calendario eventi  :: 

X

24/11/2007

Daniel Knorr

Homie Berlin, Berlin

Lui & Morty

with Homie's 3rd Annual Potluck Thanksgiving Feast

In 1999, the city of Bern banned vagabonds, bums, and beggars from loitering in downtown. A few years later they invited artist, Daniel Knorr, to make a public artwork. He responded to the law with sympathy by creating, Lui & Morty, a robot beggar and his companion dog. When a pedestrian passed, Morty would grab their attention by performing a musical bark and dance. Once engaged, the passerby could push Lui's nose who politely responded by lifting his metal cap and said "Hey, you look great! Can you spare some change?"

Lui & Morty have since traveled the world to serve various hosts, occasions, and public institutions. The robotic duo now comes to Homie, an intimate room in a private apartment. Daniel Knorr’s exhibition is accompanied by Homie's 3rd Annual Potluck Thanksgiving Feast! The public is invited to bring their favorite dish or any plate of food (potluck)! Homie will roast two "traditional" turkeys and much more! Thanksgiving is an American holiday which celebrates the first harvest shared between the Indians and Pilgrims. At Homie, it commemorates yet another fruitful year.

Knorr's robots present more than a song and dance. In Bern, their creation was interpreted as an industrialized model for begging, with a spirit reflective of both human needs and contemporary automatization. At Homie, the two life-size, metal robots once intended for outdoor use noticeably invade a private space. Their semblances shift between that of archetypical friendly and domestic robots, to their malfunctioning doppelgangers. Appearances aside, Lui & Morty illustrate Isaac Asimov's third law of robotics which states that a robot must protect its own existence. Notably, in Bern, the first to give their money to Lui & Morty were the beggars themselves. Lui & Morty do not present a reason for asking for money, and they compliment each individual without discretion. It is through his robots that Knorr presents the materialization of a repetitive attribute of the human condition: to beg for one's existence. It is reasonable to assume that the giving affirms this. The robots set up a situation where both they and the audience become mutual subjects. However absurd, their repetitive actions assure the survival of themselves, their creator, and host.

Knorr lives in Berlin. Lui & Morty have appeared in Bern, The Project, NY, Kunsthaus Zürich, Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris, and the Europäisches Patentamt, München.

Opening: Sunday, November 25th, 19-22 Uhr

Homie Berlin
Berlin Germania
Stargarder Strasse 71

stampa

permanent link