Talking to the Man Controlling Miami’s Walking Art Robot

Artist James Capper and his land roving sculpture have a deep connection.

December 3, 2015, 5:20pm

Images courtesy the artist, unless otherwise noted

Digging its yellow telescopic metal legs into the moist green soil outside Miami's Bass Museum, the Mountaineer Prototype is nearly dancing, jerkily, as much as a man-operated mechanical sculpture can. The crowd of onlookers attending last night's opening of Art Basel's Public Sector watch as machine's creator and caretaker, James Capper, operates the gracefully robotic movements with a small power pack around his neck. The British artist is not afraid to make the machine interact with the humans, its spidery body moving quickly around the sculpture park looking smaller than expected around some of the towering public sculptures in the event at Collins Park. He's also willing to share the controls, handing off the pack to viewers who awkwardly get the machine to climb around but not with the Capper's specific touch. The way he controls it is not effortless, as Capper is still getting used to the controls of his sculpture, but the artist and his robot have an intimate connection akin to Dr. Frankenstein and his monster. They seem to trust each other more and more as the night goes on.

The stages of creating Mountaineer Prototype, from Capper's detailed initial drawings to the intensive building process of the moving parts, were documented in the artist's show at Paul Kasmin Gallery in February, but this was the first time the machine got its taste of real earth. This week, the machine sits dormant in the sculpture park but will come alive again Thursday from 7-9 PM when Capper will give another "performance" of Mountaineer to the public. The Creators Project caught up with the artist to learn a little more about the production behind the machine, Capper's intimate connection with his sculpture, and how the interaction of earth and machine can sometimes bring an unexpected beauty.

Model from Capper's Mountaineer show at Paul Kasmin Gallery. Image courtesy Paul Kasmin Gallery

The Creators Project: What was the process behind making your Mountaineer Prototype?

James Capper: Every work starts with drawings, and for this particular sculpture I did two initial drawings in 2014 which were included in my show at Paul Kasmin this year, and then I did five more prior to beginning fabrication. The drawings are crucial to the process and help me figure out various formal and aesthetic elements of the work. Because of the nature of the fabrication process, I don't have the luxury of making substantial changes midstream.

It's been a month since I saw the Mountaineer and have had countless thoughts about it since, so it's going to be great to reunite with the work and test out some ideas.

How are you hoping to interact with the earth and with the public using the machine?

I'll be operating the machine daily in Miami and demonstrating its functionality, which will likely increase throughout the week. It's a complex machine and I had only a short amount of time to operate it after it was completed and before it left the studio for the States, so I expect to get more skilled with the machine as the week goes on. I hope to teach a number of people the operational basics of the work as well, so they can walk the Mountaineer around the park.

Drawings from Capper's Mountaineer show at Paul Kasmin Gallery. Image courtesy Paul Kasmin Gallery

How does it feel operating the Mountaineer in a performance setting? What is your relationship with the structure?

I'm attached to the sculptures that I make, and I think that's to be expected. I'm attached to it when it's still just a drawing. But after months of welding and powdercoating and rigging and testing and negotiating with old school London bad boy industrial suppliers, it's obviously gratifying to see the finished work moving about the studio. And it's so enjoyable for me to engage with these machines and build their repertoire of movements, that it definitely doesn't feel like some kind of theatre. I would hope it looked like more of an interaction.

The machine is a bit of a contrast to an atmosphere like Miami during a time of extreme wealth, luxury, and partying for Art Basel. Do you feel the Mountaineer is dystopian in this environment?

My sculptures are more designed with the natural environment in mind, rather than the man-made. So I don't really think of them in relation to stores or clubs or condos or whatever. I haven't ever thought of them as being dystopian either, although I'm sure they could withstand nuclear winter and still be able to traverse the wreckage.

A lot of your work explores the way machines affect the earth. Do you think that there are any positive traces that machines leave behind?

I think when people are asked about the relationship between machines and the earth they think of massive oil rigs polluting the ocean or bulldozers clearing way for roads through a rainforest. But there are so many great machines that have been invented that protect or improve the environment in super efficient ways. If you've ever seen a massive field of wind turbines in action, generating loads of energy with zero negative environmental effects, it's pretty impressive and it's pretty beautiful.

My sculptures are all designed to act considerately to their natural surroundings, whatever those may be. Mountaineer Prototype will be noninvasive to the land in Collins Park, and you could also walk it up the face of the Matterhorn.

What's the next step for the Mountaineer and for you?

The Mountaineer is going to stay in the States after Miami, and I'll go back to the studio in Peckham for a few months before going to a residency at the Mahler & Lewitt Studios in Spoleto, Italy. I'll be installing/performing a number of monumental machines in the same ancient Roman amphitheater where David Smith installed his Voltri sculptures in 1962. I've looked at the installation pictures of the Voltri's in that theatre on Google Images about 500 times, so installing there will be quite weird. But thrilling.