Chico MacMurtrie
Seminar Information
This Lecture traces the evolution of Chico MacMurtrie’s work from his early art performances to his most recent inflatable robotic sculptures. While focusing on his most recent inflatable projects, especially the „Border Crossers“ and „Dual Pneuma,“the artist recounts his creative journey as well as the technological and material aspects that enable his pneumatic soft-machines to change shape in relation to internal air pressure acting on multiple inflatable tubes, behaving like both muscles andbones.
This Lecture traces the evolution of Chico MacMurtrie’s work from his early art performances to his most recent inflatable robotic sculptures. While focusing on his most recent inflatable projects, especially the "Border Crossers“ and "Dual Pneuma,“the artist recounts his creative journey as well as the technological and material aspects that enable his pneumatic soft-machines to change shape in relation to internal air pressure acting on multiple inflatable tubes, behaving like both muscles andbones.
For the last years, MacMurtrie has continued to implement his “Border Crossers” project at and along the U.S.-Mexico border in collaboration with the Rubin Center for the Visual Arts and the University of Texas at El Paso, working with local communities and institutions on both sides. MacMurtrie is currently working on the “Dual Pneuma” project, conducting research and development in conjunction with the Bioinspired Engineering Lab in the department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California in San Diego. This project will be exhibited at the Beall Center for Art + technology, University of California in Irvine, in the context of Getty’s 2024 Pacific Standard Time: Art x Science x LA.
For the last years, MacMurtrie has continued to implement his “Border Crossers” project at and along the U.S.-Mexico border in collaboration with the Rubin Center for the Visual Arts and the University of Texas at El Paso, working with local communities and institutions on both sides. MacMurtrie is currently working on the “Dual Pneuma” project, conducting research and development in conjunction with the Bioinspired Engineering Lab in the department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California in San Diego. This project will be exhibited at the Beall Center for Art + technology, University of California in Irvine, in the context of Getty’s 2024 Pacific Standard Time: Art x Science x LA.
Chico MacMurtrie’s work pushes the boundaries between robotic sculpture, new media installation, and performance. After receiving his M.F.A from UCLA he became known for his anthropomorphic, computer-controlled sculptures, which evolved over the years into a “Society of Machines”. Today, operating out of his studio in Brooklyn, New York, also known as the “Robotic Church”, MacMurtrie is internationally recognized for his “Inflatable Architectural Bodies” series, which explores the underlying essence of movement and transformation in organic and non-organic bodies. Freestanding or suspended in mid-air, these more recent servo- pneumatic “soft-machines”, inflate and deflate through an articulated series of movements, depicting imaginary molecular and cellular formations on a magnified scale. Chico MacMurtrie received numerous awards for his experimental new media artworks, including five grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Andy Warhol Foundation Grant, the Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, VIDA Life 11.0, and Prix Ars Electronica, the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Mapfund Grant and New York Fellowship for the Arts.
MacMurtrie/ARW’s works have been presented in major museums and venues around the world including the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Beijing; Hayward Gallery, London; Museo de la Reina Sofia, Madrid; Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie, Paris; Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC), Mexico City; Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, NY; Shanghai Biennale; Tri Postal, Lille, (retrospective exhibition), Muffatwerk, Munich; Ex-Dogana, Rome, ZHI Art Museum, Chengdu; Museum
of Contemporary Art, Tucson, AZ; Rubin Center for the Visual Arts (UTEP), El Paso, TX; Queens Museum, Queens, NY and the Bronx Mu eum for the Visual Arts, Bronx, NY. For more information please visit: Amorphicrobotworks.org