Romy H Week 7 Can’t Help Myself Art Installation


Sun Yuan and Peng Yu are the artists behind the art installation titled Can’t Help Myself. It was commissioned for the Guggenheim art museum in New York in 2016, yet it has recently gone viral on TikTok, leaving viewers overwhelmed with emotion. In collaboration with engineers, the artists designed the robot to have one purpose: to contain the liquid that seeps and spreads from itself. There are 32 programmed movements, so the “machine seems to acquire consciousness and metamorphose into a life-form that has been captured and confined in the space.” The installation is surrounded by clear acrylic walls that eventually get splattered with the blood-like liquid. Over time, the liquid is splattered all over the walls, and the machine gets dirtier, adding more symbolism.

With videos of the installation spreading worldwide, viewers have commented on what the piece means for them in relation to their own lives. Art is subjective, and every individual might have a different interpretation of the same piece, which is one of my favorite things about art. Here are some of my favorite interpretations that were in the comments of a TikTok:

  • “It seems like the embodiment of helplessness. Trying to pick up pieces to something that has fallen apart. The panic and anxiety when it all just keeps falling apart no matter how you try.”

  • “It feels so… human.”

  • “It’s a never ending cycle of torture for both of them[the robot and the liquid]. One will never complete its task and the other will never be free to flow. But isn’t that life?”

  • “We cause so much pain/bloodshed as humans and try to clean up after ourselves, but can’t as we keep causing the mess”

  • “I overshared too much, now they’ll think I’m a mess.”

  • “You can sweep it away, but it’ll always be there”

  • “Once the machine breaks down the mess will still be there, no matter how much it tried to clean it all up, it was never good enough”

  • “It’s a perfect representation of what happens to you if you do the same thing everyday”

I love how everyone has different interpretations of the piece and even connected the messages to their personal lives. After reading hundreds of comments, my initial thoughts have meshed with all of these ideas. I see it as a symbol of how humans try to fix problems on their own, yet they are contributing to that same problem simultaneously, making it worse and worse. There is no right or wrong answer to how you perceive art, so I want to hear what you think. I will attach a link to a video as well as an article that describes the artists’ thought process more in-depth. How do you interpret this art installation?


Description: https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/34812 

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ooVr6RZ_nw&ab_channel=MichaelJanairo


Comments

  1. AnonymousNovember 9, 2021 at 7:46 PM

    Hi Romy,
    I also saw this installation, and didn't really understand it until I looked at the comments on tiktok. I loved how every person saw something different in it. I think it is really cool how the movement of the robot is very fluid, and seems like human movement somehow. I can feel the anxiety of the robot as it tries to keep up with everything spilling out of it.

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  2. AnonymousNovember 10, 2021 at 7:07 PM

    Hi Romy. Although I understand the deepness behind this installation, I really don't get the hype. It's very interesting to look at and watch, but I feel no connection really to this piece. Also, I get that everyone can interpret this differently, but these tiktok comments are so dramatic it makes me cringe. I can just picture someone sitting on their phone and typing that out trying to be super deep and I just find myself having a little giggle. Honestly I have more of an emotional response to those comments than this art piece because they're so revolting I just can't stand it. Anyways, very nice art piece, maybe one day I'll visit it in person and see if I have a better reaction to it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousDecember 6, 2021 at 9:32 PM

    Hey Romy. If I'm being honest with you, I didn't initially understand it and the overall concept of it until I really looked into it and read your analysis. One amazing thing about this specific installation that I like is how it's purpose and interpretation is different for every person. Each person who sees it, interprets it and understands it in their own manner. One part that I'm not such a big fan of is the fact that some people make it seem more important or valuable than it really is. At the end of the day it's more of a cool artifact than anything else.

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