Comment “Tate Modern Robot Installation”

Together with Dr Vahid Aminzadeh and other roboticists from the Department of Informatics, Professor Kaspar Althoefer, Head of the Centre for Robotics Research, collaborated with Ruairi Glynn, Interactive Architecture Workshop (Bartlett, UCL), on ‘Fearful Symmetry’, a recent installation at the Tate Modern, which formed part of a series of events inaugurating the gallery’s architectural extensions. ‘Fearful Symmetry’ is the world’s largest delta robot which was mounted on a motorised rail under the ceiling of one of the newly built Tate Tanks. The robot carried a glowing tetrahedron through the darkness of the new gallery space and was guided by computer systems that monitored the movements of visitors. Moving the light across the ceiling as well as moving it up and down and rotating it towards the closest visitor, an illusion was created that the robot under the ceiling was observing people and showing an interest in their movements.