Robot / Takuji Kogo + John Miller
| Verdict |
Graceful, Mythologicl, Life-size |
Robot is a virtual band by Takuji Kogo and John Miller.
In the mid-1990s, John Miller produced analytical diagrams that sampled personal ads from local newspapers or magazines. In 2000 Miller contributed personal ad works to Candy Factory Projects, a collaborative platform organized by Kogo. The platform began as a gallery space in a former candy factory in Yokohama, moved to the Yokohama Triennial in 2001, and then to Kogo's curatorial projects 'Boogie Woogie Wonderland' in Yamaguchi in 2003 and 'Scream' in Stockholm in 2004.
Kogo has also produced music by sampling found texts, such as propaganda slogans and spam emails. He turned these into songs using text-to-singing synthesizers and coupled them with quasi-promotional videos. Meanwhile, Miller started to explore midi music production and contributed his music to the compilation audio album Holiday Soundtracks for Collaborative Art Projects from Candy Factory Soapland Records in 2003.
Their virtual band project, Robot, began in 2004 when Kogo wrote a medley drawn from a selection of personal ads for a site-specific project in downtown New York, "Global Consulting NY." The two artists also superimposed the same ads over photos of empty office cubicles at the firm.
Since then, they have continued writing songs, first sampling personal ads from newspapers or magazines, then online message boards and profiles on dating sites spanning a variety of sexual preferences, including scam messages on dating apps. Robot's music, in effect, "re-advertised" these online as stand-alone music video clips. Robot also exhibited their video works with Candy Factory Projects and in Miller's gallery exhibitions. The band's museum shows include A Little About Me at New Museum, New York, 2013, and Open to All Ages and Ethnicities, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein / NBK Berlin (2015). Robot released the CD, In Person, in 2006 with North Drive Press, and more recently the vinyl LP, Singles Collection, with Small World Records.
After social media absorbed the online personal ad as a distinct form, Robot began to use various other found texts, starting with Walter Benjamin’s essays, which Aura Rosenberg referenced in her video project Berlin Childhood circa 1900, titled after Benjamin's eponymous book.
Robot also produced songs drawn transcripts of artists' performances, such as Dan Graham's PERFORMER, AUDIENCE, MIRROR, re-enacted as a stand-up comedy cartoon. Since then, Robot has made works that sample texts from online articles, essays, and interviews by Gregory Bateson, Donald Judd, John Cage, Andrea Fraser, Alan Watts, Vilém Flusser, Robert Morris, Erich Fromm, Gilles Deleuze, Graham Harman, Michael Asher, Philip Johnson, Adolf Loos, Byung-chul Han, Ray Kurzweil. The band has also drawn lyrics from generic sources, such as online product reviews, a corporate union-busting video, and promotional material for AI "companions.
Takuji Kogo (b. 1965 in Japan, lives in Fukuoka, Japan). Organizes *Candy Factory Projects, a platform for collaborative art projects. Selected solo exhibitions and original curatorial projects: Kitakyushu Biennial (2007 to 2017); Alt space LOOP Seoul (2019); The Private Museum Singapore (2018); Kalmar Konstmuseum Sweden (2015); Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik, Berlin (2012), The Rooseum, Malmö (2005), Färgfabriken, Stockholm (2004); Akiyoshidai International Art Village (2003). Participation in exhibitions and projects: Aichi Triennial (2016); New Museum, New York (2013); Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (2009); The Nam June Paik Art Center, Yongin (2009); Media City Seoul (2004); Yokohama Triennale (2001). *Candy Factory Projects are archived at: https://artonline.jp/
John Miller (b. 1954 in Cleveland, USA, lives in New York and Berlin). Solo exhibitions (selection): The Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin (2020), Kubus, Wien (with Richard Hoeck, 2013); Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2011); Kunsthalle Zurich (2009); Cabinet des Estampes at Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Geneva (2004); The Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver (with Mike Kelley, 2000); Le Magasin, Centre National d’Art Contemporain de Grenoble; Kunstverein Hamburg (1999).
Robot are archived at https://artonline.jp/
Exhibitions, Screenings
Past Glory of Eternity
VIDEOART AT MIDNIGHT Edition Berlin
LOOP festival Barcelona 2024
AI Hallucinations Scherben. Berlin 2024
How to move and respond at Haus am Waldsee, Berlin 2023
Robot Singles Collection
Takuji Kogo + John Miller
Small World
Screening / Friday, May 21, 2021
The Box
Los Angeles, CA 90013
The Photographic Poster of a Toothbrush
Terms and Conditions: A Sonata for Two Women Prosjektroms Normanns Norway 2019, April 5 - May 5
A *Candy Factory Project
This Land Is Mine / この土地は私のもの
Kitakyushu Biennial at Aichi Trienniale
PERFORMER, AUDIENCE, MIRROR: THE MUSICAL
Übersetzung, Translation (Reprise) :
HBK Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig Germany April 8 2017
Open to All Ages & Ethnicities
NBK Berlin 2015
A *Candy Factory Project
BOOGIE WOOGIE WONDERLAND
Kalmar konstmuseum Sweden 2015
Takuji Kogo with Mike Bode and John Miller
A MOMENT OF ZEN
CYBORG DREAMS
83 Pitt Street New York, New York 10002 March 4-20, 2017
SONGS FOR BERLIN CHILDHOOD
In collaboration with AURA ROSENBERG
Texts from Walter Benjamin / Berlin Childhood Circa 1900
ART IN POP 2015
MAGASIN
AU MILIEU DES CHOSES : IMPRIMONS, COLLECTIONNONS!
LES ARTS AU MUR ARTOTHÈQUE
France 2018
JOHN MILLER
HERE IN THE REAL WORLD 2015 Metropictures NY
Suburban Past Time 2012 Metropictures NY
Social Portraits / Meyer Riegger, Karlsruhe / 2013
The Totality of All Things as They Actually Exist Galerie Barbara Weiss 2010
KITAKYUSHU BIENNIAL 2007 CUTE or CREEPY?
Personsl Ads Songs in NY Global Consulting NY 2004
Scream / Fargfabriken Sweden 2004
Discography
Robot Singles Collection Takuji Kogo + John Miller Small World (2021)
IN PERSON
ROBOT (Takuji Kogo + John Miller) North Drive Press NY 2006