Sun Yuan & Peng Yu - Can't Help Myself

This is a unique art piece I find to be both fascinating from an artistic stand point, as well as a technical one. This famous 2016 installation to the Guggenheim Museum drew in the attention of many people for not only the work being a robot, but the blood red hydraulic fluid leaking from its base. It was designed to perpetually draw in the leaking blood-like fluid, symbolizing the themes of automation, surveillance and human-like labour.

The robot was programmed with 32 different interactive and mobility based actions, like bowing, waving, spinning and other tricks, but also movements to "keep" the hydraulic fluid within a specific area. Over time the life-like machine began to slow, as if struggling to survive, by keeping it's fluid contained (looking as though it was bleeding). In 2019, the robot stopped moving, turning it into a lasting metaphor for exhaustion and "the limits of endless labour".

The robot itself was electrically charged (plugged in), but believed itself to only function if the fluid was contained. To me personally, I see this as a metaphor to life. From experience, I find most people only see one outcome or one path to follow, when if you try look at the bigger picture (or try to Help Yourself), there are more freeing ways to keep living than what you have been told to do.