Welcome to the
Pittsburgh Biennial website.
May 3 - August 24, 2008
Pittsburgh Filmmakers/Pittsburgh Center for the Arts
Pittsburgh Center for the Arts Collaborates with
Robot 250/ CMU's Robotics Institute
The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University joins in Pittsburgh’s 250th anniversary celebration by emphasizing educational and creative opportunities in robotics, tagged Robot 250. Through a collaborative partnership, Pittsburgh Filmmakers/Pittsburgh Center for the Arts will premier a robotic artwork, called Double-Taker (Snout), by internationally renowned artist Golan Levin as a part of the 2008 Biennial. Robot 250 has designated the PCA campus in Shadyside to host the large, outdoor project during the Biennial to coincide with their Robot 250 celebration. A reception will be held on July 18, 7:00 – 9:00pm.
Double-Taker (Snout), Levin’s outdoor interactive robot sculpture, deals in a whimsical manner with the themes of human eye contact, gestural choreography and surveillance. It consists of a seven-foot-long repurposed industrial robot arm, which will be covered in a flexible reinforced-fabric cylinder. This animated arm, which will resemble an inchworm or elephant’s trunk, will be controlled by a real-time vision-based computer system.
The robot will orient itself towards passers-by, tracking them and appearing to follow their movements. The goal is to perform convincing double-takes, giving the impression of being continually startled by the visitors it encounters, while creating a lively and organic kinetic presence in its own right.
In addition, Pittsburgh Filmmakers Galleries in North Oakland will also host a Robot 250 exhibit, July 11- July 27, 2008. It will showcase robotic and mechatronic work by undergraduate college students.
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