By Zane Jenkins – Peer Tutor

Photo Credit: The Guggenheim Museum

Artwork has been used to express emotion since the beginning of mankind. By constantly finding ways to show experiences and spread them to other people, it has evolved from cave paintings into how we view it today. Sun Yuan and Peng Yu continue to push the limits of art with their piece: Can’t Help Myself. It consists of a robotic arm with a squeegee connected to its end, surrounded by red oil. Held within a large glass room, its one job is to collect the loose oil, but it is ultimately unable to. Though it is no longer on display, the elements of voyeurism, isolation and movement created by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu convey the feeling of complete helplessness through their piece Can’t Help Myself.

The exhibit itself is enclosed with clear windows, allowing people to look in and participate in voyeurism. They have the choice to react in a way they see fit, whether it be with sympathy, empathy, or judgment, their active emotions are part of the art piece. Being under constant scrutiny brings feelings of embarrassment and the artists chose to make the exhibit with clear walls to show how their own reactions have an impact on the people around them. When someone is struggling, they are unable to control how others interpret their reaction and ability to process said struggle. This often manifests in constant judgment from those only witnessing a situation in front of them. By leaving the robot to be stared at without any control on how it may be perceived, it shows the helplessness that is present within the artwork.

Isolation was also used in the exhibit to help convey this emotion. The windows not only allowed guests to peer in, but also allowed the robot to look out and see the people surrounding it. They were always out of reach and blocked away, but forever in its view.

Almost like a taunt toward the piece, it showed that there were people able to help, but they chose not to, cementing an overwhelming feeling of loneliness. As the robot continued to recollect the oil spilling out of it, no one was there to support it, leaving it overwhelmed with its work. This element of isolation helps convey the message of helplessness through the piece.

One of the more noticeable elements within the artwork would be the rusting around the robot's joints, affecting its mobility. This rust was formed because the machine was left unclean since its creation. As expected, it started to wear down on the robot's mechanisms and limited how it was able to move in the surrounding environment. The degradation of its movement offered the audience a visual comparison of how it feels to bear an impossible responsibility for too long. This evicts a sense of helplessness because its only job is to collect oil without an option to stop. Programmed to keep going, the robot continues to fling the oil onto itself in poor attempts to carry out this assignment, subsequently killing itself in order to complete it.

By using these elements of voyeurism, isolation and movement, Sun Yuan and Peng Yu were able to convey pure helplessness through their piece. Though it is no longer on display, Can’t Help Myself continues to spark discussion throughout the artist community with its unique take on what can be used to create art. With brilliant techniques and programming, they were able to give a robot the illusion of emotion that still affects audiences worldwide.