RobotiX: Intersections of Art & Technology

Curated by Carlos Ortega, “RobotiX” highlights the synergies Argentinean artist Cristian Castro creates between art, technology and robots.

The works on display in this exhibition span over a decade of Cristian Castro’s artistic production. The artist intentionally repurposes discarded vintage household appliances and old mechanical tools and incorporates them into his robotic works of art. Embedded in the ergonomic curvature of the robot’s metal parts, Castro points to the neglected virtues of technology: simplistic beauty, object provenance, and the process of invention.

Castro gives found pieces with history and old technologies new life. Functionality, the main driving force in technological advancement, is interrupted in this body of work and points the viewer’s gaze towards an equally important contemplative significance. Castro highlights function and form, removing these objects from their original functional purpose and re-contextualizes them into a pure appreciation of form. By shedding their utilitarian expectations, these robots’ aesthetic value becomes elevated to an idiosyncratic nature, bridging the gap between technology and art.

Curator Carlos Ortega explains the influence of Castro’s work saying, “Cristian Castro’s sculptures provide viewers with a new perspective on art and robotics, taking them on a journey where technology becomes a vehicle to explore beauty and creative power.”

About the artist

Cristian Castro (born on July 21, 1971) is a self-taught industrial designer and contemporary artist born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. From a young age, he was fascinated by the function of all things, driving him to discover, dissect, and dismantle any manner of toys and machines he could get his hands on, ultimately fusing them together as artistic creations junkyard parts reimagined with the vision of a NASA engineer. His work has been exhibited internationally and nationally, including MOlAA Museum of Latin American Art, Salt Fine Art Gallery, and Building Bridges Art Exchange on public art projects among others.

​About the curator

Guest Curator Carlos Ortega, former Exhibitions Director at the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) is an award-winning exhibition curator who has had more than a decade of museum practice in Germany, England, Spain, and the United States. His multidisciplinary career encompasses educational projects and team management for institutions such as the Guggenheim Foundation, the Vatican, and NASA to name a few.