Robotic machine painting 'Weight of Insomnia (London)' is completed
14 February 2019
Since the opening of Liu Xiaodong's exhibition 'Weight of Insomnia' on 24 January, a robotic painting machine developed by the artist has been gradually marking a canvas that would become the most recent painting in the 'Weight of Insomnia' series. Images sent from a webcam situated above Trafalgar Square have directed the robot's mechanic arm to create abstract marks on the canvas, building up areas of dense colour in response to movement and changes in the light.Following three weeks of consistent painting, the machine has been paused and the performative aspect of the project has finished. The now completed acrylic on canvas work produced in this iteration, 'Weight of Insomnia (London)', will remain on view with other paintings in the series, and alongside displays of Liu's sketchbook notations on the development of the machine, until the exhibition's closure on 2 March.
