Carnegie Melon’s Art Profressor, Osman Khan, is making art that does something practical. His styrofoam robotic sheep, Moe, mows your lawn. “It also talks, bleats, and sings Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
No “art” is complete without some bullshit and here’s Khan’s:
“The project is not an attempt to build a better lawn mower, but rather a whimsical and symbolic juxtaposition of two systems for labor and servitude, the machine and the domesticated animal, and explores possibilities and alternate visions of the robot in society.”
Why can’t we have all that whimsical symbolism and juxtaposition junk that is also a better lawnmower? Are the two mutually exclusive? I would love to have a lawnmower that explores “alternate visions of the robot in society.” That would be awesome. (It would also be awesome to have a lawn.) But the robot needs to work. Otherwise I just have a silly statue; yet another folly in my front yard.
Artists too often use “ART” as an excuse to make an inferior product. Art should be a superior product — one that transcends commodity/property and all of that capitalist bullshit. If no one told you this was art, you’d just think it was a shoddy robot or a piece of high tech kitsch. Like a pink flamingo motion detector.
Just as one knows porn when they see it, they should know art without being told about it.
You can see some nice pics of Moe here and watch some video here.
5 comments
Andrew
October 1, 2008 at 8:36 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Bauhaus! The Nazis dressed neat and all, but elements of Weimer Germany were a powerhouse of creativity.
shevan
October 2, 2008 at 12:39 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
fuck ewe and your pretentious sheep. i think your need for robots to invade all sectors of society is really a deeply seeded need to be accepted by the Conservative menace stalking our hinterland. Anthropomorphizing sheep or cows or humans won’t help; i hope your comfortable in your aluminum bedsheets you tin man.
ps: why, in all images of cartoon sheep, does it look as if they are actively being buggered? (as opposed to inactively buggered and collecting money and a long awaited apology from that lovely federal program)… it’s those damn buggy eyes…
Ryan Oakley
October 2, 2008 at 6:29 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I don’t want to be accepted by the conservative menace. I am the conservative menace. Stalking the hinterland is just a perk.
It’s nice to know, Shevan, that when we aren’t working together, you’re thinking about me in my bedsheets. That shouldn’t make things too awkward. Unless you want them to.
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October 2, 2008 at 3:37 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Better than a lawnmower but not as good as a real sheep.
Ryan Oakley
October 2, 2008 at 3:43 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I knew a guy who used goats. They worked.