SYMET Studio
by Stefan Joseph Prosky
In addition to studying animation & cell biology, I make small artoys that seem to have the character of life. As an computer animator, I am used to machines drawing for me, rendering it's called. I've always wondered if I could somehow show a machine or machines doing this kind of work. Watching something being made can be very absorbing, at least for me. With computers it's actually pretty boring though. Unless you have a deadline then it's sucked into the machine hell. Renders almost always have to be redone, a second...third, fourth and fifth time. I 've been searching for a way to make machine-based pictures where the process of making the work is on interesting display, and editing doesn't matter.
Studio SYMET is my current solution, since I don't draw myself, but I like fussing about with solder and solar cells. Studio SYMET is group of 10 small solar powered robots that draw abstract chance-based pictures for me. Each robot lies on the the drawing paper and makes a mark on the surface as it jerks along, 2 times per second. These marks look like a cross between animal tracks and a drugged/druken spirotot drawing. The drawings can take as long as 8 hours to complete and are totally dependent on the quality of light used to propel this ArtBot ecology. I like the SYMET BEAM robot design because it does not follow the expected wheeled or legged robot design. Nor do they propel themselves in an expected way. This I feel gives Studio SYMET much more character; it's an animated solar powered toy/tool that draws a record of its group movement.
Stefan Joseph Prosky is an artist.
thanks and credits:
Solarbotics.netBEAM builders in general