BODY AND MACHINE is an exhibition of kinetic and interactive art organized by the Make it Move a Midwest U.S. based artists organization I co-founded with kinetic sculptor Jack Pavlik. Consist of artists, scientists, engineers, musicians, and craft people of all sorts, the exhibition is an assemblage of sculpture / installation / performance that move and interact with viewers. Engaging the viewers with both physical and intellectual participation, the exhibition creates a space for reflecting on the relationship between human body and mechanical & digital artifacts in contemporary society.

 

| C O N C E P T |
The identity design of the exhibition is inspired by the CAPTCHA prompt, where web users are asked to type a portion of distorted text to prove you're not a robot. By typing the distorted text you as human are proving to a machine that you are not a machine. This was brought up as a joke while I was talking with my friend. At some point we realize it is a perfect metaphor for the constant confronting relationship between human body and machine. This relationship is emphasized by the performance piece Reading the Realistic Manifesto (from Constructivism 1919 Russia) in the opening night, which contextualizes the exhibition in terms of both the medium and theme. The author of the manifesto Naum Gabo is considered as a pioneer of the modern kinetic sculpture. During that period, the very first massive social and physical confrontation between human and machine was happening: industrial revolution and World war |.



 

 

 

 

 

 

To echo the motion of the kinetic artwork in the exhbition, the title wall is also designed with the idea of motion: it requires the spectators to move their body and find the spot where the distorted text become legible.  

 

 

 

- public reception night - 

* Reading Realistic Manifesto by Anna Kiryanova

 

 

 

 

 

Months before making the title installation, I was still struggling with creating the CAPTCHA-like typeface for the exhibition poster. After spending hours and hours on computer to distort the title text BODY AND MACHINE in Helvatica, I still didn't feel the digitally distorted typeface enough convincing. Somehow I felt it's lacking certain logic behind to support the form. So I decided to have more fun with more physical and old-fashioned process: paper and print. I printed out the text with the most machine-spirit font Helvatica on pieces of paper and manipulated them with my body: my hands. With some sweet help of gelato and beer, I got a very satisfying outcome.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 - play! -

 - play! -

 - play! -

 

 

 

 

Before the exhibition started, the website of BODY AND MACHINE functioned mainly as a digital extension of the Call For Entry poster, which lists basic information about how to submit your artwork, jury panel, missions statement etc. A simple structure and subtle motion is applied in the design. In the following video, you will be given a quick tour of that. In the future it will not only archive all the artwork exhibited in the show but also serve as a space for collaboration and education. 

http://makeitmove.us/