photos by Felisa Nguyen
→ Discord
→ Youtube
Hello, I like to make/code/design/draw things.
I use
small electronics/robots/rubber ducks/odd scrap materials
/computers/crayons.
Yusuf Shamma is a creative technologist and artist working in robotics and mechanics. He received a BFA in New Media from Toronto Metropolitan University and is currently based in Chicago, Illinois, pursuing an MFA in Art and Technology at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
I am interested in robotics, mechanisms, the sounds they make, and their repetitive action. Recently I have been exploring the idea of “automated play” by combining machines that provide a sense of automation with toys and activities associated with play. Specifically, when utilizing industrial robot arms, these works that exhibit “automated play” can be interpreted from the “perspective” of the robot playing or the perspective of the user wishing to play and tasking the robot to automate the experience for them. If we were to consider that only living beings are capable of play, this would rule out the possibility of the robot being the player. It cannot play, as it is preprogrammed, has no decision-making, and cannot choose to stop. From the other perspective, the attitude and motivation of the player may be considered characteristics that determine play. One may perceive the robot’s action as labor rather than play. So, in order to play through the robot as a proxy, one should imagine themselves in the robot’s position and set their intention to view the activity as play.