This text by Lisa Logan was posted on the Australia Council web site during 2000.
The text was posted in comjunction with the artist being awarded a New Media Arts Board Fellowship for that period.
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Lisa Logan
text for australia council web site
2000
'As I grow older I find a resonance with T S Eliot's J Alfred Prufrock and Samuel Beckett's Molloy. We can take all the chances that we are able to, but mortality presents us with frustrating limits. It has been said that entropy is time's arrow. Perhaps the humanoids will arrest the remorseless ageing process and give me my immortality'
Arthur Wicks
Arthur Wicks was awarded a New Media Arts Board Fellowship in 2000 to research and develop a new generation of sculpture machines, extending the use of machines developed as part of his previous works, including The survival boat (1985), The helicopter (1987), The armoured car (1990) and The rocking chair (1994). His goal was to expand his existing practice into the area of animated humanoids.
During the course of the Fellowship, Wicks developed a number of projects in which he explores the idea of the humanoid as simulacrum for the human performer.
For The boatman's unscheduled crossing (2002), he constructed a small skeletal boat, sheathed with glass tissue and resin. A diminutive rower with arms as oars sits in the boat, which moves along a tubular aluminium track about two metres above the heads of the audience.
The visual effect of the work is for the boatman to appear to be rowing in a series of sweeps that take him to the edge of the tubular track, in an attempt to leap into the space beyond and then return to the beginning of the track. The movement of the boat and figure are dictated by sensor inputs into a programmable logistic controller (a microchip). This work was selected for the National Gallery of Australia's sculpture prize exhibition in 2003.
Wick's humanoid robotic work, Artist trapped in Artaud's cage, was exhibited at the Canberra Museum and Art Gallery in Canberra from December 2002 to January 2003. Over 12 months, this piece required the moulding of each of Wick's body sections, followed by the construction of an articulated skeletal system around which the body sections could be attached.
The body articulation was achieved through a system of industrial pneumatic tubes controlled by solenoids, which were in turn controlled by a programmable logistic controller and discreetly placed external sensors. The overall visual effect of the animation is of the humanoid initiating movement.
Wick's reworking of his 1991 piece, Two antipodeans marking out their territory, was selected as one of 22 finalists for the 2003 Helen Lempriere public art competition. To transform the original work into a safe and stable piece, it was necessary to incorporate a laser safety curtain and a captured trolley wheel system. The introduction of a programmable logistic controller into both antipodeans transformed the original simple electronic system, enabling more subtle human-like interactions.
In these works, Wicks presents with wry humour a metaphor for the frailty and futility of human endeavour. He also comments on the changing impact of the biological sciences and shows how new media practice can interpret this and contribute to ethical discussion in this field.
During the 1970s and early 1980s, Wicks developed a number of works in major cities around the world as the Solstice voyeur, from which global photomontages were generated of each city. A set of nine digitised Solstice images were exhibited at Michael Nagy Fine Art, Sydney, in June 2001.
As part of the Solstice voyeur project, Wicks created a digital recording of the solstice in June 2002 from the rooftop of the Art Gallery of NSW (AGNSW) in Sydney. Software allowed downloaded images and the progress of building the global image to be transmitted immediately to a monitor within the AGNSW. The entire process was open to public scrutiny in real time.
Wicks also initiated research into robotics using the animatronics expertise of the Centre for Performance Studies at The University of Sydney and other gateway institutions.
Wicks first exhibited in Canberra in 1966. Since then, he has held over 40 solo exhibitions and performances. His work has been included in over 60 group shows of prints, sculpture, video and performance in Australia, USA, Germany, Holland, Poland, France and New Zealand.
Wicks’ performance work includes:
Lisa Logan, text for the Australia Council web site during 2000.
