Mr. Wu Yulu is an ordinary Chinese farmer in his 50s, who was born in the suburbs of Beijing and has lived there all his life. About half the Chinese population holds the occupation of farmer, making it one of the most ordinary and humble positions in contemporary Chinese society. But despite his profession, Wu wasn’t born to be a loyal land owner—since childhood he has been fascinated with robots. When he turned 20, he dedicated himself to the study of mechanics in order to achieve his life-long goal of building his own robots.Over the years, Wu has spent most of his time and money crafting these machines—once he nearly burnt down his house when an experiment went wrong. Scorned by his village and family for being an irresponsible farmer, Wu continued with his tinkering in spite of the his village’s myopic belief that a man who only attended primary school had no business messing about with robotics and mechanics. But none of that could stop Wu from experimenting. He made his first walking robot in 1986, and since then, many more robots have followed in its footsteps. Wu is quite fond of his creations and names them as if they were his sons—Wu No1, Wu No2, Wu No3, and so forth. Currently the family has grown in numbers up to Wu No34.Each one of Wu's robots is built for a specific function, some mundane, some puzzling. He’s built robots that serve tea, light cigarettes, and even pull a rickshaw (video above). Each is more bizarre looking than the next, a result of being built from found objects obtained in rural China. He uses recycled materials from garbage dumps, utilizing old motors that once belonged to motorbikes or domestic electronics.Wu claims his inspiration comes from the observation of everyday life. His first robot was inspired by the steady pace of a man walking past him. In a similar approach as Eadweard Muybridge, Wu studies the movements of people, and re-enacts them with his robots.Needless to say, Wu’s eccentric creativity amazes us. Surprisingly, there’s even a small community of Chinese farmer inventors that was celebrated in the exhibition Peasant Da Vincis, curated by Cai Guo-Qiang at the Rockbound Art Museum last year, which focused on the work of Wu and eight other “peasant” inventors. The range of work included Wu’s robots, helicopters, UFOs, and submarines. It sent a huge reverberation through Chinese society by presenting and highlighting the creative potential, sensibility, and romantic ideas of a seemingly ordinary group of people. Here’s a look at three of Wu’s more artistically inclined robots that were featured in the exhibition.Robot imitating Yves Klein’s living brush for Peasant Da Vincis (2010)Commissioned by Cai Guo-Qiang and created by Wu Yulu using metal, electronics, and secondhand materialsRobot mimicking the work of Jackson Pollock for Peasant Da Vincis (2010)Commissioned by Cai Guo-Qiang and created by Wu Yulu using metal, electronics, and secondhand materials_Robot imitating the art of Damien Hirst for _Peasant Da Vincis_ (2010)_Commissioned by Cai Guo-Qiang and created by Wu Yulu using metal, electronics, and secondhand materials
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