Machine Aesthetics?!

Have you heard about 'Machine Aesthetics'? I didn't until I got a new assignment in Fine Art class.

The assignment was to develop a work that takes Machine Aesthetics as its starting point. The word 'Machine Aesthetics' reminded me of my first degree. I studied mechanical engineering for four years and, by the time I completed it, got tired of dealing with precision, straight lines, perfect circles, and symmetric aesthetics. After that, I became more attracted to nature, organic, and asymmetric aesthetics.

During the brief, I was introduced to machine aesthetics artwork and artists' concepts and approaches, such as seeing machinery as subject matter, using machines and technology to generate work, making machines and using or mimicking the operation of machinery.

Among artworks in brief, I particularly liked Emily Kraus's Painting Machine Performace (https://vimeo.com/677138675?share=copy), Cao Fei's Building "RMB City," Jean Tinguely's kinetic sculptures (https://tinyurl.com/Jean-Tinguely), and Michael Landy's Scrapheap Services (https://tinyurl.com/Scrapheap-Services ).

With the Painting Machine Performance, I was attracted to the final painting's spontaneousness and randomness, as I love dynamic and expressive brush strokes, uneven tones and colours.

I became curious about Cao Fei's work because of the East Asian aesthetics achieved in virtual space, where Western aesthetics and symbolism dominate. With my Japanese heritage, I always think about how two contrasting cultures and aesthetics can be combined, so I found her work relevant to my lifelong interests.

Jean Tinguely's work conjures a sense of nostalgia, joy, and warmth. Compared to the modern complex, heavily packed machines, his machines are more straightforward, with negative space between parts, like mechanical ikebana (the Japanese art of flower arrangement), which has a calm and meditative atmosphere.

Scrapheap Services reminded me of when I worked in big corporations, where people were seen and treated as commodities for profit. When someone leaves (or is about to leave), pick the person who matches the specifications (i.e. job descriptions) and hand over the tasks to a new person. A company keeps running. We stay in this system even though we feel unhappy and unhealthy.

I was less interested in artwork generated by machines and technology and with architectural and futuristic aesthetics as this type of work uses many straight lines and man-made colours.

Through the brief session, I decided to research further the ideas of making artwork through mechanical processes, artwork that meets West and East, kinetic sculptures, and corporation machines.

I was still feeling a little uneasy about this assignment since I usually work spontaneously and intuitively with human figures, nature, and landscapes. However, exploring something outside my comfort zone is an excellent opportunity to discover something new.

Who knows, I may find new interest in the end?!