{"id":596,"date":"2010-03-25T05:48:34","date_gmt":"2010-03-25T12:48:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artelectronicmedia.com\/artwork\/la-princesse\/"},"modified":"2021-01-17T22:56:38","modified_gmt":"2021-01-18T06:56:38","slug":"la-princesse","status":"publish","type":"artwork","link":"https:\/\/artelectronicmedia.com\/en\/artwork\/la-princesse\/","title":{"rendered":"La Princesse"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width: 640px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('video');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-596-1\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/youtube\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fqolwulVlsc&#038;_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fqolwulVlsc\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fqolwulVlsc<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p><em>La Princesse<\/em> is a 50 ft large mechanical spider, weighing about 37 tonnes and with a maximum speed of 2 mp\/h. [1] It is operated by at least 12 performers, who can move the spider\u2019s eyes, legs and belly, in order to recreate as much of the insects real movements. Due to 50 \u201cintricate hydraulic joints\u201d,\u00a0 the \u2018realism\u2019 of the giant spider\u2019s movement is guaranteed.<\/p>\n<p><em>La Princesse<\/em> is a performance run by at least 340 people, keeping a clear eye and making sure nothing goes wrong. The giant spider is able to use 7 special effects; it has a water canon in its beak (which can fire 20ft long jets of water spray) and has the ability to use flames, smoke, wind, snow, light and sound. [2]<\/p>\n<p>The spider is made of \u201creclaimed poplar wood\u201d and steel. It took more than 100 engineers, 1 year, and about 2 million Euros to create this intricate performance art project. [3] It was designed by Fran\u00e7ois Delarozi\u00e8re, who is the leader of the troupe La Machine. [4]<\/p>\n<p>Showcased in Liverpool in 2008,<em> La Princesse<\/em> wowed the audience with its performance. The Guardian wrote that \u201c[s]he waved her massive legs at the crowd and they waved back, she sprayed water and the crowd begged for more, and when se was caught in a snowstorm and went to sleep in the middle of the main retail area, the audience gave out a collective sigh of pleasure as if they had all been given a precious free gift. It turned out to be a very bad day for shopping, but a great day for art.\u201d [5]<\/p>\n<p>In 2009, <em>La Princesse<\/em> was shipped to Yokohama (Japan) to perform in the\u00a0 Expo Y150, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Yokohama Port. There it stayed for the duration of the 5 months exposition. Performances included a water ballet, where it \u201cmoved its mechanical legs and shot steam and water from its mouth and rear end, while suspended over the water from a large crane. Water cannons, fog machines, lights and live atmospheric music added to the drama.\u201d [6]<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" title=\"La Princesse\" alt=\"La Princesse\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p>All in all, <em>La Princesse<\/em> is an amazing piece of robotic hydraulics, and an beyond entertaining and somewhat terrifying performance by a group of French enthusiasts.<\/p>\n<p>This performance is not just a robotic moving sculpture, created to entertain the audience. As Eduardo Kac says, \u201c[r]obots are not sculptures, paintings, or video art. Art robots are not to be confused in any way with mechanical looking, static anthropomorphic statues or sculptures. Robots are a new art form an they are prone to be hybridized with diverse technologies. This quality makes them transcend the category of object to be diffused into the environment\u201d [7]<\/p>\n<p><em>La Princesse<\/em> can be called many things, but certainly not an simple object of sculpture that happens to be moving. The fact that the creation of <em>La Princesse<\/em> took a large amount of techniques not necessarily associated with arts (engineering, hydraulics, etc.) it is a prime example of a hybridized from, combining art and mechanical art with \u2018diverse technologies\u2019. It also ignores Michael Fried\u2019s (critic) notions that \u201csculpture must resist becoming theatrical in order to maintain an independent art.\u201d [8] (it should be noted that, just because it is a form of robotic art, does not\u00a0mean it is not \u2018sculpted\u2019 or can be stationary and therefore like sculpture) Rather, the entire theatricality of <em>La Princesse<\/em> is what makes it an impressive and unique work of hybridized art.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"La Machine Website\" href=\"http:\/\/www.lamachine.co.uk\/index.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">La Machine Website<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[1] [2] [3] McDermot, Nick. \u2018Revealed: the Secrets of the 50ft Robo-Spider\u2019. <em>Mail on Sunday<\/em> <em>Online<\/em>. 6 September 2008. Retrieved from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mailonsunday.co.uk\/news\/article-1052114\/Revealed-The-secrets-50ft-robo-spider.html\">http:\/\/www.mailonsunday.co.uk\/news\/article-1052114\/Revealed-The-secrets-50ft-robo-spider.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p>[4] \u2018La Machine\u2019, <em>Liverpool Capital of Culture 2008 Website<\/em>. Retrieved from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.liverpool08.com\/streets\/LaMachine\/index.asp\">http:\/\/www.liverpool08.com\/streets\/LaMachine\/index.asp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>[5] Gardner, Lyn. \u2018La Machine\u2019. <em>The Guardian<\/em>. 8 September 2008. Retrieved from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/stage\/2008\/sep\/08\/theatre.europeancapitalofculture2008\">http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/stage\/2008\/sep\/08\/theatre.europeancapitalofculture2008<\/a><\/p>\n<p>[6] Pink Tentacle. \u2018Giant robot spider in Yokohama\u2019. 19 April 2009. Retrieved from <a href=\"http:\/\/pinktentacle.com\/2009\/04\/giant-robot-spider-in-yokohama-pics-video\/\">http:\/\/pinktentacle.com\/2009\/04\/giant-robot-spider-in-yokohama-pics-video\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>[7] Kac, Eduardo and Marcel.l\u00ed Ant\u00fanez Roca. <em>Robotic Art<\/em> (1997). As found in Shanken, Edward. <em>Art and Electronic Media<\/em>. London: Phaidon, 2009: pp249<\/p>\n<p>[8] Burnham, Jack. <em>Robot and Cyborg Art<\/em> (1968). As found in Shanken, Edward. <em>Art and Electronic<\/em> Media. London: Phaidon, 2009: pp247<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":15641,"template":"","artist":[736],"streams":[14],"keywords":[3588,3589,3590,2488,3049,3591],"decade":[5544],"media":[5547,5548,5546],"class_list":["post-596","artwork","type-artwork","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","artist-la-machine","streams-bodies-surrogates-emergent-systems","keywords-la-machine","keywords-la-princesse","keywords-performance-art","keywords-robotic","keywords-spider","keywords-theatre","decade-2000s","media-image","media-text","media-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artelectronicmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artwork\/596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artelectronicmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artwork"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artelectronicmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/artwork"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artelectronicmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/artelectronicmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artwork\/596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15640,"href":"https:\/\/artelectronicmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artwork\/596\/revisions\/15640"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artelectronicmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artelectronicmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artelectronicmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=596"},{"taxonomy":"streams","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artelectronicmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/streams?post=596"},{"taxonomy":"keywords","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artelectronicmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keywords?post=596"},{"taxonomy":"decade","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artelectronicmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/decade?post=596"},{"taxonomy":"media","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artelectronicmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?post=596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}