Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I don't know if any of you have seen this, but I thought it was really cool. This was a final project for an engineering major in New Zealand. I thought the concept and execution were cool, but then again I'm no expert in such matters...I'm an English teacher...

Andy Warhol would be delighted. The mechanization of art has come to fruition.

Art is creative. This is reproducing something. I'm looking at this from the angle of mechanical complexity. I thought it was a cool task for an engineering project.

pflash4001 wrote:Art is creative. This is reproducing something.

I'd have to agree; this is an excellent achievement, but while it has artistic merit, in and of itself, it is not art, per se. Then again, if you read Kira's quote, in no way did she proclaim this to be art. But, we love to debate such things, no?

I see your point. I just thought this was technologically impressive. I'm a teacher and I see the kids at school in the robotics club designing and building robots to perform simple tasks like follow a track or carry items from one area to another...but watching them watch this was cool...it kind of inspired them to think bigger. That's what I liked about it.

What if you only heard this and didn't know a machine was programmed to execute it?

What about programmed beats and loops? Are they different from this?

A lot of people thought Andy's soup cans had no artistic merit; many still do. But he expressed his desire to mechanize the creative process on many occasions.

A lot of interesting questions arise.

I wonder if it fits in a gig bag?

kiramdear wrote:What if you only heard this and didn't know a machine was programmed to execute it?

What about programmed beats and loops? Are they different from this?

A lot of people thought Andy's soup cans had no artistic merit; many still do. But he expressed his desire to mechanize the creative process on many occasions.

A lot of interesting questions arise.

Thanks for that, Kira; these are exactly the kinds of questions upon which I like to ruminate, and exactly the kind of discussions I find interesting. I personally think Warhol (and Duchamp) are important artists because their work forces us to ask the question: "what is art?" This kind of question is indicative of when an artist step outside of commonly-accepted practices and challenges the boundaries of perception; that in itself is art!

If anything, it should at least be obvious that the conception, design and construction of this thing are certainly works of art.

In the "Design and Implementation" document it says that it's controlled by MIDI. This entire contraption has a Rube Goldberg feel to it; modern sampling is pretty well advanced to the point where parts like this could or could not be generated "live" and most people would not be able to tell, so all these pick actuators and optical pickups are totally silly and awesome at the same time.

Is covering a song "art"? I would argue that it is, just as I would argue that arranging a line of music in a MIDI program is art; it may not be as in-depth as an original composition by someone who has honed an instrumental skill over decades (i.e. Christopher Wolstenholme), but it's an act of creation all the same. Then again: my definition of "art" is basically all-inclusive; art is any act of willful creation, regardless of whether or not the emanation of that will has been (or can be) observed.

pflash4001 wrote:Art is creative. This is reproducing something. I'm looking at this from the angle of mechanical complexity. I thought it was a cool task for an engineering project.

Engineering is not art? Reproducing something is not creative? The word "reproducing" means essentially to "create again"; if you are to say art is "creative" then any act of creation is art, even if it's a repetitive act of creation. I think it's pretty unfair -- and discredits the training of people who have the skills and creativity to imagine & design these kinds of things -- to say that there is not art involved here. (Which is, granted, not exactly what you have said, so please don't think that I am saying you meant that.)

Maybe the machine doing its job by executing its program is not art; is that what you meant, Javier? Even so: there's plenty of artistry being represented in this video, and it's not just in the composition of the music.

Regardless: thanks a lot for posting this video!

I don't care if it's art or not... To a Techno-geek like me, it's definitely WAY cool!



Yeah, I want one...

Henry is calling security right now. Someone leaked the newest addition to the Robot line which was to be announced at NAMM.

johnhall wrote:Henry is calling security right now. Someone leaked the newest addition to the Robot line which was to be announced at NAMM.

ricnbacker wrote:

johnhall wrote:Henry is calling security right now. Someone leaked the newest addition to the Robot line which was to be announced at NAMM.

+1!

Personally, I'm waiting for the 5 string fretless model.

that's 3 minutes and 49 seconds I will never get back....

johnhall wrote:Personally, I'm waiting for the 5 string fretless model.

armybass wrote:that's 3 minutes and 49 seconds I will never get back....

I concurr