HUMANS NEED NOT TO COUNT
Varvara & Mar Canet (EE & ES)
This work poses questions about employment, robotics and quantification. It was inspired by the title of the exhibition, HUMANS NEED NOT APPLY, and presents a robotic arm that counts visitors with a clicker, offering a performative representation of the takeover of routine jobs, even in the gallery space. The work also embodies our idolatry of quantification; the obsessive need to count and measure everything.
Last century’s automation may have been largely hidden from everyday view, in factories tending production lines, or out in fields tilling the land. In this century, we will confront the reality of automation more intimately, as suggested here — it will be right beside us.
This InMoov Hand Robot used as part of the exhibit is an open source design first published by Gael-Langevin and later modified to include a tally counter by the artist (mcanet). Both versions are accessible on thingverse.com.
PROFILE
Varvara & Mar have been working together as an artistic duo since 2009. They have exhibited their pieces in a number of international shows and festivals. In 2014, the duo were commissioned by Google and the Barbican Centre to create the Wishing Wall exhibit for the Digital Revolutionexhibition.
The artists work across the fields of both art and technology, examining new forms of art and innovation. They use and challenge technology in order to explore novel concepts in art and design. Research is an integral part of their creative practice.