By Huang Yanying

Survey Of New Media Museum AssignmentNovember 2009

Man . Animal . Machine is an exploration of the evolving power roles of humans, animals and machines

in the context of a domestic setting of the house.

The prey and the predator.

The hunter and the hunted.

Who will be dominant in the end?

The problem of the house has not been posed.Current architectural things do not answer our needs.Yet there are standards for the dwelling.The mechanical carries within it the economic factor that selects.The house is a machine for living in.

“Vers une architecture”by Le Corbusier, 1923

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Garage

Backyard Farm

Kitchen

LivingRoom

Entrance

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BAAMBAAM!BAAM!

clonk

clank

clang!

Clonk

WELCOME

M u s u e m

E N T R A N C E

“Lie” Robotic Cow Tongues (2007)by Doo Sung Yoo

Two rows of licking robotic cow tongues are mounted on the walls of a narrow tunnel in the Entrance of the musuem. The visitor will have to be licked thoroughly by the robotic cow tongues before he can enter the musuem.

Licking is the act of passing the tongue over a surface to collect liquid onto the tongue for ingestion, or to provide pleasure. Domesticated animals such as dogs and cats use licking both to clean and to show affection to each other. Human social courtesy demands that a visiting guest cleans his shoes on a mat, or remove them entirely before entering a house, so as not to bring dirt into the home of his host. Similarly, the musuem, through the act of licking, removes dirt off the visitor before granting him entry. Licking is a form of greeting and affection as well. By the end of the passage, the visitor will be thoroughly cleaned, as well as assured of the musuem’s goodwill.

B A C K Y A R D F A R M

“Rabot” (1981) , “Piggly-Wiggly” (1981)& “Untitled” (Machine integrating horse bones)

by Mark Pauline

Mark Pauline is known for his “organic robots” in which he mechanically animates dead animals or incorporates parts of their bodies into his machines. His work, focused on spectacle and automation, is reminiscent of the automata toys used for entertainment back in history. “Rabot” the dead rabbit made to perform the trick of walking backwards is not too far off from the 17th century automated puppet doll mimicking a circus act for the entertainment of its owners.

“Piggly-Wiggly” the domestic cow, mechanically prodded into life, and the workhorse made to continue moving even in death, also hints at the parallels between animals and robots. The original meaning of the word “robot” is “slave”. Perhaps drudgery and servitude best defines the role of both animals and machines in their relationship to Man.

The visitor is invited to view the exhibits as an automated circus designed for his own amusement.

G A R A G E

Car Hunt (1995)Car Hunt is an organized hunt, in which an automobile is radio-controlled and released into the Nevada desert. Organized groups pursue it in chase vehicles and “hunt” it down like a wild animal with an assortment of guns.

In a rapidly industrializing society that draws heavily on natural resources, Man has either decimated most animal species to the verge of extinction, or domesticated them completely for his needs. Wild animal species are now so at risk of disappearing that many of them are protected under the Endangered Species Act; there is hardly any large game left in the wild for Man to hunt. Yet, the primeval need to hunt remains. In an act of self engorgement, like the snake eating its own tail to satisfy its insatiable hunger, the modern hunter has now turned on the next most abundant animal available: the automobile, the symbol of his own industrial society.

The Machine is now the new prey to satisfy Man’s destructive impulse.

This exhibit invites the visitor to reflect and reconsider his position and relationship to the automobile machine. The Garage is equipped with high powered weapons alongside the car “prize” exhibit. The visitor is invited to choose a weapon to take shots at the car to assert his predator dominance.

K I T C H E N

“Cloaca” (2000)by Wim Delvoye

Cloaca, the first Machine capable of digesting food and producing feces like a real human does. Is Man nothing more than a machine? Visitors may feed Cloaco and purchase samples of Cloaco’s poo.

L I V I N G R O O M

Carnivorous Domestic Entertainment Robots (2008)by Material Beliefs

Carnivorous Domestic Entertainment Robots were deliberately designed to harvest household pests for energy. Rats and insects are lured and then trapped inside the furniture, to be digested in a microbial fuel cell to provide electricity for the robots. The ecology of the domestic landscape changes. The term “Living Room” takes on new meaning. The machine becomes the hunter. A game of prey and predator plays out in our domestic landscape, in which we are the voyeurs. Visitors are invited to purchase insects and rats to feed the furniture.

T H E L A S T E X H I B I T

We are now at the last exhibit of the musuem.

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T H E L A S T E X H I B I T

The musuem is designed to be totally self-sufficient, operating independently from infrastructural support systems, such as the electrical power grid. Utilizing an advanced form of the microbial fuel cell for its energy requirements, the musuem is able to operate on a self-substaining model of operation. Advantages of such an arrangement includes reduced environmental impact and lower costs of operation.

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T H E L A S T E X H I B I T

Museum visitors are liquidated in a microbial fuel cell to be converted into energy to recover the cost of entertaining them. As long as there is a demand to tour the exhibits, there will be a supply of energy to keep the museum open.

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(*Burp)

T H E L A S T E X H I B I T

We hope you enjoyed your visit.

Thank you, good bye and have a nice day.

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BAAMBAAM!BAAM!

clonk

clank

clang!

Clonk

WELCOME

M u s u e m

The End