Skip to Content
Closed now, next open Thursday. Closed now, next open Thursday.

Automarionette

A sepia-tones drawing of an apparatus suspending a human body from a counterweight system via wraps around its arms, legs, and body.

Image actions

  • A sepia-tones drawing of an apparatus suspending a human body from a counterweight system via wraps around its arms, legs, and body.

Date:

c. 1987

Artist:

Diller + Scofidio (American, founded 1979)
Elizabeth Diller (American, born 1954)
Ricardo Scofidio (American, born 1935)

About this artwork

Founded by Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio, Diller + Scofidio (now Diller Scofidio + Renfro), is a practice known for exploring the experimental and performative aspects of architecture and technology. This early drawing documents their interest in manipulations of the human body, depicting their design for a suspended apparatus or prosthetic that controls the position of the body with a counterweight system. A modified version of Automarionette was produced as part of a set design for the performance piece The Rotary Notary and His Hot Plate (A Delay in Glass), inspired by artist Marcel Duchamp’s work The Large Glass. This performance was created with an experimental theater company for the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Duchamp Centennial in 1987. Although documenting a highly conceptual project, the lush sepia tones and fine rendering technique used in this drawing recalls the red chalk sketches created by early modern European artists as preparatory studies for paintings.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Architecture and Design

Artist

Diller + Scofidio (Architect)

Title

Automarionette

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1982–1992

Medium

Ink on sepia Mylar

Dimensions

61 × 30.5 cm (24 × 12 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Celia and David Hilliard in honor of Stanley Tigerman and Eva Maddox

Reference Number

2008.67

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

Share

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Learn more

Image actions

Share