After all the gear-crushing, steel-eating destruction of robot-creating outfits like Survival Research Laboratories, BattleBots and People Hater, it was inevitable that a new breed of mellow robots would evolve. For this lecture, Christian Moeller's Tangible Cartoons presents a more organic take on alt-robots working and playing in our modern cultural landscape. He's actually growing a series of large robotic sculptures destined for public spaces. Apparently they are “well-mannered and (mostly) friendly.” I, for one, welcome our well-mannered robot overlords! For the better part of a decade, Moeller's Hollywood arts studio has explored issues of interpersonal space and mechanization between man and machine while incorporating aspects of film and individuality. There's also the whole German precision thing, and the more fascist implications of automation. And if it all threatens to become a little too heady and cerebral — Hey, look! A robot!

Wed., Jan. 26, 7 p.m., 2011

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