ROBOCYGNE

This trembling black robot swan which sometimes moves smoothly and gently, sometimes in a dramatic and fiery manner to Tchaikovsky´s majestic music is inspired by Edgar Degas’ sculpture The little fourteen year old dancer (1881), and is made from wax, bobbinet and silk ribbon. This birdlike body vibrates with electronic life and has the unattainable dream of dancing as prima ballerina on a grand stage. The music is a re-modelling of Rothbart’s theme from the Swan lake where both the ocean and the orchestra have been caressed and yet at the same time smacked by music technology. The dance has been created by a hands - on process where the robot body parts have been manipulated one by one to the music by the choreographer, in four recordings. The body consists of two light metal wings embellished with black feathers, a torso of aluminium, black bobbinet and circuit cards, a vertically adjustable leg, a very flexible neck together with a beak made of eight servo engines.

Height 130 cm. Wingspan 160 cm.

Choreography and movement recording: Åsa Unander-Scharin

Music: Pjotr Tchaikovsky (from The Swan lake, 1877) /Carl Unander-Scharin

Robot construction and software development: Prof. Lars Asplund and Alexander Larsson, School of Innovation, Design and Engineering at Mälardalen University (MDH)

Project managing: Lars Asplund and Kerstin Gauffin (MDH)

Production: Mälardalen University

Photo: Elias Lindén

First performance at the Swedish Book Fair in Gothenburg, 2010

The music has been developed through Scen- och Sinnesproduktion’s financial support from the Swedish Arts Grants Committee QC 20120209

This trembling black robot swan which sometimes moves smoothly and gently, sometimes in a dramatic and fiery manner to Tchaikovsky´s majestic music is inspired by Edgar Degas’ sculpture The little fourteen year old dancer (1881), and is made from wax, bobbinet and silk ribbon.  This birdlike body vibrates with electronic life and has the unattainable dream of dancing as prima ballerina on a grand stage.  The music is a re-modelling of Rothbart’s theme from the Swan lake where both the ocean and the orchestra have been caressed and yet at the same time smacked by music technology.