Oribotics Workshop
with Matthew Gardiner
Embracing Nature, Origami and Technology, Experimenta Make Sense exhibition artist Matthew Gardiner will lead an in-depth workshop that takes participants into the mind of the oriboticist. By signing up, each participant will receive an Oribokit™ allowing them to make their own robotic garden. The assembled kit grafts onto a tree branch and is designed to minimise materials usage and maximise modular recyclability for robotic origami applications.
By creating their own oribotic blossom from specialised paper templates, the participants will learn about the key concepts of Gardiner’s practice and discuss the strong relationship between nature and folding.
The kits include (1, 2 or 3) oribotic blossoms featuring easy to fold laser-cut paper, servo motors, drive wires, and Arduino compatible STM32 microcontroller plus open-source firmware.
In accordance with Australian safety standards, the electronics are not suitable for children under 14 years of age.
In-Gallery Workshop: Make sure to book for this session as numbers are limited. All visitors must check-in via QR codes and are required to observe hygiene and physical distancing practices.
Build at Home: For those wanting to make a kit at home, sign up for the digital experience to be mailed your kit Oribokit™, allong with the digital instructional video by the artist.
Find out more about this artwork, showing as part of Experimenta Make Sense: International Triennial of Media Art, 12 December 2020 – 14 February 2021, Benalla Art Gallery (Benalla, VIC) www.experimenta.org/exhibition/make-sense
About the Artist
Matthew Gardiner
Matthew Gardiner is a pioneer of ‘Oribotics’, a field of art/science that explores the convergence of origami, folding and robotics. Gardiner’s works portray an altered future where folding forms are the fundamental fabric of life.
Matthew GardinerAustralia, Austria
Matthew Gardiner is a pioneer of ‘Oribotics’, a field of art/science that explores the convergence of origami, folding and robotics. Gardiner’s works portray an altered future where folding forms are the fundamental fabric of life. His artistic process explores the concept of folding as code for matter, by creating works that exhibit material intelligence.
A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, Gardiner has worked on individual art projects and collaboratively with commercial and research organisations. His practice incorporates aesthetic and interactive experience design, manufacturing, rapid prototyping, expert-level origami and code. Gardiner is a researcher at Ars Electronica Futurelab in the field of functional aesthetics. Recent exhibitions include: ORI*LAB, Ars Electronica 2016; ORI* Coding for Matter, Kyoto; Project Genesis, Ars Electronica Linz; Surface to Structure, New York; and Artists As Catalysts, Bilbao. His current activities include doctoral work on folding and technology, and a major new project supported by the FWF’s Program for Arts-Based Research: ORI* On the Language and Aesthetics of Folding and Technology.
