Interactive robotic installation that behaves just like a living being and reacts to visitors.
The interactive installation “Hysterical Machines” by Canadian artist Bill Vorn consists of six robotic structures. Each of them react to the presence of visitors in their nearby environment. Although they are metal objects that are moved by a hydraulic system, they behave a lot like living beings and provoke powerful sensations. How is it possible to develop feelings of empathy so quickly towards “beings” whose behavior is apparently dysfunctional, absurd and deviant? The installation attempts to incite the viewer to question the nature of artificial life and the fundamental philosophical and sociological questions about the relationship of people and machines, the natural and artificial.
