Whimsical Bodies and Performative Machines
Aesthetics and Affects of Robotic Art
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 16964412 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Treva Michelle Pullen (Concordia University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 1 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 514-521 |
| Publication date | 2018-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Open Cultural Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2451-3474 • E-ISSN: 2451-3474 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1515/culture-2017-0048 |
| OpenAlex | W2792359163 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 9 |
This article explores the ways in which robots’ behaviours are designed and curated to elicit reactions from their human counterparts. Through the work of artists such as Nam June Paik, Steve Daniels, Edward Ihnatowicz and Norman White, a survey of robotic art illustrates a particular aesthetic and behavioural language that is non-threatening, animalistic, cute, quaint and whimsical. Considering the artists’ programming of behaviours and construction of aesthetics, the use of animal behavioural modelling, and developments in social robotics, this article unpacks how meaning is inscribed onto robots and in return how affect is transmitted to human viewers. By exploring the whimsical bodies, performative machines and networked nonhumans brought forth in robotic artworks, this article draws out how aesthetic and behavioural languages of robotic art play into peoples’ emotional and affective encounters with them
Aesthetics · Art · Epistemology · Performative utterance · Robot · Sociology · Visual arts · Communication · Computer Science · Digital Media and Philosophy · Innovative Human-Technology Interaction · Philosophy · Social Robot Interaction and HRI · Artificial Intelligence
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |