The machines of the 7 Configurations embody uncanny combinations of the machinic with the organic. They are not enough human, and not fully machines. They are useless prostheses, paradoxical objects designed for the body, but not to enhance it, rather to subtract functions from it. The group of machines include a skin-cutting robot with a steel metal knife, a facial prosthesis which blocks the wearer’s gaze with a mechanical arm, and two robotic spines that function as additional limbs without a body.
Created in collaboration with designer Ana Rajcevic and engineer Christian Schmidts, the prostheses are first hand sculpted, then modeled in 3D software, 3D-printed, assembled and refined again by hand. Some of them are enveloped by bacterial biofilm cultured by Margherita Pevere. All robots are offsprings of an initial template, which is anatomically modified according to the needs of each artwork.
The prostheses have been created to act as performers with their own agency, that is, to interact with their human partners without being controlled externally. The machines are embedded with biomimetic neural networks, information processing algorithms inspired by biological nervous systems, such as animal or human brains. Developed by Donnarumma in collaboration with the Neurorobotics Research Laboratory (DE), these neural networks endow the machines with artificial cognitive and sensorimotor skills.
Sensory data captured in real time by servo motors enable each prostheses to perceive its own body in space, as well as the bodies of the other performers, and improvise movements in response to external stimuli, such as touch, pressure, pull and torsion. As it moves, a prostheses learns about its partners and environment, constantly modifying its behaviour across time.
