Paul DeMarinis

Paul DeMarinis takes rejected or marginal technologies and makes machines, objects, and installations that speak of the ways in which our voices and visions are encoded in technology. In Moondust Memories (2001), little roving robots, made from Lego Mindstorms Units—robotic kits for children that build upon the popular Lego construction kits—explore a phosphorescent lunarlike surface, leaving behind trails of their travels. An ambient galactic soundtrack with alien blips and burps, which was created as a nostalgic homage to Louis and Bebe Barron’s soundtrack for the Forbidden Planet, accompanies them as they bump into the walls and each other. A kind of artist’s drawing machine, these little robotic vehicles are reminiscent of the Mars Pathfinder, and leave the same kind of tread marks in the dusty surface. Every now and then there is a flash of light in the otherwise dark space, which serves both to locate the viewer momentarily in the space and also to show the time-lapse drawing of the machines throughout the duration of the show.

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