AIC's 53rd Annual Meeting

In 2019-2024, The National Gallery of Australia (NGA) commissioned, exhibited and acquired the artwork Body Sculpture by provocative American artist Jordan Wolfson. Body Sculpture utilizes an industrial robot suspended from a gantry, and a metal animatronic cube form with arms and hands.  Across choreographed phases, the cube performs humanistic behaviors and emotional states: drumming its surface with its hands, being swung and beaten whilst suspended by a chain from the ABB robot, simulating states of playfulness, sexuality, shame, rage and death.  

The technical complexity of the artwork is unparalleled in the NGA’s collecting history. The production of the artwork included Jordan Wolfson Studio collaborating with diverse specialists including choreographers, highly specialized roboticists, software engineers and structural engineers. The extended production phase of the artwork in the US, meant limited access from Australia, and ongoing technical refinements extended beyond the exhibition opening due to both the complex nature of the work and the ongoing artist investment.  

Meeting Australian robotic safety standards, digital security requirements and battery safety regulations were managed in a variety of ways: including contracting a robotic safety robustness report and developing a risk management framework to distribute responsibilities between risk stewards, ensuring ongoing responsibility for public and artwork safety. 

The specialized knowledge required to build the artwork means that critical knowledge of technical properties is distributed between a network of specialists, holding at times proprietary knowledge and resulting in a reliance on contractors. Acquiring Body Sculpture required transfer of a basic level of operational knowledge to the museum, and this was transferred particularly when the 4 person US led technical team moved to an entirely local team, with online support as needed.  

The documentation of operational and maintenance skills was undertaken by technicians and conservators and included extensive manual review and development, the production of facsimile components for future training purposes, video documentation, maintenance logs, performance statistics and iteration specific documentation. The documentation requirements essential for transferring this operational knowledge challenged NGAs internal document management processes. This prompted development of new processes across departments to manage the scope and complexity of produced documentation, leading to the development of a centralized document management system for complex artworks.

Body Sculpture exists at the intersection of materiality and the technological cutting edge. Decisions made during commissioning and exhibition of the work resulted in the ongoing development and evolution of the performative outcome. It is inevitable as technology changes and evolves, so too will the realization of this work. Central to ensuring its continued success is a robust yet flexible documentation approach. Throughout this presentation the authors reflect on the ongoing challenge of ensuring future transfer of knowledge from disparate subject matter experts, operation technicians and internal stakeholders. The role of the conservator throughout this process is discussed, as well as reflections on the realities of relinquishing control over the direct material outcome of the work and instead locating oneself in a stepped back role of mapping and maintaining the interconnecting relationships between disparate subject experts whose experiences combined actualize the work.