ROBOTS interacting with Sydney locals

Organised as a community event to raise awareness for Robogals, the Robots Are Coming exhibition was held from 5-11 September 2010 at Wynyard Park in Sydney, a transportation hub (complete with train station and 8 bus stops) in the middle of the Sydney CBD. We estimate that a good hundreds of thousands of pedestrians and commuters saw the robots or had lunch with them.

The exhibition featured robot artworks by emerging artists, designers and students, adhering to the theme “the impact of technology on today’s society”. It was inspired by the Berlin Buddy Bears, where artists' conceptions of bears have a dominating presence as decorative elements in the streets.
The winner of the grand prize (judged by sponsors, seasoned artists, and media experts) was ALICE, by Luke Hespanhol. ALICE’s winning quality was its interactive element—inviting its audience to play with the curtain of mirror pieces, to see oneself as a robot in the reflections; because robots are essentially made to reflect humans.

Luke Hespanhol with his winning ALICE

Luke aptly described ALICE as a giant Robogal, taking her name from Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There". Apart from its aesthetic appeal, ALICE perfectly captured the essence of the theme, and successfully interacted with passer-bys and inspired them to think deeply.

As for the crowd favourite prize (judged by online voting by members of the public throughout the week-long event), the competition was tight, with all robots starting off with nearly an equal number of votes! Luke’s BINBOTS were loved for their simple but straightforward message of cheering up passer-bys while keeping the community clean. It brought a whole new meaning to 'environmentally-friendly'. Poppy Suksomboon's GLOW also never ceased to amaze curious children with its glowing eyes and bright green belly! It dutifully reminded people about the wonders of lighting efficiencies.

Robogals and BINBOTS

But towards the end of the week, it was AERO ROCK that gathered an escalating amount of votes, crowning it winner of the crowd favourite prize. AERO ROCK was built by John Sungjin Lee, an aeronautical engineering student who sourced his materials from his house and a second hand junk market. An old school projector was used for the head, apparently Wall E-inspired, and a pet cage formed most of its abdomen. He showed amazing dedication by using his study table's drawers to make the flanks of the robot.
The prize-giving ceremony was on Saturday 11 September 2010, attended by Robogals from all over Australia and New Zealand, as well as journalists and a few members of the public. The participating artists spoke to everyone about the robots- how they were built and the ideas that led to their designs.

Prize-giving Ceremony: artists explained robot art conceptualisations to audience

Also present at the exhibition was a clothesline that Robogals Global built to display placards for robot descriptions. The placards were handmade—printed, laminated and then secured to the clothesline with Robogals-stamped pegs and wire.

Sadly due to strong weather conditions, the clothesline lost its vigour by the end of the week. Many interested passer-bys approached us to learn more about the exhibition as we were setting up and taking down the clothesline. Robogals members also had the opportunity to collect souvenirs in the form of stamped pegs after the prize-giving ceremony.

The Robots Are Coming exhibition was a wonderful initiative that not only engaged the local community by delighting them to reflect on our theme, it also successfully created a heightened awareness and interest about Robogals in other creative collectives.

mX picture feature of the exhibition

Media coverage

• Sydney mX (on Monday 6th September 2010)
• SBS Radio
• Radio Skid Row
• 2SER
• SYN
• Vibewire (a Sydney youth magazine)
• Artfiles
• Artisan Recruitment
• University of Sydney and UNSW's internal student newsletters