Tag Archives: #swarm












Impressions of Empathy Swarm at Machines are not alone, device_art, MSU Zagreb
Emotional swarm robots of Empathy Swarm interact with the guests of Zagreb’s Museum of Contemporary Art and proof that Machines are not alone.
The robots and us experienced exciting days: from the robot’s first contact to strangers at the opening on Tuesday to a vivid discussion on ‘Autonomous relations: actions, reactions & tangled sovereign systems’ with artists Luiz Zanotello and Ralf Becker on Thursday and our final goodbye to the robots on Friday, who will now stay till 3. February 2019 all by themselves. Crazy to see the little ones grow up and become independent 🙂
We also want to thank KONTEJNER again for their hospitality and precious help setting up! We always feel very welcome in Zagreb and like part of the big Kontejner famiiy! ♥
Empathy Swarm will be at Device Art – Machines are not alone from 18. December 2018 – 3. February 2019.
(pictures © Kontejner, Sanjin Kastelan, Dragan Matić / HANZA MEDIA, Hochschuh&Donovan)
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
The work is coproduced at Kontejner within the framework of EMAP / EMARE and co-funded by Creative Europe.





device_art OPENING tomorrow 18. December 2018, 19:00
A little preview on our shiny swarm robots! And a warm invitation to tomorrows opening!
@ Museum of Contemporary Art, Avenija Dubrovnik 17, Zagreb – 19:00!







Empathy Swarm – setting up for Device Art – MACHINES ARE NOT ALONE – at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb
It is fantastic to be back in Zagreb! After our EMAP/EMARE residency with Kontejner this summer, we are now presenting Empathy Swarm at Device Art – Machines are not alone!
“Everywhere it is machines and machines are not alone.” (curator ZHANG Ga)
The major exhibition concept fits perfectly to a swarm of empathetic robots that are waiting to interact with the visitors swarming through the exhibition.
At the moment still busy setting up and fine tuning our work to the space of the museum, but looking forward to a fantastic opening @ Museum of Contemporary Art, Avenija Dubrovnik 17, Zagreb – 19:00!
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
The work is coproduced at Kontejner within the framework of EMAP / EMARE and co-funded by Creative Europe.
These robots by artists Katrin Hochschuh and Adam Donovan are the most endearing work in the small exhibition at Impakt, center for media culture in Utrecht. The Empathy Swarm consists of a group of small robots on wheels. They form formations, draw towards each other, tapping gently against your shoe. It seems like they want to make contact. Or are those feelings of affection no more than human projection? [...] It is striking that the Empathy Swarm shows how little is needed to generate empathy for an inanimate object. It raises the question why people sometimes have such bad care for their natural environment.
Review of Empathy Swarm in ‘A world without us’ at Impakt
translated from Dutch article “De zieleroerselen van een ‘slimme’ koelkast” by Thomas van Huut for NRC Handelsblad, the Netherlands’ most influential newspaper.











A world without us – Impressions of Empathy Swarm at Impakt
An intense week setting up Empathy Swarm for the very first time, with a great outcome 🙂
The swarm is keeping the memories of what it means to be human and its interpretation of human feelings and social behaviours, alive in – A world without us.
After a fantastic opening on Friday, we joined a panel discussion on Saturday with the other EMAP/EMARE artists Taavi Suisalu, Anna Dumitriu and Alex May, discussing how our works take part in a future scenario that we try to avoid.
Thanks IMPAKT for hospitality, support and intriguing ideas!
(pictures © Impakt Foundation, Pieter Kers)
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
The work is coproduced at Kontejner within the framework of EMAP / EMARE and co-funded by Creative Europe.
Empathy Swarm at IMPAKT from 24 November 2018
Only a week and then the first of the EMAP/EMARE group shows starts for us.
We are happy to be part of ‘A world without us’ at Impakt, Utrecht, Netherlands.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
The work is coproduced at Kontejner within the framework of EMAP / EMARE and co-funded by Creative Europe.







Making of: Dissection of the robots
We just wanted to share some more impressions of the scale of this state of the project: 10 robots – that’s a lot of parts!!! And even some of the SMD parts are still in boxes as they would just get lost with a size of half a millimeter x a millimeter!!
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
The work is coproduced at Kontejner within the framework of EMAP / EMARE and co-funded by Creative Europe.
























Open-Studio swarming with our guests
Some impressions of a busy night, full of emotions, enjoying the robots and explaining the backgrounds to our guests.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
The work is coproduced at Kontejner within the framework of EMAP / EMARE and co-funded by Creative Europe.
OPEN-STUDIO this Friday 31.08.2018 6 PM
Hey everyone!
We would like to invite you to our open-studio in Zagreb at the Academy of Fine Arts at Ilica 85.
Starting from 6 pm we invite you to check out our nice studio that we spent our EMARE residency with KONTEJNER at.
Electronics, etching, 3D-printing, camera tracking, emotion recognition — of course a lot of ROBOTS and FUN 🙂
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
The work is coproduced at Kontejner within the framework of EMAP / EMARE and co-funded by Creative Europe.




First steps of Robert and Robertina
Our two omni-wheeled robot prototypes are doing their first steps on the way to create “Empathy swarm” with 100 members for Robotronica at QUT Art Museum, Brisbane, Australia in 2019