The Réquiem installation consists of a pneumatic exoskeleton. This prosthesis, made from polished sheets of aluminum and stainless steel, is mobile thanks to a series of powerful pneumatic pistons allowing it to move its knees, thighs, groin, buttocks, shoulders, elbows, jaw and hands, and to turn itself around. The whole device hangs just off the floor from the top of a support consisting of a square iron tube.
In the room are six photosensitive cells which detect the position and movement of the spectators. This control system is connected to a PLC industrial computer which activates sequences of relays which, in turn, activate the electrovalves driving the pistons. The robotised prosthesis responds in a variety of ways according to the number and position of the spectators.
Réquiem, which takes its title from the symphonic genre Missa pro defunctis, takes the idea of the prosthesis to its final consequences, maintaining the semblance of life and its mechanical movements even after death. The inevitable fact of death, which imposes immobility, is sarcastically outwitted by a mechanism incorporating a series of programmed behaviors: gesture, greeting and dance.
Réquiem completes a series of corporal orthopaedics which began with Epizoo, continued with Satèl-lits Obscens and which were approached more recently in Afasia. Each of these mechanisms explores a different theme: the idea of pleasure/pain, the appropriation of another's body and the extension of the body's possibilities respectively, all Color designed for living bodies. Réquiem reaches a point at which the body, converted into a cadaver, becomes ornament, and the machine is the only generator of life.

 
Réquiem 

 

 Use: Eight photosensitive sensors are distributed around the room. Two are installed at the door and detect people as they enter or leave, whilst the other six are fitted to the figure's support in the shape of a fan, detecting the position of the spectator or spectators and the route they take. These sensors are programmed to carry out certain movements: greeting, slow, dance, etc. (relational attitudes)

Elements of the installation:
-Pneumatic robot, 90 x 190 x 90 cm.
-Iron support, 175 x 270 x 175 cm.
-System control box: PLC, relays, electrovalves.
-Wires and tubes.

EPIFANIA / Origen