October 28, 2009

KMUW's Chris Heim reviews the curent exhibit at the Ulrich Museum on the Wichita State University campus called "Robots: A Cultural Icon in Contemporary Art" that features a wide range of modern works about robots in a variety of media.

Included here as well is more information about the exhibit and related 'robo-resources.'

THE EXHIBIT
The Ulrich Museum, 1845 Fairmount Street, is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday -Friday and 1-5p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Admission is free.
Upcoming talks in conjunction with the Robots exhibit:

Dr. Joseph Kelley on "Machines Saving Lives: Robots in Medicine," Thurs. Oct. 29, 6 p.m.
Lee Gutkind on "Almost Human: Making Robots Think," Thurs. Nov. 12, 6 p.m.
Jason Opat on "Robots in the Public Sphere?Then, Today, and Tomorrow," Thurs. Nov. 19, 6 p.m.

ROBO-RESOURCES
ONLINE
There are many online sources for information and news about robots. Livescience.com features a wide range of science news, including some of the latest developments in robotics. Robots.net is devoted more specifically to robot news. And the chaoskids.com site features cool pictures of toy robots.
http://www.livescience.com/
http://robots.net/
http://www.chaoskids.com/ROBOTS/robots.html
Here are a few of the many books and films where robots play central and iconic roles.

NON-FICTION
Harold B. Seger - Pinocchio's Progeny (an interesting look at puppets and robots in modern art)
Rodney Brooks - Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will Change Us(from the Director of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory)
Michael Webb - The Robots are Here! The Robots Are Here! (in Design Quarterly, No. 121 1983 pp 4-21)
Frances Fukuyama - Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution
Timothy N. Hornyak - Loving the Machine: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots
Daniel Ichibiah - Robots: From Science Fiction to Technological Revolution
Gaby Wood - Edison's Eve: A Magical History of the Quest for Mechanical Life

FICTION
Karel Capek - R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) (the 1920s Czech play that introduced the word 'robot')
Philip K. Dick - Do Android's Dream of Electric Sheep
Mary Shelley - Frankenstein
E.T.A. Hoffmann - The Sandman
Isaac Asimov - I, Robot

FILMS
Metropolis
Blade Runner
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Forbidden Planet
Star Wars
The Terminator
Robots
WALL-E

RADIO
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (the BBC radio version was the first iteration of Hitchhikers and arguably the best, particularly in the portrayal of Marvin the Paranoid Android.)