description

Hysterical Machines grew out of a creative research project dealing with the aesthetics of artificial movement, sound, light, etc. It drew upon work that the artist had already done with Louis-Philippe Demers. A previously constructed prototype gave rise to nine other machines which, taken together, formed the latest installation, which was on a grander scale. The work was designed in accordance with certain principles of deconstruction that involved having functional machines exhibit absurd and deviant behaviour. Built out of aluminum tubes, each machine was made up of eight jointed arms attached to a spherical body. The whole was activated by various systems of detection, activation and control. Ultrasound sensors also enabled these to detect the presence of viewers. With this project, the artist attempted to have viewers feel a certain degree of empathy for these "characters," which were nothing more than animated metallic structures. His intention was not so much to physically reproduce real living organisms, but to create dynamic virtual shapes.