Alan Rath
Alan Rath was an electronic and robotic artist whose sculptures gave physical form to artificial-intelligence fantasies and digitized machine behavior. He earned an electrical-engineering degree from MIT and began making robotic sculptures and computer-generated video in 1985. Works such as Neo Watcher V and the 2012 kinetic sculptures made machines respond to people and seem self-directed. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1994, presented Virtual Unreality in 2019, and died in 2020.
Timeline
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1959–1982
An electrical engineering degree
He is born in Cincinnati in 1959 and earns a BS in electrical engineering from MIT in 1982.
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1985
Robotic sculpture and video
He begins making robotic sculptures and computer-generated video animations in 1985, designing, machining, and programming them himself. His sculptures use custom electronics and software that can unfold through changing behavior over time.
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1994
A Guggenheim Fellowship
He receives a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship grant in 1994.
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2002
Neo Watcher V responds
His 2002 sculpture Neo Watcher V makes its digitized eyes respond when a gallery visitor triggers a motion detector.
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2012–2013
Feathered robotic sculptures
His kinetic figures parody artificial-intelligence fantasies through digitized machine behavior. In 2012, Positively and Absolutely enter the territory of the self-aware machine; in 2013, he writes the algorithms that animate his feathered sculptures.
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2019
Virtual Unreality retrospective
In 2019, the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art presents Virtual Unreality, a large retrospective that spans works from 1986 to 2018.
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2020
Death at 60
He dies on October 27, 2020, at age 60.
Sources and credits
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