THE CANBERRA TIMES FRIDAY DECEMBER 20 2002 25
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
An artist trapped in an 'amazing' installation
Arthur Wicks's robotic man in his image on a bicycle at CMAG comes alive only when visitors pass, and is 'the ultimate ego trip', he tells Megan Doherty and Helen Musa.
WAGGA WAGGA
Arthur Wicks very much enjoys the round-the-clock nature of his latest work now on display in a front window of the Canberra Museum and Gallery.
Operated by 24-hour sensors, Artist Trapped in Artaud's Cage is an accessall-hours art work in CMAG's Gallery 4 overlooking Civic Square.
"It's the ultimate ego trip, you can't get it any more public than that," Wicks said. "It's there, visible, day in, day out, hour in, hour out.
The artist worked with a robotics engineer to create the man on a bicycle, in the image of himself, whose movement is sparked by sensors. When people view the installation, they will see the artist come alive, his body and head moving up and down. Without visitors, the artist and his ideas shut down completely, only to be reawakened by new movements outside the gallery. The work was inspired by the work of French author, director and theorist Antonin Artaud, who "desired a communion in the theatre between spectators and actors".
By coincidence, Joe Woodward's play SexandViolets.com, currently playing at the Street Theatre studio, was also inspired by Artaud's ideas and even features an evil character called Artaud.
A former Canberra resident who was a student at Canberra High and worked at the former Bureau of Census and Statistics, Wicks once created an "infernal machine" at the Boggo Road Jail in Brisbane and rode it with his facial features concealed by a mask of latex. In 1988, in an abandoned limestone quarry in Mt Gambier, he built two chimneys, the largest a 2.5m pyramid, above an old lime kiln, stuffed them with dry leaves and branches, and recited, dressed in a suit and a mud mask.In the past year he has exhibited so10 at Michael Nagy Fine Art and in a group show, Three Wild Men, at the Sir Herman Black Gallery at Sydney University
He was recently selected as a finalist in the Helen Lempriere Outdoor Sculpture Prize at Werribee Park, Melbourne, and as one of the short-listed sculptors for the National Gallery of Australia Macquarie Bank Sculpture Prize. He completed the $15,000 work, under a fellowship from the New Media Arts Board of the Australia Council.
Staff at the Canberra Museum and Gallery have just one word for the installation: "amazing".

Installation artist Arthur Wicks keeps an eye on his Artist Trapped in Artaud's Cage at CMAG. Picture: Kate Callas

Return to the Virtual Wing dedicated to the Robotic Cyclist