Lecture by Chico MacMurtrie / Amorphic Robot Works

Location: Fowler Museum auditorium, A103B

Chico MacMurtrie was born in New Mexico in 1961. He received his B.F.A. from the University of Arizona and an M.F.A. in New Forms and Concepts from the University of California at Los Angeles. Since 1989, MacMurtrie has exhibited in more than 20 countries worldwide, receiving support from more than 15 national, local, and international granting agencies, and 30 corporate sponsors. His awards include five grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, and his work has been the subject of numerous international broadcasts and texts including the BBC’s Pandemonium, the Discovery Channel’s The Next Step, and Mark Dery’s book Escape Velocity: Cyberculture at the End of the Century.

Chico acts as the Artistic Director of Amorphic Robot Works (ARW), a collective he founded in 1991, consisting of artists and engineers who help in the realization of his work. Since that time, his investigations have resulted in the creation of more than 250 mechanical sculptures that assume anthropomorphic and abstract forms. Amorphic Robot Works is a collaborative group of artists, technicians, and programmers who create multi-faceted machine-sculptures that interact in their uniquely designed environments. The work involves a kinesthetic inquiry into the human condition, which has resulted in the creation of more than 250 mechanical sculptures that assume anthropomorphic and abstract forms. Collaborators include Brian Kane whose work on this exhibition marks 20-years of collaboration with ARW; Tymm Twillman who has been developing the sensing and Aurduino based code over the last two years; and Frank Hausman who continues his 20 years of contribution on electronics and Show control.