Artists Statement

Accomplice features an infestation of autonomous robots — a colony of curious, social machines hidden within the Artspace gallery walls — that function as an allegory of our world’s complex machinic ecology. Each robot is equipped with a motorised punch, a camera, and a microphone to assist in the complete transformation of the surrounding environment. Collectively, these robots explore, learn, play and conspire by knocking against the wall, producing holes and patterns that mark the evolution of their social development.

• Petra Gemeinboeck is a Senior Lecturer in Interactive Media Arts at the College of Fine Arts, UNSW. Her practice in machine performance, interactive installation, and virtual environments explores the ambiguities and vulnerabilities in our relationships with machines, making tangible the desires and politics involved.
• Rob Saunders is a Senior Lecturer in Design Computing at the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney. Rob’s research engages with creative agency, computational curiosity, and robotic art. Rob collaborates with artists and designers to apply his research in design customisation systems, interactive installations and robotic artworks.